Company Interview / Janison's AI strategy

Key points:

Global assessment market projected to reach $21 billion USD by 2030 with 10-12% CAGR Janison leverages AI in assessment tools, item development, marking, and proctoring Strategic partnerships, including with Cambridge University Press and Assessment, drive growth

Sujata Stead from Janison Education (ASX: JAN) highlights the company's strategic update aimed at advancing assessment technology. She states that the global assessment market is growing, particularly in emerging countries, expecting it to reach $21 billion USD by 2030 with a 10-12% CAGR.

Sujata explains Janison's strong position, citing its innovative track record, particularly in delivering large-scale exams like NAPLAN. The company is leveraging AI for improved quality and scalability in assessment tools, item development, marking, and proctoring to boost security and efficiency.

She adds that Janison’s growth strategy involves embedding innovation, focusing on core technology, and forming strategic partnerships, such as with Cambridge University Press and Assessment. Sujata believes these steps will help the company compete in a highly competitive market and enhance its brand value globally.

Full unedited transcript below:

0:00

Well. Jenison Education Group has posted a strategic update highlighting its push to advance assessment technology. The update lays out a detailed growth plan for the upcoming fiscal 25 year. For the details, Jenison Education's new chief executive, Sujata Steed, joins us now. Welcome to Mosby's. Thanks for joining us. How would you describe overall the global assessment market at the moment? Thank you, Andrew, for having me in your show. In terms of the global assessment market. It is a market which is increasing. If you look at it, Andrew, the number of youth participation in education is increasing around the world, especially in emerging countries. There's more demand for learning oriented assessments and greater focus on accessibility of learning and assessment. So keeping all that in mind, the global assessment market is expected to grow to about 21 billion USD by about 2030. So looking at about a CAGR of about 10 to 12% between now and 2030.

1:00

So how well placed are you to capitalize on that growth?

1:05

Johnson is in a very, very strong place to capitalize on his growth. If you look at where the organization with its origins in, you know, in country New South Wales 20 years back, you know, by, uh, educators Wayne and Jackie Holden, the company has actually been an innovator in the space of high stakes assessment delivery in a manner which is equitable, accessible and scalable. And given the technology, we have given our track record of delivering huge exams in big scale. To give you an example, the NAPLAN exams in Australia, which we deliver annually about 4.4 million tests to about 1.2 million candidates, is one of the largest kind of K-12 school exams delivered through assessment technology anywhere in the world. So given our track record of innovation, given our track record of delivering exams at scale in an accessible manner and being an organisation at heart. We are educators. Driven by good educational outcomes for students worldwide. We feel we are in a very strong

2:04

position to deliver on the growth strategy and leverage on the opportunities in the market. Well, in fact, we're seeing more and more assessments, education assessments going online. So you talk about that technology. Inevitably that means AI. How are you using AI in your tech?

2:27

We're using AI in a number of ways at the moment, Andrew. In fact, one of the tools that we are developing, developing at the moment is what we'd call an AI assisted item development tool. And that's very much if you look at the development of items for the construction of your questions, traditionally you have got, you know, your human based item development team. What we're looking at right now is actually complimenting our human kind of team of item Developers with actually AI assisted tool. So in other words, what you'd call a human in the loop model of using AI where AI improves the quality, the speed, the scalability, and then is complemented by the quality check by our human item developers. And similarly, I think the other areas where I could actually add huge potential for improved quality, scalability and accessibility, of course, is AI based item marking. And similarly, of course, nowadays AI in

3:27

also in proctoring. Given that integrity and security is often a big concern in the delivery of high stakes assessment. And that's one area where AI and technology is playing a huge role in ensuring and safeguarding the security of the test. And that's something the area that we are already using. You talk about repositioning and scaling to drive that growth that you've spoken of there specifically in terms of you talk of, uh, embedding innovation, uh, simplifying your content portfolio and strengthening your market presence. So how are you going to do that?

4:01

I think our, you know, it's a good a very pragmatic strategy of what I would call, you know, embedding innovation into our culture and then very much repositioning and scaling. And our main way of repositioning is very much ensuring that the focus is on our core technology platform for delivery of assessment. That's where we make the investment. That's what Jennison is known for, and that is actually supported by two of our complementary services, which is the delivery of tests for organisations who need help with delivery of tests and also with our content services. But the way we look at growing is also through our strategic partnerships. So which means that we partner with organizations who actually our services complement each other. To give an example, the project that we are doing in our in New South Wales for the Department of Education. That project is actually in partnership with Cambridge University Press and Assessment, which is one of the world's largest providers of assessments in the world, where they provide the content for

5:01

the exams and we are providing the digital delivery and also the visualization of the tests. So in some ways, Andrew, I think a key part of our strategy is growth through strategic partnership and through the partnerships and through more marketing, through more kind of repositioning, is also raising our brand and making people aware of the Genesis story, what we stand for and and the value that we bring to assessment organisations worldwide. And when you talk about that repositioning, how competitive is that market that you operating in as you try and

5:33

take greater market share?

5:36

The market is competitive. Andrew, like most markets and most industries, it is getting competitive. The market is also, you know, kind of ready for disruption to the use of AI. And uh, and uh, but at the same time, what we feel is given our heritage, given our track record and given the. So my whole strategy is actually going to transition back to what our core strength is, which is actually having that entrepreneurial, innovative spirit and focusing on what we do best. So yes, it is a competitive landscape, but we feel Jennison is in a very, very strong place, you know, to actually be able to compete and deliver value to our customers in Australia and globally as well. So

6:17

you, um, you offering guidance in terms of revenue and margins and cash flow.

6:24

Not yet. Andrew, I think that's going to be the next, you know, next step at this point. I know I'm in nearly a month, three and a half to four months of my role as the CEO of Jennison Education Group. So the focus has been very much, you know, kind of delivering and defining the strategic direction of the organisation. And next step is very much going to be to look into kind of actionable plans and, and looking at the roadmap for the delivery of the strategy over the next few years.