Industries
Websites, apps and processes for educational institutions.
We help universities, schools and cultural institutions get accessible, easy-to-use websites, institutional apps and clear processes, with an assessment before we build anything.
Education, with judgment
AVILA®, a technology and business consulting firm in Monterrey, Mexico, helps universities, schools and cultural institutions in Mexico improve their digital presence, systems and processes. We run user experience (UX) and WCAG accessibility assessments, build institutional websites, portals and apps, and support planning and process improvement.
What challenges do we see in educational institutions?
An educational institution talks to many audiences at once: prospective students, parents, students, faculty, alumni, researchers, employers and regulators. Each arrives with a different question, and almost all of them arrive through the website first. The problems we see most often are:
Websites that grew without a plan. Each school or department published on its own; now there are duplicate pages, stale information and menus nobody understands.
Accessibility still pending. People with visual, hearing or motor disabilities can't use the site with screen readers or a keyboard, and the institution doesn't find out until someone complains.
Friction in admissions. Prospective students can't find tuition, dates or requirements, and they leave for an institution that shows them in two clicks.
AI-powered search. Prospective students already ask ChatGPT and other assistants what to study and where; if the institution's information isn't clear and structured, assistants won't cite it.
Fragmented systems. Enrollment, payments, registrar services and internal communication live on platforms that don't talk to each other.
Sensitive personal data. Student information, often about minors, that has to be protected under the law.
What do we do in technology?
UX and web accessibility assessments: a review of each audience's experience, an evaluation against WCAG guidelines, information architecture and wireframes for key pages.
Institutional websites and portals with a content management system each area can use without breaking the design, with section-level permissions.
LLM and AI search optimization, so your academic programs are described accurately on Google and in AI assistants.
Institutional mobile apps for communities, events and cultural programs.
Custom systems for procedures, registrations and tracking, integrated with the platforms the institution already uses.
Microsoft 365, Azure cloud and support, with security and backups of the servers that hold academic and administrative information.
What do we do in consulting?
Our consulting covers technology, processes and business planning, applied to the reality of an institution:
Strategic planning with the Balanced Scorecard, to turn the institutional plan into objectives and metrics for each area.
Process mapping and redesign, for example in admissions, registrar services or purchasing, before automating them.
Platform selection with an unbiased method, when the institution has to choose an admissions CRM, an ERP or a student information system.
Organizational and IT assessments, to set priorities and budgets.
Our experience in education and culture
In 2025 and 2026, as a consulting engagement, we assessed the user experience and WCAG accessibility of a university's website, with wireframes for the main pages, and defined both the site strategy and its communication strategy as the foundation for its redesign. In 2013, during our peak years of mobile development, we built an institutional iOS app for a cultural organization. And in our industrial systems we've solved a problem very close to what schools face: tracking which training each role needs and who has completed it, as in the quality management system for a steelmaker.
How do we work with an institution?
Educational institutions decide in committees and in cycles. That's why we propose short phases with deliverables you can present: first the assessment, with prioritized findings; then the design, with wireframes each area signs off on; and finally the build, in iterations. If the institution already has a development vendor, the assessment and wireframes work just as well as a specification.
If you also need communications strategy, content or social media for your institution, we offer it through our sister company tresensocial.
Frequently asked questions
What does AVILA® do for universities and schools?
We run user experience and WCAG accessibility assessments, build institutional websites, portals and apps, optimize information for search engines and AI assistants, and manage Microsoft 365, cloud and support. In consulting, we help with strategic planning, process mapping and platform selection. We work from Monterrey for institutions across Mexico.
What is WCAG and why does it matter to a university?
WCAG, the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is the international standard for making a website usable with screen readers, keyboards, captions or high contrast. For a university it's a matter of inclusion and reputation: prospective students, students and faculty with disabilities should be able to explore programs, enroll and study without barriers.
What does a UX assessment of a university website involve?
We review the site through the eyes of each audience: prospective students, current students, parents and faculty. We evaluate information architecture, navigation, content and WCAG accessibility, and deliver prioritized findings with wireframes for the key pages. The result serves as the foundation for a redesign, whether with us or with another vendor.
Can you redesign a website with many schools and departments publishing?
Yes. First we organize the information architecture so each area has its place without duplicating content. Then we build the site on a content management system with section-level permissions, templates that keep the design consistent and accessibility rules built in, so each area can publish on its own without breaking the experience for everyone else.
How do we get our academic programs to show up in ChatGPT and other assistants?
AI assistants cite sources that are clear, current and well structured. We work on each program's information with complete details (length, format, requirements, dates), FAQs, structured data and technical SEO, so search engines and assistants understand it and cite it. It's the same work we do in our LLM optimization service.
Do you build mobile apps for educational and cultural institutions?
Yes. We build iOS and Android apps when the community needs something the website can't handle well: announcements, event calendars, IDs, guides or offline content. In 2013 we built an institutional iOS app for a cultural organization. Before building, we check whether a web app can meet the need at a lower cost.
How do you protect students' personal data?
Our systems follow Mexico's Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties: a privacy notice, role-based permissions, access logs, encrypted passwords and backups. With data about minors, an even stricter standard makes sense: collect only what's essential and limit who can see it, and we build that in from the design stage.
Is your website living up to your institution?
Let's start with a user experience and accessibility assessment. We'll deliver prioritized findings and a clear path to improve.