What’s holding back research institutions and universities from innovating at the pace they need? For many, the answer is clear: outdated IT infrastructure, limited research budgets, and regulatory or organisational complexity. The potential of cloud technology is undeniable — but the path to adoption can feel overwhelming. That’s where the OCRE framework, AWS’s cloud capabilities, and SoftwareOne’s expertise come in. With deep experience in both global cloud delivery and local public sector and education environments, we make cloud adoption faster, easier, and fully compliant.
Research and education institutions operate in a uniquely demanding digital environment. If you work in a university or research institution, you know the pressures:
These challenges hold back progress — but they don’t have to. OCRE removes the red tape so you can focus on what really matters — your research, your students, your mission. The OCRE framework connects more than 25,000 research and education institutions across Europe to pre-approved cloud providers, offering a faster, compliant route to cloud adoption — with significant cost advantages. And AWS is one of the key cloud providers under this framework, offering a full suite of cloud services ideal for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), Big Data & Analytics, High-Performance Computing (HPC) and digital learning and collaboration.
SoftwareOne is currently the only AWS partner on the OCRE framework with competencies in Education, Nonprofit, Digital Sovereignty Services, Migration & Modernisation, SAP and many others.
We make transformation manageable and meaningful. Let’s talk results:
When we worked with FIEG, their goal was to improve access for students with disabilities. Together, we built an AI-driven accessibility solution that now supports over 10,000 students, getting access to lesson material and enhancing inclusivity while reducing operational barriers.
At the University of Portsmouth, our team helped develop a custom tool that provides faster patent insights using AWS analytics. This sped up research and provided more time for innovation.
At SoftwareOne, we don’t just offer cloud services — and we’re not just a technology provider. We’re your strategic partner, uniquely positioned to help education and research institutions succeed in the cloud. With over 1,300 AWS certifications globally and now recognised with the AWS Education Consulting Competency, we bring the deep expertise, sector focus, and proven experience to support every stage of your cloud journey.
And because we’re the only AWS partner on the OCRE framework with Competencies in Education, Nonprofit, Digital Sovereignty and Generative AI Services, Migration & Modernisation, and SAP, we’re equipped to address the full complexity of research and education environments — from compliance and funding models to advanced workloads like AI and HPC. With this unique breadth of AWS-recognised expertise, we bring together technical capability and sector-specific knowledge to help research institutions navigate complexity, stay compliant, and unlock the full value of AWS at their own pace.
What does that mean for you?
We’ve built a cloud foundation — our OCRE-ready AWS Landing Zone — designed specifically for institutions like yours. It’s secure, compliant, and ready to scale with your mission. Researchers can benefit from the Landing Zone as a standalone option, or it can be adopted by central IT or Campus IT teams to quickly deploy and manage research project environments across departments.
We remove the complexity so you can focus on what matters: research, education, and innovation. A typical journey includes:
Migration and Beyond: From moving workloads to deploying AI and data environments—we’ve got you covered
Innovation in education and research depends on agile, secure, and scalable technology. The question isn’t if you need to modernise — it’s how quickly you want to see results. With the right partner, it becomes a powerful enabler of innovation, collaboration, and growth.
By combining the proven capabilities of AWS, the procurement advantages of the OCRE framework, and SoftwareOne’s deep sector expertise, institutions can overcome infrastructure, budget, and compliance challenges—while accelerating progress on their mission. Whether you're just starting your cloud journey or scaling existing capabilities, SoftwareOne helps you move forward with confidence—securely, efficiently, and with full alignment to your goals.
Discover how SoftwareOne, AWS, and OCRE help your institution cut costs, stay compliant, and accelerate research and learning outcomes.
Discover how SoftwareOne, AWS, and OCRE help your institution cut costs, stay compliant, and accelerate research and learning outcomes.
