E&I Awards Competitively Solicited Agreement to BlackBeltHelp for Modernized Student Support

Competitively Solicited Agreement Provides AI-Native Voice and Chat Agents, Human Agent Support, and Real-time Insights to E&I’s Member Institutions Nationwide

Miami, Florida – May 18, 2026 – E&I Cooperative Services (E&I), the only member-owned, non-profit procurement cooperative focused exclusively on education, today announced a competitively solicited agreement with BlackBeltHelp, the AI-native student support platform serving more than 130 colleges and universities across North America. Through the agreement, E&I’s 6,000+ member institutions gain access to BlackBeltHelp’s student support capabilities, including 24/7 Voice and Chat AI, U.S.-based and bilingual human agent support, real-time insights, and pre-built integrations into the systems campuses already run on.

Renowned for delivering competitively solicited contracts that align with members’ modernization priorities, E&I’s agreement with BlackBeltHelp provides institutions with a streamlined path to modernizing student support services. Because the agreement is competitively solicited through E&I, members can adopt the platform without running their own RFP, and typical implementations can be completed in approximately six to eight weeks from kick-off to go-live, depending on institutional scope and requirements.

“Making BlackBeltHelp available through a competitively solicited E&I agreement supports our goal of helping members efficiently access solutions that align with their operational needs,” said Leila Pullum, Sales Enablement Manager, E&I Cooperative Services. “Our members are navigating increasing demand for responsive student support, and this agreement provides an additional option for institutions seeking to modernize those services while simplifying the procurement process.”

With more than 6,000 member institutions, E&I has long served as the trusted procurement vehicle for higher education. Through this agreement, members gain access to discounted pricing, implementation services, and a single contracting vehicle for student support across multiple channels and departments. The platform sits between students and the campus systems they interact with, including Admissions, Financial Aid, Advising, IT, and the LMS. AI is used to resolve routine inquiries end-to-end and route more complex interactions to human agents when needed.

“E&I’s mission is our mission. We help institutions do more for students with the resources they already have,” said Anjli Jain, Chairman, BlackBeltHelp. “Through this agreement, institutions of all sizes can move from decision to deployment quickly without running an RFP.”

What’s included in AI by BlackBeltHelp for E&I members

• Voice AI for Campus-wide and departmental switchboards; IT/LMS, Financial Aid, Admissions, and Advising FAQs; end-to-end password and MFA reset; multi-language support and hand-off to human agents.
• Omni-Channel Human Agent Overlay. 24/7 U.S.-based and global agent support in both English and Spanish, covering IT, LMS, and Student Services helpdesks, with a minimum interaction floor that scales with the institution.
• Agent Assist, Insights, and Studio. Real-time AI guidance for human agents; unified real-time analytics across every interaction (Insights Core and Insights Pro), and the Studio platform for institutions that want to build and deploy their own AI agents.
• Pre-built integrations into Banner, Colleague, Workday Student, Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, Microsoft Entra, Okta, Duo, and 200+ additional enterprise systems.
• Bundled at no additional cost are ongoing training, QA and skilling of AI and human agents.

“Whether an institution starts with Voice AI for end-to-end password reset to relieve their IT team or rolls out the Voice AI Front Desk across student-facing departments, this agreement with BlackBeltHelp provides institutions with a flexible path toward modernizing student support operations,” added Leila Pullum.

For more information about the agreement or how to get started with BlackBeltHelp through E&I Cooperative Services, please visit eandi.org/contracts/blackbelthelp. E&I and BlackBeltHelp will jointly host a member webinar in June 2026 introducing the platform to the E&I community, including a live walkthrough of a higher-ed deployment.