Acquisition will enhance students’ access to digital course materials and improve
privacy controls, security, and scalability for institutions.
According to a press release, Follett Higher Education announced the acquisition of Indianapolis-based Willo Labs. Follett is a campus retailer with physical and ecommerce collegiate stores in North America.
Launched in 2016 by co-founders Andy Hall, Kate McKain, and Matt Hanger, Willo was designed to address the proliferation of digital learning platforms in higher education and K-12, which creates challenges and confusion for students, instructors, IT teams, and campus stores. The company has since expanded to more than 1,400 institutions in the United States and Canada.
Willo’s platform enables institutions to access thousands of digital learning tools with a single LMS integration, allowing students to get all their learning materials quickly and easily with just one click. Willo also offers cutting-edge security and privacy features that further ensures that student data is fully protected, a leading priority for Follett Higher Education. With the integration of Willo, campus IT teams will no longer need to maintain hundreds of individual integrations with digital learning materials, leading to improved security and better student data privacy controls.
Additionally, bringing together Willo and Follett will make it easier than ever for institutions to manage increasingly-popular inclusive and equitable access programs that lower the cost of course materials and improve student access. Today, Follett powers more than 300 inclusive and equitable access programs across North America.
Follett Higher Education President Ryan Petersen said, “Willo’s commitment to affordability has been made clear time and again through their transparent pricing that ensures the lowest possible costs for students and stores. We’re excited to bring this seamless digital platform with the most cost-effective pricing to Follett campuses, while simultaneously returning Follett to its roots by offering these services to the students and institutions served by independent campus stores.”
Over the coming months, Follett will integrate the Willo platform into Follett ACCESS, online, and in-store experiences to offer simple access to digital course materials, as well as improved privacy controls, while maintaining the Brytewave e-reader experience students know and love.
Willo CEO and co-founder Andy Hall said, “We’re thrilled to partner with Follett Higher Education. Follett is a recognized leader in campus retail, course materials, and ecommerce with a focus on helping students and campuses succeed.”
To learn more about this partnership, visit http://Follett.com/willo
