Are you on track for your competitive advantage?

Transcription

1 Gartner Newsletter Content 2011 Issue 1 The Critical Role of CRM in Managing the Higher Education Student Life Cycle [Intro Letter at top] Insert John-Speer.jpg Are you on track for your competitive advantage? Just over a year ago, Gartner research director and noted industry analyst Marti Harris addressed the increasing importance of effective constituent relationship management (CRM) in helping to find, win, and keep students (see research note, below left). In fact, she went so far as to say that For a competitive advantage, Gartner believes that institutions must have a CRM system for recruiting in place by By 2013, an institution will be at a competitive disadvantage for recruiting without this type of relationship solution. So where does your institution stand right now? Can you identify students who have the greatest potential for success and keep them engaged throughout the entire recruitment process? Are you making deep and lasting connections with every prospective student? Do you know enough about your incoming students to be able to allocate resources effectively, schedule the right courses, and offer appropriate support services? Datatel offers an advanced and comprehensive CRM solution that significantly enhances your strategic enrollment management processes regardless of your institution s student information system ultimately boosting yield and conversion rates and increasing net revenue. Our solution helps you to identify and engage best-fit students and build solid, lifelong relationships. To find out how your institution can benefit from an effective CRM strategy, call DATATEL or visit John F. Speer, III President and CEO Datatel, Inc.

2 [Datatel Home Page Content 2 articles Intro copy] The CRM Vision: A Dynamic and Integrated Community [Link to complete article, below] Application submissions for four-year institutions tend to trend with the number of students graduating from high school, and according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling s State of College Admission 2010 report, the number of high school graduates is projected to decline through In these tough economic times, meeting enrollment objectives is no easy task, and falling short of the institution s stated goals has major consequences. So how can a college or university maintain a competitive advantage in the recruitment arena and beyond? Enrollment Management Tools for Two-Year Institutions [Link to complete article, below] Since the economy began its downturn and unemployment figures started rising, community colleges in the United States have experienced record enrollment as they have sought to satisfy the overwhelming need for workforce development and career enhancement programs. Budget-motivated enrollment caps aside, there is little indication that this trend will abate anytime soon. So why would a healthy two-year institution need a constituent relationship management (CRM) system for enrollment management if students are attending college in record numbers and schools are bursting at the seams? [Article #1 - Complete copy] The CRM Vision: A Dynamic and Integrated Community Constituent relationship management (CRM) for student recruitment has never been more critical to the success of higher education institutions, particularly in light of the challenges facing today s admissions offices. Among the core issues that must be taken into account are that: Students and families are more concerned than ever about the expense and effort required to obtain a college degree There is great competition in college admissions, both among students seeking admission and institutions trying to attract the right mix of students Admissions offices generally are expected to attract and enroll more students each year Students are becoming more demanding in their expectations of service from and communication with colleges and universities Admissions office recruitment budgets typically don t increase significantly year over year, and in many cases, don t increase enough to cover inflation and/or the costs associated with the expectations of incoming students Communication vehicles that were considered the mainstay of recruitment activities in the past are less useful in recruiting students today In addition, key admissions figures are trending downward. Application submissions numbers tend to fluctuate particularly at four-year institutions with the number of students graduating from high school, and according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling s State of College Admission 2010 report, the number of high school graduates is projected to decline through In these tough economic times, meeting enrollment objectives is no easy task, and falling short of the institution s stated goals has major consequences.

3 So how can a college or university maintain a competitive advantage in the recruitment arena and beyond? Gartner suggests that the answer may be found in constituent relationship management, with the introduction of a system that can enable the creation of an effective strategy for an institution to differentiate itself by establishing relationships and gathering data to build those relationships through focused use of business analysis. Introducing Datatel Recruiter Recognizing the important role that Web-based recruitment plays in higher education, Datatel leveraged its many years of experience to develop Datatel Recruiter, a full-featured CRM solution that works with any student information system. Recruiter facilitates strategic enrollment management from outreach to admission and enrollment, including list loading and segmentation for prospective students, communications and event management, address cleansing and white listing, online application, and powerful reporting and funnel analytics for measuring performance. Insert Recruiter_Home.png and caption here Built on the industry-leading Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, Recruiter enables institutions to rate the probability of a student s enrollment, as well as his or her desirability to the institution. It provides better overall segmentation and includes pre-configured native search list import from a variety of sources, including NRCCUA, ACT, the College Board, and others. Available as an on-premise implementation or as a hosted solution (coming Q1 2011), Datatel Recruiter is designed to help colleges and universities build strong, lasting relationships with prospective students. Used with any student information system, it addresses the core strategic enrollment management objectives of today s higher education institutions. Insert Campaign_Calendar.png and caption here Providing Decades of Relationship Management In its Hype Cycle for Education, 2010 research note published in July 2010, Gartner suggested that: A fully developed student life cycle CRM system should track a student from the initial contact with the institution through enrollment, matriculation, and entry into alumnus status. A tighter relationship between the student and the institution pays dividends in retention, future recruitment and ultimately advancement. Fully functional student life cycle CRM aims for decades of relationship management, not just the limited duration of traditional enrollment management solutions. Extending beyond student recruitment, Datatel s vision for CRM in higher education encompasses the entire life cycle of the student to create a dynamic and integrated community of prospects, students, and alumni. While Datatel Recruiter works easily with the student information systems offered by SunGard, Jenzabar, PeopleSoft, and others, it also is a powerful component in Datatel s overall CRM strategy, which includes the Datatel Colleague enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. With its communications and workflow management capabilities and self-service functionality, Colleague has addressed the need for effective constituent relationship management since its inception. By adding Datatel Recruiter, higher education institutions now have access to a complete set of tools for managing their most critical relationships, from prospect to alumnus. The Complete Student Life Cycle The student life cycle begins with the engagement of prospective students, and though Datatel Recruiter is integral to the process, an institution s website plays a critical role in the early phases of recruitment. The website typically

4 is the first and often the only opportunity an institution has to capture the attention of prospective students and their parents. To be effective, it must have intuitive navigation, a logical content hierarchy, and a consistent design that reinforces the unique values and mission of the college or university. The Datatel Design Group has used its extensive knowledge in higher education and website design to create easy-to-navigate interfaces for hundreds of colleges and universities across the country. Behind the scenes, Datatel s Website Content Management Solution (WCMS) makes it easy to maintain that unique and innovative online public face that differentiates the institution and supports its strategic enrollment management goals. WCMS empowers constituents across campus to easily create, deploy, update, and maintain interactive website content and to deliver a unique user experience for every visitor. Continuing in the CRM vision of a dynamic and integrated community, Datatel offers Web-based advising and retention tools that can help track, monitor, and analyze student progress, enabling institutions to intervene and provide help long before a problem becomes irreversible. And by tapping into years of information stored in Colleague or another student information system, schools can fully leverage their institutional data to build and strengthen relationships through effective stewardship and targeted communications. Tighter Relationships Pay Dividends Datatel Recruiter makes an institution s enrollment management operations more nimble, improving the matriculation rate, enabling better customer service and responsiveness, reducing errors and issues related to incoming and outgoing communications, and increasing efficiencies through automation. It improves how institutions communicate with prospects and ensures that recruiters are focusing on the right candidates, ultimately enhancing yield and conversion rates and increasing net revenue. We needed to maximize our recruitment efforts by focusing on the prospects with the highest likelihood of attending our school, said Herdy Moniyung, Associate Director of Information Processing at Southern Adventist University. With Datatel Recruiter, we are working smarter and increasing our prospect pool without increasing our current staffing levels and budget. That will make a real impact on our school. Insert Events_Home.png and caption here [Article #2 Complete copy] Enrollment Management Tools for Two-Year Institutions Since the economy began its downturn and unemployment figures started rising, community colleges in the United States have experienced record enrollment as they have sought to satisfy the overwhelming need for workforce development and career enhancement programs. According to a 2010 national survey of community college presidents and district chancellors conducted by the League for Innovation in the Community Colleges and The Campus Computing Project, the number of respondents reporting a 10 percent or higher enrollment gain has more than doubled from Budget-motivated enrollment caps aside, there is little indication that this trend will abate anytime soon. So, why would a healthy two-year institution need a constituent relationship management (CRM) system for enrollment management if students are attending college in record numbers and schools are bursting at the seams? Although among four-year institutions CRM for enrollment management is used predominately to recruit best-fit students, community colleges would be well served to use the same type of tool to provide context for monitoring enrollment trends and to help address the requirements of incoming students. The information collected within a

5 CRM system can be used to determine the need for supplementing or redistributing faculty, adding help centers and remediation courses, and taking other measures that ultimately will ensure that the right resources are in place for all incoming students. An effective CRM strategy for two-year institutions can serve multiple purposes, helping them to: More accurately forecast enrollment Expedite responses to student inquiries Engage students who have been admitted but not yet enrolled Keep students on track to reach their goals Automate and streamline marketing efforts for maximum efficiency Tailor communications for specific groups Effectively promote an institution s unique strength and other favorable differentiators Most community colleges have at least one differentiator that sets them apart from other institutions in their region including the private universities with which they compete for revenue and recognition. It might be an acclaimed vocational program, a unique course offering, or a prime location in the heart of a bustling city. Because CRM systems can track an individual s interests and academic records, they enable colleges to reach out to prospective students more effectively and market their unique offerings instead of relying on outdated mass-communication strategies. Additionally, an effective CRM strategy can help track, monitor, and analyze student progress, ensuring persistence to the desired educational outcome. Datatel s CRM Vision Datatel s vision for CRM in higher education begins with the engagement of prospective students through the use of sophisticated recruitment software and an attractive, intuitive, and easy to maintain public-facing website. Datatel Recruiter is a full-featured CRM solution that works with any student information system, giving colleges greater control, visibility, and analytic capabilities. Recruiter facilitates the strategic enrollment management process from outreach to admissions and enrollment including list loading and segmentation for prospective students, communications and event management, address cleansing and white listing, online application, and powerful reporting and funnel analytics for measuring performance. With Datatel Recruiter, colleges have a clear picture of their prospective student pipeline, making it easier to balance course demand, provide necessary remediation, and better serve students as they progress toward their goal whether that s to earn a certificate or degree, lay the foundation for transfer to a four-year institution, or complete necessary job training. Used with any student information system, Datatel Recruiter addresses the core strategic enrollment management objectives of today s higher education institutions. Insert Sample_Report.png and caption here By adding our enterprise resource management (ERP) solution, Datatel Colleague, institutions can more effectively embrace the entire life cycle of the student from long before admission to well beyond program completion. Colleges can identify unique attrition trends and establish parameters to track, monitor, and analyze student progress so they can intervene quickly if problems arise. And all of this critical information comes together in a central repository, making it easier to respond to calls for accountability and transparency. Simply put, Datatel s CRM solution gives all colleges a deeper view into the interests and academic history of prospective students, and it can help expand awareness of unique programs, creating a dynamic and integrated community for all constituents.

6 TABS [ CRM for 4-Years Links to article titled The CRM Vision: A Dynamic and Integrated Community ] [ CRM for 2-Years Links to article titled Enrollment Management Tools for Two-Year Institutions ] [ About Recruiter Content] Datatel s vision for constituent relationship management (CRM) in higher education encompasses the entire life cycle of the student, and we offer a full complement of solutions for recruitment, retention, advising, self-service, institutional advancement, and alumni development. Our recruitment and advancement solutions can be used with Datatel Colleague or any other student information system including those offered by SunGard, Jenzabar, and PeopleSoft. In this way, we help institutions create a dynamic and integrated community of prospects, students, and alumni. Datatel Recruiter Datatel Recruiter is a full-featured CRM solution for higher education recruiting, providing a complete view of all interactions with prospective students. Core highlights of Datatel Recruiter include: A simplified Web-based interface that enables rapid prospective student lookup, flexible dashboarding, and communication history Integration with Datatel Colleague as well as with student information systems offered by SunGard, PeopleSoft, Jenzabar, and others Integrated white listing to ensure that your communications reach prospective students Postal address verification and automated duplicate checking to maintain a clean database Pre-configured native search list import from a variety of sources, including NRCCUA, ACT, the College Board, and more Visual campaign management with advanced list segmenting and automated workflow capabilities High-impact, personalized HTML s with real-time tracking of response rates Detailed reporting and funnel analytics Event registration and management Custom online application for admission Individual recruiter key performance indicators and territory management Prospect probability and desirability ratings that allow you to segment prospective students Built on the industry-leading Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform Availability as an on-premise implementation or as a hosted solution (coming Q1 2011) Seamless integration with Microsoft Office for ease of use For more information, visit In concert with Datatel Recruiter, many institutions are taking advantage of Datatel s optional website design services and content management solution (WCMS) to optimize their recruitment efforts. Datatel Website Content Management Solution (WCMS) Datatel WCMS is a sophisticated website content management solution that is tailored for colleges and universities, enabling them to create and maintain a unique and innovative online public face that differentiates their institutions and supports their strategic enrollment management goals. Powered by technology from

7 Ektron, the leading Microsoft.Net framework content management system (CMS) provider, Datatel WCMS makes website maintenance significantly easier for higher education institutions. Datatel WCMS empowers constituencies across campus to collaborate efficiently to create, deploy, update, and maintain interactive website content rapidly. It provides in-context page editing, structured drag-and-drop page building, and a flexible work area for creating modular content blocks. This combination of features, along with sophisticated workflow and permissions, allows higher education institutions to distribute the responsibility for creating and maintaining website content across campus without losing control of branding and governance processes. For more information, visit Datatel Design Group An institution s website is its first and often it s only opportunity to capture the attention of prospective students and their parents. Does yours have what it takes to fully engage visitors and win them over? Datatel s award-winning creative team has designed hundreds of websites exclusively for colleges and universities. Using insight gathered from campus interviews, focus groups, and existing materials and extensive research in the fields of higher education and website design, the Datatel Design Group creates a unique and easy-to-navigate interface that s integrated with your existing brand. The Datatel Design Group creates: An enticing, user-centered Web presence that appeals to your target audience Intuitive navigation and a logical content hierarchy Consistent design that reinforces your unique values and mission Flexibility to accommodate interactivity and future needs Easy, secure, institution-defined content management For more information, visit [ Using Recruitment PLUS? Links to NEW WINDOW] [ Learn More Content] To learn more about Datatel Recruiter, visit [NEW WINDOW] To request a personal product demonstration or a follow-up phone call, info@datatel.com [NEW WINDOW]