The Learning Bar: Unlocking AI with Digital Boost 3.0

The Learning Bar, an education technology company based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, has been shaping the future of education for over 20 years. With a mission to improve the learning outcomes and well-being of every child, the company collaborates with education partners across every province and territory in Canada. Beyond academics, The Learning Bar challenges the status quo by addressing the broader factors that impact a child’s development and success. As the company looks ahead, its leadership began exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) could enhance not only their internal operations, but also the value they deliver to schools, educators, and students.

The Learning Bar turned to Digital Boost 3.0, a digital transformation program that offers funding support to New Brunswick based business. Digital Boost 3.0 has a two-phase approach, the first consisting of a comprehensive assessment to determine current capabilities and identify opportunities in the areas of cybersecurity, data management, and artificial intelligence (AI). The second phase supports the implementation of solutions identified during the assessment phase to improve the company's productivity, security risk, and innovation. The program also helps to offset some of these costs while working with New Brunswick based technology providers.

Through the program, The Learning Bar partnered with Vision Networking, a Fredericton-based IT outsourcing company with more than 20 years of experience. Their collaboration resulted in the implementation of Microsoft Copilot across The Learning Bar’s operations to enhance efficiency and productivity.

Vision Networking began with an in-depth assessment of The Learning Bar’s operations and data practices. Leaders and departments across the company collaborated in a series of meetings to review workflows, governance, and security. The goal was to prepare The Learning Bar for AI integration without disrupting daily work. A major finding was that Microsoft Copilot would be more useful if integrated with the company’s own data. This meant strong preparation and proper data management were essential.

The implementation phase began with the realization that generative AI can only deliver real value when all organizational data is consolidated, well-structured, and securely managed. For The Learning Bar, this required centralizing documents, emails, chats, and other information within the Microsoft 365 environment. With Vision Networking’s guidance, the company established this foundation and introduced a staged rollout of Microsoft Copilot, enabling staff to gradually explore use cases and achieve incremental productivity gains.

The incremental adoption of Copilot in The Learning Bar’s staff has already delivered tangible benefits, particularly in time savings and productivity improvements. The migration process itself also brought the consolidation and auditing of information improved data security, ensuring proper governance, and streamlined internal workflows. These foundational improvements mean that AI tools can now be safely and effectively leveraged across the company.