A device issue shouldn’t cost half a class period.
At LocknCharge, that belief has shaped the way we build, think, and support education teams for years. We know the small device moments — the forgotten laptop, the dead battery, the repair handoff, the loaner request before the bell — are rarely small for the people managing them.
They interrupt learning. They slow down staff. They pull IT teams away from the work that matters most.
That’s why LocknCharge is proud to announce that we’ve been named the 2026 EdTech Breakthrough Award winner for Best Overall IT Solution Provider for the Education Market for ForwardPass by LocknCharge.
ForwardPass brings LocknCharge’s long-standing experience in education device management into a new generation of smart locker automation — built to turn common 30-minute device disruptions into two-minute, self-serve handoffs, and often less.
With more than 3,000 nominations submitted from around the world, this year’s EdTech Breakthrough Awards recognized companies and products helping move education technology forward across a competitive global field. We’re honored to see LocknCharge recognized alongside leading names across the sector, including Canva, LEGO Education, PowerSchool, Cisco, Carnegie Learning, and D2L.
Why this recognition matters
Education IT teams are being asked to support more devices, more users, more locations, and more daily requests — without adding more complexity to the school day.
The work adds up quickly. More than 50% of school IT teams spend over four hours every day managing devices. That’s not just an IT challenge. It’s time taken from classrooms, libraries, service desks, front offices, campuses, and the people who keep learning moving.
LocknCharge has spent years helping schools and universities manage devices at scale. We’ve seen where the friction happens: loaner handoffs, repair intake, deployment days, replacement devices, charging access, after-hours support, and the constant need to know who has what, when, and why.
ForwardPass was built to reduce that burden.
It automates the core workflows education teams manage every day: Loaners, Repairs, Deployments, Replacements, and Charging. Students, faculty, and staff get self-serve access to the device they need, while IT teams keep the visibility, accountability, and exportable records required to manage every exchange with confidence.
This award recognizes what LocknCharge has always worked toward: making device management simpler, faster, and more accountable for the teams doing the work.
From manual handoffs to measurable time savings
When a student’s device is missing, broken, uncharged, or stuck in a repair queue, the impact reaches beyond the device itself.
A student can miss instruction. A teacher can lose momentum. A front office can become a pickup point. An IT team can spend valuable time coordinating a task that should have taken minutes.
ForwardPass helps change that pattern.
Instead of relying on a manual handoff every time someone needs a device, users authenticate, access the right device through a smart locker, and get back to their day. Each exchange is recorded automatically, giving IT teams clear visibility without requiring every pickup, return, or replacement to pass through a person at a desk.
That’s how LocknCharge helps schools and universities move common device disruptions from 30 minutes to two minutes or less.
Not by asking IT teams to do more. By giving them a system designed for how device access actually works in real education environments.
Built by LocknCharge for the real work of education IT
ForwardPass is more than a smart locker. It’s a device handoff system built around the daily realities of schools, campuses, and the teams that support them.
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In K–12 environments, ForwardPass can help students pick up a charged loaner before the morning bell and return to class without creating a front-desk line.
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In higher education, it can support after-hours device access for students and faculty while giving IT teams a clear chain-of-custody record across locations, service desks, and departments.
For education IT leaders, the value is consistency. Device access becomes easier to scale. Workflows become easier to manage. Records become easier to trust. Teams can support more users with fewer interruptions, fewer manual steps, and less daily friction.
That’s the kind of practical progress LocknCharge believes in: tools that make the day work better for the people inside it.
A LocknCharge win shaped by our customers
This recognition belongs to the schools, colleges, universities, partners, and IT teams who helped shape ForwardPass by LocknCharge.
Our customers have shown us where daily device exchanges create the most friction. They’ve helped define the workflows that matter most: bell-time loaners, repair intake, deployment days, replacement handoffs, charging access, exam periods, and after-hours support.
Their insight pushed us to build beyond charging and storage toward a more complete system for self-serve, accountable device access.
That’s what makes this award especially meaningful. It reflects the work we’ve done with education teams, not just for them.
We’re grateful for that trust, and we’re proud to keep building alongside them.
What comes next
Winning Best Overall IT Solution Provider for the Education Market is an important milestone for LocknCharge.
But the mission stays the same.
We’ll keep building systems that help schools and universities simplify device access, improve accountability, and give time back to the people doing the work.
Because when device access works the way it should, learning keeps moving. IT gets time back. Staff spend less time chasing devices. Students spend more time learning.
See how LocknCharge helps schools and institutions turn device handoffs into self-serve, accountable workflows with ForwardPass.
About LocknCharge
LocknCharge helps schools, universities, and workplaces store, charge, secure, and manage mobile devices at scale. Built with the real-world needs of IT teams, educators, and device users in mind, LocknCharge solutions support smarter device access, better accountability, and fewer interruptions across classrooms, campuses, service desks, and shared workspaces.
ForwardPass by LocknCharge automates device handoffs for Loaners, Repairs, Deployments, Replacements, and Charging through self-serve smart locker workflows with visibility, accountability, and exportable records.
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