Avid

About Avid

Avid Technology, Inc., a pioneer in multimedia and creative software solutions, has long been at the forefront of empowering artists, creative professionals, and educators with cutting-edge tools. The company’s flagship products—Media Composer, Sibelius, and Pro Tools—are widely used in the industry for video editing, music composition, and audio production.

In 2022, Avid launched a strategic initiative to broaden its footprint in the educational sector. This initiative aimed to provide students and educators worldwide with affordable access to these professional tools, fostering skill development and ensuring student success.

Challenge

Avid faced significant challenges expanding its academic program. Their existing user verification service involved cumbersome and inefficient workflows that were not user-friendly. Avid was unable to distinguish between different users such as students, teachers, and institutions leading to challenges in license allocation.

“Students were not satisfied, and we wanted insights on who was going through the verification process, so we needed a different solution.” – Dennis Mahoney – Senior Principal Product Manager

Additionally, Avid needed a solution that could effectively handle global verification, ensuring compliance with regional regulations like GDPR, and accommodate a large and diverse user base. The existing verification solution produced a substantial backlog, limiting the program’s scalability and efficiency.

Solution

To address these challenges, Avid decided to switch solution providers. After evaluating multiple options, Avid chose Proxi.id. The Proxi.id verification service offered a modern and streamlined workflow that significantly improved the user experience. This is achieved without requiring user accounts or personal information, and by leveraging single-sign on and integrations with institutions worldwide. This allowed students and educators to quickly and easily validate their eligibility during the purchase process.

“One of the most compelling things about the Proxi.id service is how simple the user workflow is – it’s incredibly easy for users to understand, which has increased user satisfaction with the program.”

The service also gives Avid the ability to easily differentiate between different user types, ensuring that licenses are appropriately allocated. Proxi.id’s global verification capabilities are critical for Avid’s worldwide academic program. Seamless API integration with Avid’s backend systems, including Salesforce, helped facilitate a smooth transition from their existing solution.

“After speaking with the Proxi.id team, it was clear that Proxi.id would be a better partner to us than the other companies that we spoke with.”

Results

With thousands of participating institutions and hundreds of thousands of students leveraging the academic program globally, the improved workflow has reduced the backlog and made it easier for users to access Avid’s software.

“We have been very happy with our switch to the Proxi.id verification service. The improved user workflow and access to more data has helped us grow our program.”

The ability to differentiate between students, faculty, and institutions provided valuable insights, allowing Avid to tailor its educational program and resources more effectively. This enhanced understanding of which institutions users are affiliated with has supported strategic decisions, particularly in targeting specific groups such as teachers with relevant support and programs.

“Originally, we had no idea whether a student or faculty member was accessing our software. The data available through the Proxi.id service has really helped the team better identify users allowing us to offer the appropriate program materials.”

Additionally, the success of the program paved the way for future expansions, including plans to extend offerings to K-12 students and develop a graduate program.

Conclusion

Partnering with Proxi.id has allowed Avid to evolve its academic program, making professional multimedia tools more accessible to educational users worldwide. The streamlined and efficient verification process for end-users, and the ability to better differentiate between user types has significantly contributed to the program’s success.

“We’ve been very happy with the Proxi.id verification service and look forward to working together closely as we grow our academic program.”

The partnership between Avid and Proxi.id highlights the critical role of selecting the right technology partner to achieve scalability, efficiency, and an improved user experience in global educational initiatives.