Soon the demo screens will be powered down, the stands dismantled, and the buzz of of the show floor will fade into reflection. Another Bett will be over.
As ever, the event delivered optimism, energy and no shortage of ideas about the future of education technology.
There were genuinely thoughtful conversations and some clever ideas on show. Bett remains one of the few moments in the year when the sector can step back, take stock and look ahead together.
But once the noise subsides, the same question returns for me each year:
What will actually make a difference on a wet Tuesday in November?
A Pattern That’s Hard to Ignore
Over the past decade, education hasn’t suffered from a lack of innovation. If anything, it has been inundated with it. New platforms, new widgets, and new dashboards, all promising transformation, normally with the very best of intentions.
What many schools and trusts are experiencing now is not digital immaturity, but digital fatigue. Too many systems, too much duplication, and too much time spent managing technology rather than benefiting from it.
This isn’t resistance to change. It’s the natural outcome of years of experimentation, adoption and adaptation. It reflects a sector that is increasingly discerning about what technology is worth sustaining once the excitement fades.
The Maturity Test
After years of pilots, rollouts and quiet retirements, a clearer test is emerging for any new idea, tool or platform:
Does this genuinely give time back?
Not theoretically, or eventually. Not once everyone has been trained, retrained and reminded. But consistently and quietly, in the rhythm of everyday school life.
Time back for teachers to focus on teaching, time back for leaders to lead with clarity, time back for the conversations that actually move learning forward.
Where Technology Succeeds
The tools and approaches that have endured over the last decade tend to share the same characteristics.
They reduce friction rather than introduce it. They integrate with systems schools already trust. They remain governed without constant oversight. And they work in the background, supporting activity rather than demanding attention.
They are rarely the loudest ideas on the exhibition floor, and almost never described as “game-changing”.
But they are the ones still quietly in use years later.
Calm Is Not Complacency
A calmer digital environment doesn’t mean doing less, or aiming lower. It means technology that has matured enough to stop shouting.
When systems reflect how schools actually operate, when automation removes repetitive work, and when insight appears at the right moment without effort, technology becomes supportive rather than performative.
At that point, digital strategy stops being about tools and starts being about capacity.
So, What Do We Take Forward?
Innovation still matters. Bett still matters. New ideas should absolutely be explored. But the lens has shifted.
The most important question now isn’t “What’s new?”, it’s “What will still be helping us a year from now?”
If something genuinely gives time back, it deserves attention. If it adds workload, complexity or cognitive noise, it probably belongs in the long list of ideas that looked impressive under exhibition lighting, but struggled to earn their place in everyday use.
Where This Connects to Our Work
For ten years, we’ve worked alongside schools, colleges and trusts to help them make better use of the Microsoft 365 tools they already have. Not by adding more layers, but by reducing duplication, improving integration and designing digital environments that work with people, not against them.
Our work is innovative, but our focus has never been novelty. It has always been about helping organisations build digital platforms that are easier to use, easier to govern, easier to sustain, and, above all, respectful of people’s time.
If you’re reflecting on your own digital strategy post-Bett and asking similar questions, we’d be very happy to share what we’ve learned and explore what “time back” could look like in your context.
Further Reading
If you’d like to explore this thinking in more depth:
👉 Beyond the Hype: The Future of Digital Learning
A longer reflection on why the next decade of digital learning must be calmer, more intelligent and more human.
👉Thoughts on the Train to Bett: Ten Years of EdTech That Almost Changed Everything (LinkedIn)
Some EdTech innovations that promised a lot, delivered a bit, and taught us valuable lessons along the way.
About the Author
Andrew Mulholland is Chief Marketing Officer at Cloud Design Box and has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of education, technology and organisational change. Having first attended Bett at Olympia in 1999, he has seen successive waves of EdTech innovation rise, mature and, in many cases, quietly fall away.
His perspective is shaped by long-term work alongside schools and trusts, focusing on what technology looks like once the demos end and everyday reality resumes. The views expressed in this article are his own.
