Today we are announcing that Anthology and Blackboard, a global provider of cloud-based software solutions in education, have officially merged (pursuant to the previously announced agreement) [Press Release | Anthology] [Press Release | Blackboard]

On September 13, 2021, we announced that Anthology had entered into a definitive merger agreement with Blackboard to combine the two companies. The merger transaction is now closed.

Anthology and Blackboard completed the closing of their merger on (25/10/2022). For you, our valued client, it means business as usual.  In the weeks and months ahead, we will work to integrate our two companies. Our goal is to continue to provide you outstanding service during this time with minimal impact.

On behalf of our clients, we aspire to make the lives of learners, educators, and leaders easier. We help create experiences that are more informed and personalised to support learning, teaching, and leading more effectively. We will do this through our combined product offering that spans the full learning journey. By responsibly leveraging data, our solutions will enable insights and information at the right time and in the right way. While supporting learners and institutions in their endeavors to improve, data privacy and security will remain at the forefront of our approach. 

You will have access to the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of teaching and learning, engagement, administrative and student success solutions – all from one trusted partner. This offers you an efficient and effective ecosystem of the most critical solutions needed in education. What we collectively bring to the table has the potential to transform how your institution operates and provides you with new opportunities for institutional and learner success.

By bringing Anthology and Blackboard together, we will create the most comprehensive and modern EdTech ecosystem at a global scale for education. It will enable deeper insights about the learner so that institutions can deliver unmatched personalized experiences across the full learner lifecycle.

Combining the two companies will also enable us to focus our investment on driving the next wave of EdTech innovation, which will benefit the global education community.

Anthology exists to help higher education advance and thrive using modern cloud technology and services that keep the learner at the forefront. Drawing on a fully connected data experience, Anthology solutions create operational efficiencies, provide intelligence for staff and administrators, and empower institutional leaders to support and guide students on a path to success. The full suite covers admission and enrollment management, student success and retention, institutional and learning effectiveness, alumni and advancement, and enterprise applications and infrastructure, offering solutions to the challenges facing campuses today. Working with more than 2,000 colleges and institutions in over 30 countries, Anthology is constantly discovering new ways to revolutionise higher education.

The merger does not require school/institution use of Anthology’s Student Information System (SIS). We will continue to support integrations to third-party Student Information Systems. There will be no impact on your Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) or any other Blackboard products.

Jim Milton, Chairman and CEO of Anthology, has been named Chairman and CEO of the combined organization.

Meet our new executive leadership team

Today, there is nothing different in how you conduct business with either Anthology or Blackboard. Legal entities for both companies will remain intact, and current contracts will remain in place. As the integration plans of the two companies develop over time, we will notify you of any changes.

There will be no changes to the conditions of your current contract for the tenure of its term.

As a result of this merger, you will receive the benefit of doing business with a single vendor that has the long-term success of your institution in mind, across all areas of your institution. Your current contracts will remain in place for the time being. When the time comes for your organization’s respective renewal, we will reach out to discuss consolidating into a single contract.

No. We are committed to staying focused on our existing product roadmaps and successful deployments of our solutions. There is minimal overlap between the products of each company.

We will bring together some of the most important parts of the education ecosystem – Student Information System (SIS), Learning Management System (LMS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Constituent Relationship Management (CRM), and much more – and be in a position to provide unmatched value, reliability, and innovation to our clients.  At the same time, one of our core tenets will be openness and client choice; therefore, we will maintain an open partner ecosystem which will ensure that our products continue to work well together with other products you may choose to use at your institution.

The privacy and security of our client’s data is a key priority for the combined company. The merger will not impact our commitment to protect client data vigilantly. Our view is that clients own their data, and we will never sell student data. We will act in accordance with these core tenets, such as continuing our adherence to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other relevant privacy and security standards.

Each company’s support processes remain unchanged. We are committed to working through any support needs you and your team may have.

We expect there will be exciting opportunities to integrate aspects of our joint solutions and to offer a robust set of connected tools for education. By combining Blackboard’s capabilities - including teaching and learning, community engagement and student engagement/success with Anthology’s solutions -including Student Information Systems (SIS), Constituent Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), student and alumni engagement, retention and compliance - we will provide you, our valued clients, a full suite of enterprise-level products and services that will drive learner and institutional success.

Our partnerships and software integrations will continue as usual. There are no changes to our partnerships as a result of this agreement, and we will remain steadfast in our commitment to each partner.

We will continue to offer our partner programs independently as-is.  Moving forward, we will evaluate the programs further and look for ways to optimise our offerings.  As we do so, our goal will be to provide new and extended opportunities through our expanded products and services.

Please reach out to the current company representatives with whom you have an existing relationship.

 Please reach out to your company representative(s) as you normally would.