Future-Proofing Your Multi-Academy Trust: Strategies and Tools

If you’re running a Multi Academy Trust (MAT), you know it’s more than just schools; it’s a complex business operation. You're shaping the future for thousands of pupils, managing huge budgets, and constantly working to keep your organisation efficient, ethical, and financially sound.

Honestly, managing the operational side can sometimes feel like a distraction from the main goal: education.

That's where smart procurement comes in. Done well, it’s not just a paperwork, box-ticking compliance exercise; it’s the quiet engine that powers your MAT’s entire strategic mission. 

This article explores how you can move from basic purchasing to truly strategic procurement through future-proof planning. 

1. Procurement as a Strategy Tool, Not a Chore

We want to shift procurement from a reactive necessity to a proactive element of your Governance and Strategy. This is about getting organised so your leadership team can focus on teaching and learning.

  • Bring Things Together: Centralising and standardising processes across your MAT creates immediate efficiencies. This is crucial for establishing high-quality educational practice and leadership, and it frees up valuable time for teams to focus on teaching, students, and wider outcomes. 

  • Align with Your Vision: Your procurement choices should always match your long-term strategic goals. If you're aiming for tech leadership, your buying strategy needs to pave the way.

  • Handle New School Integration Smoothly: When a new school joins the MAT, don’t skip the audit! Thorough due diligence on existing contracts helps you avoid costly termination fees or the inheritance of legacy issues. It's the best way to start! Embed long-term relationships with trusted and accredited suppliers across the group and benefit from increased buying power and strong relationships.

2. Going Digital: Tech, Data, and Staying Secure

The foundation of a future-proof MAT is its digital infrastructure. This is where Digital Transformation frameworks deliver their biggest impact.

  • Embrace Digital Transformation: Invest in integrated, cloud-based e-procurement platforms. Automating routine tasks like invoicing and order processing means your team can develop a commercially adept procurement team focused on strategy, not administration. When you're ready for digitising docs, you save space, time, and paper.

  • Leverage Data Analytics: Start using data dashboards to monitor spending patterns and track KPIs (like cost per pupil). This gives you the commercial power to make informed, data-driven decisions, ensuring you operate a financially sustainable organisation characterised by high value for money.

  • Prioritise Cyber Security: With increased digitisation comes increased risk. Implement robust security protocols (hello, multi-factor authentication!) and regular staff training. A secure system means confident, employable students who have access to the latest technology, and that you're protecting sensitive data.

The ultimate win here? Confident, employable students who are used to working with the latest technology, supported by a system you know you can trust.

3. Responsibility, Risk, and the Green Future

A truly resilient MAT acts responsibly, manages risk before it becomes a crisis, and commits to a sustainable future.

  • Keep Up with Compliance: New rules, like the Procurement Act 2023 and updates, bring new transparency requirements. Ensuring your staff are trained means you maintain legal compliance and promote transparency and ethics in how public funds are spent.

  • Managing Risk Proactively: This is practical common sense. Don’t rely on a single supplier; diversify your supply chain. Having contingency plans ready for disruptions simplifies performance monitoring and helps you maintain positive outcomes no matter what hits the headlines.

  • Making Sustainable Choices: Integrating ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles into your decisions is vital. By championing sustainable procurement, you align with the MAT’s values and enhance its reputation.

  • The Power of Green: Looking at Green Energy and Energy Management Solutions is both ethical and financially smart. It hedges against rising energy costs and helps you achieve a minimal environmental impact. This action directly helps to create a generation of young people who are socially and environmentally conscious and responsible.

The MAT-Wide Benefit

All this strategic effort, the planning, the contracts, the tech, has one ultimate goal: creating the best possible environment for everyone involved.

By strategically future-proofing your MAT, you:

  • Elevate Student Outcomes: Giving them reliable access to cutting-edge tools.

  • Support Community & Staff: Establishing a high-quality, inclusive environment helps with teacher retention and supports your community.

  • Build Financial Resilience: You become a commercially adept powerhouse, able to invest more back into education where it matters most.

Ultimately, future-proofing your MAT means having the right tools in your hands. Dukefield is here to help you achieve that resilience through our specialist frameworks, from seamless Digital Transformation and digitising docs to comprehensive Cyber Security, and critical cost-saving solutions like Green Energy and Energy Management Solutions, all underpinned by expert advice on sustainable procurement. 

Whether you are looking at digitisation or sustainable procurement, our range of frameworks to support your MAT. Contact the team today:

Email claire.makin@dukefield.co.uk

Phone 01204 374 156

Ellie Taylor