NEI doubled their subscriber base after switching to Agora for live language lessons

Education / Enterprise Collaboration

Live virtual lessons

Screenshot showing two guys talking on live video call

Problem

UX issues from unreliable and inflexible RTC provider

Solution

Agora’s reliable and fully customizable real-time video, streaming, and recording

Results

2x increase in subscriber base

105k+ successful virtual lessons

Boost in user satisfaction

About NEI

Improving global employee communication skills

In this interconnected world, companies that seek to expand globally must be prepared to invest in their employees’ communication skills. Founded as the Native English Institute, NEI initially focused on helping global companies improve English in their workforce and evolved to include soft skills with language training.

Straddling the intersection of edtech and enterprise collaboration, NEI has created a data-driven approach to help employees learn skills faster with relevant content recommended by machine learning. Students are matched with a TESL-certified teacher for live 1:1 lessons each week in a virtual classroom.

An inforgraphic displaying the NEI method

The Problem

Dropped connections and user confusion

Prior to Agora, NEI was using a different video communication service for live lessons. “We had frequently disrupted sessions, or lessons that couldn’t be conducted because of connection drops,” says Frith Maier, founder of NEI. The legacy technology also required an additional login, and the classroom interface was confusing. Students often couldn’t find their lesson recordings and downtime was a major problem.

It was critical for NEI to have a trustworthy, user-friendly experience where students and teachers could interact. Uninterrupted global connection was crucial, as well as seamless recording and storage of sessions in each participant’s individual virtual classroom. After a thorough search, NEI chose Agora to build an improved virtual classroom experience.

Issues with previous RTC provider:

Dropped connections and downtime

Confusing user experience

Inability to customize

The Solution

Intuitive experience for students and teachers

Agora’s products allowed NEI to customize the classroom experience to meet their specific needs. Now the NEI platform is intuitive for students and teachers while providing reliable video connection to users across the globe.

Interactive Live Streaming allows participants in Japan to have clear and engaging 1:1 lessons with teachers in California or Turkey. Cloud Recording provides secure and logical file management, so students can revisit the recorded lesson on any device with the same full-sound bandwidth capture.

“It was really a win right down the line. With Agora, we gave our learners the best, fastest, most engaging learning experience they could have.”

Frith Maier, Founder, NEI

Agora Products

Interactive Live Streaming Interactive Live Streaming

Voice Calling Voice Calling

Cloud Recording Cloud Recording

Video Calling Video Calling

Why NEI chose Agora:

Reliable global connection

Full control over UX

Simplified cloud recording and storage

Screenshot showing NEI My Account page above screenshot of video call from the platform

“The platform is not only intuitive for the student, but also for our teachers. Now, they can focus on doing what they do best, which is teaching, not spending their time trying to manage a bunch of unnecessary technological steps.”

Frith Maier, Founder, NEI

Results and ROI

Doubled subscriber base and held 105,000+ successful lessons

After just one year with Agora, NEI doubled their subscriber base and enabled 105,000+ individual lessons. Agora’s intelligent global network allows NEI to reliably live stream their lessons 24 hours a day, seven days a week. NEI counts among its clients several of the world’s largest corporations.

Students have also found the Agora-powered classroom and video archive a significant step up from previous technology. A recent survey found students overwhelmingly preferred the Agora classroom and video archive to the prior provider.

Confident in their technology, NEI is looking to scale by transitioning to an open platform, providing NEI’s successful method to independent teaching businesses. They chose Agora not only because it works for NEI’s thousands of subscribers, but because they know it will scale to work for tens of thousands in the future.

Results after implementing Agora:

2x increase in subscriber base

105k+ successful virtual lessons

Boost in user satisfaction

App Builder

Flexible Classroom

Download SDKs

Support Plans and Pricing

NEI doubled their subscriber base after switching to Agora for live language lessons

Problem

Solution

Results

Improving global employee communication skills