Every Student is Unique

Transcription

1 Every Student is Unique How to deliver a personalized educational experience with CRMs for higher education WHITEPAPER

2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 8 Now is the Time for CRM 2 What is CRM? New Competition on the Block The Business of Student Outcomes 4 6 Ways a CRM Supports Your Institutional Mission 10 Heightened Expectations for Student Services Where to Start 1. Make Happy Students 2. Recruit Your Best Fit Students 3. Increase Retention 4. Deliver Continuing Education 5. Modern Technology for Modern Education 6. Promote Advancement 2015 Jenzabar, Inc. All Rights Reserved

3 Introduction The Student-Centric Age of higher education has arrived. Higher Education is undergoing a massive transformation. Changing societal needs and advances in technology have combined to drive a rapid increase in the size and complexity of the postsecondary marketplace. New competitive forces have materialized. To help cope with and embrace this educational revolution, institutions of all kinds are turning to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solutions to help trim expenses, grow revenues, and drive positive student outcomes through a highly personalized experience. Education leaders have long been looking for how technology can reduce cost and drive efficiencies, but are now increasingly looking at how technology can enhance competitive advantage and support emerging business models. Gartner,

4 What is CRM? At its core, CRM software is essentially a high tech tool for organizing, automating, and synchronizing the communications and reporting processes for external audiences. A CRM personalizes communications by leveraging real-time information shared between various campus systems. A CRM also provides seamless interface integration between those systems, for improved productivity and ease of use. Beyond the software system, CRM also refers to the customer service and marketing practices proven in consumer and B2B industries to acquire and keep happy, loyal customers. In this sense, CRM is not just the application of technology, but also a strategy to learn more about each student's needs and behaviors in order to develop a stronger, more personal relationship with her/him. Higher education CRMs serve three key audiences: prospective students, current students, and alumni/donors. It s astounding how much data you have on your students admissions, finance, student services, learning management systems, library automation, social media the list goes on. CRMs allow you to better manage this data, which enhances the ability of everyone on your campus to work in alignment, delivering a personal and high-touch educational experience. Those Letters C-R-M stands for Customer Relationship Management. In higher education, we often replace Customer with Constituent, to better represent the range of relationships a college or university maintains. Key components of a CRM include: + Personal Contact Information + Interest Tracking + Relationship Tracking + Integration + Workflow Automation + Collaboration Tools The efficiency benefits of CRM implementations can also be quite pronounced. In its State of CRM Use in Higher Education Report, The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers found that, Eighty percent of respondents reported seeing increased practice efficiency with the use of CRMs including efficiencies in advising, alumni/development, registration, and student support service. (AACRAO). 2

5 Turning strangers into successful students and champions of your institution. Higher Education Constituent Relationship Management Mobile Social Media Mobile Personal Communications Intranet and LMS Mobile Early Alert Mobile Social Media Website Prospective Students Attract Enrollees Engage Successful Students Support Supportive Alumni Delight Lifelong Learners Website Personal Recruitment Communications College Readiness Inventory Survey Social Media Predictive Modeling Personal Communications Alumni Communications Continuing Education 3

6 6 Ways a CRM Supports Your Institutional Mission 1. Make Happy Students When your whole campus aligns to create a student-centric environment, your institution thrives. A CRM is a simple-to-use but powerful technology engine that drives modern engagement programs. Based on highly personalized interactions, a CRM manages the entire constituent lifecycle by connecting with students and alumni on their own terms. Today, that usually means relevant and user-friendly content delivered through a mobile device. CRM technologies can be implemented to support all phases of the student life cycle recruitment, enrollment, engagement, retention, alumni, career services, and continuing education (Gartner, 20142). A CRM nurtures your evolving relationships as the individual grows from interested enrollee, to successful learner, to supportive alumna. Every department on campus has the information they need to deliver personal service to each constituent. 2. Recruit Your Best-Fit Students The first step in student success is to recruit the right students for your institution. A CRM provides the real-time data, communication tools, and analysis that move an institution from enrollment management to strategic enrollment management. Modern enrollment strategies rely on the information flow and communications automation that a CRM provides. Armed with accurate and timely information, your admissions counselors and enrollment staff can best leverage multiple message channels through interactive communications and nurture prospect interest. In addition, a single CRM system can manage the various classifications of your constituents. Users enter as prospects or leads. Once enrolled, those prospects automatically become students via the workflow within the CRM. The system can then advance the enrollment application, and automatically coordinate with housing, financial aid, scholarships, and other related campus services. 4

7 3. Increase Retention The benefits of even small increases in retention include: enhanced reputation, lower recruitment costs, and the protection of tuition revenue. CRMs are fast becoming a competitive necessity for institutions seeking to increase student persistence and shift focus to outcomes. Institutions use pre-enrollment data to inform student success strategies. Academic Services and Retention professionals use the CRM to proactively communicate with at-risk students for immediate and appropriate interventions. The seamless information flow between systems allows faster and more impactful issue resolution. The collection and analysis of CRM data is a keystone of improving student engagement and success (Gartner, 20142). A CRM also provides 24/7 information access through an integrated constituent service center. That means more self-service capability for students in dealing with the administration. A CRM lets students get the information they need online and handle routine tasks unassisted. This makes life easier for the students and frees up administrators to focus on more strategic tasks. 4. Deliver Continuing Education Continuing education and workforce development programs use CRMs to significantly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their marketing and enrollment processes. A CRM streamlines administrative tasks and helps recruiters send timely and relevant communications to prospects. The software tracks and monitors each candidate or student across the complete enrollment process, from inquiry through program completion. CE CRMs provide the ability to manage lists, create and send personal communications, monitor progress, and capture and update data, giving staff more time to engage with students, potential students, and corporate partners. A CRM can even track your graduates. Did they just get a new job or promotion? Do they need additional training or certification? In this way, a CRM is the hub of a perpetual cycle of lifetime learning. 5

8 5. Modern Technology for Modern Education The providers and consumers of higher education will be influenced by the economic realities of technological globalization for the foreseeable future. Rising stakeholder expectations, tightening economic forces, and swelling global competition are driving institutions to adopt student-centric operational strategies in order to improve outcomes. Colleges and universities are turning to the business practices and technologies of consumer markets, including CRMs, to deliver a highly personalized educational experience for the digital age. In 2014, the EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research found that higher education institutions are recognizing the importance of understanding the characteristics and requirements of constituents especially students and building stronger relationships with them. Consequently, an increasing number of institutions are investing in a CRM system. In fact, between implementation and replacements projects, CRM system are the second most rapidly changing core system area in higher education (Lang & Pirani, 2014). 6

9 6. Promote Advancement Much of fundraising success depends on careful cultivation of potential donors and personal relationship development. Fundraisers can better manage their efforts to secure financial contributions from donors, philanthropists, alumni organizations, government, and even the public at large with the powerful tools of a CRM system. Donor data in a central data warehouse can be precisely mined to produce new insights about the donor base and new potential campaigns. Contacts can be followed up more consistently and efficiently and staff time can be more productively utilized. There are other advantages as well, some of them relating to changes in donor profiles. One of the major changes of the last few years has been that donors tend to be more targeted with their donations. Rather than simply giving to the university, there is a tendency to want to give to specific programs. To satisfy these kinds of donors, it s important for development officers to carefully follow how encumbered money is used and periodically report back to the donor on the programs progress. This can consist of letters or s updating the donor, or it can go as far as mounting a webcam at a new building under construction so that donors can follow the progress in real time (Cook). 7

10 Now is the time for CRM New Competition on the Block In the past, colleges and universities primarily served local and regional populations. Today, rapidly evolving information and communication technologies are eroding those geographical constraints. Free of physical limitations, the postsecondary enterprise is expanding into a diverse array of offerings unimaginable even just a decade ago. Virtual universities, MOOCs, extension schools, just-in-time online learning, and for-profit education providers have permeated the marketplace increasing the competition for students, faculty, and staff. The Business of Student Outcomes The world economy has become increasingly dependent upon a highly educated workforce. Today s knowledge-driven global society is driving governments to focus on student outcomes as a means to restore fiscal order and increase economic development within their countries. Workforce development is taking on greater importance as employers are once again hiring but they are still having difficulty finding applicants with needed skills. This is creating dialogue around America s skills gap and the need for higher education to do a better job of preparing future workers (Ebersole, 2014). In response, colleges and universities of all types are acting more like businesses with high stakeholder expectations for performance. Education institution presidents are increasingly using business language and embracing business model thinking to reshape their institutions, reflecting the many changes in the education ecosystem (many driven by technology) (Gartner, 20141). 8

11 Heightened Expectation for Student Services Modern technologies are reshaping both our society and our social institutions. In the digital world, instant information access, online self-service and shopping, limitless mobility, virtual learning communitities, and high-touch personalization are the expetected norms. Student success is a trend that is much hyped today. It is representative of a general trend toward consumerization and personalization in our society, and speaks to the core of the education ROI. Institutions are quickly moving away from a sink or swim attitude toward students. The interest is fueled by consumer, economic, social, and political pressure arising in anticipation of promoting significant benefit to individual students, the business world, and society at large (Gartner, 20141). It is apparent that some technical innovations from the mainstream of the IT world, or from other industries, are creating opportunities to leverage technology that did not exist previously in the education community Gartner,

12 Where to Start If you're considering a CRM simply to send personalized , then you're considering a CRM for the wrong reasons. A CRM is best when it s part of an enterprise-wide strategy to provide student-centric customer service. Gartner recommends that higher education CIOs, Strive to limit solutions and unnecessary dilution of data and resources, but don't expect to find one technical solution. CRM is an institutional strategy, not a single technology product. It is more important to have one vision than one product (Gartner, 20142). Effective implementation of a strategic CRM plan requires strong institutional leadership, comprehensive and in-depth change management skills, and a willingness to let go of old business practices, perseverance, employees who are committed to change, a realistic capabilities assessment, and the necessary resources. Furthermore, it is also important for leadership to cultivate a CRM culture after implementation through team building exercises and training (AACRAO, ). Many software vendors can provide a CRM platform, but technology alone is not a panacea. Institutions do well to seek the expertise and guidance of higher education systems professionals and community peers to learn how a CRM implementation can best drive a modern outreach and engagement strategy across the entire institution. Colleges and universities can use a CRM as a hub that empowers its faculty and staff to deliver world-class customer service to all constituents. In the Student-Centric Age of higher education, proactive relationship management through a strong CRM system is a competitive necessity. 10

13 Author Erik Nilsson Vice President of Strategy Erik leads Jenzabar s strategic initiatives including Corporate Strategy and Planning. Erik s extensive technology business development background includes: VP of Marketing and Sales at CMDI; Founder and President of Fundly, the internet s largest social fundraising platform; and Founder and President of ElephantCalendar, a paper-based computing platform. Erik holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College. Jenzabar is a leading provider of enterprise software, strategies, and services developed exclusively for higher education. Our integrated, innovative solutions advance the goals of academic and administrative offices across the campus and throughout the student lifecycle. 101 Huntington Avenue, Suite 2200 Boston, MA jenzabar.com Jenzabar's mission is to maximize our clients' success. Our award-winning software and experienced professionals provide our clients the tools and resources they need to thrive. As a trusted partner on more than 1,000 campuses worldwide, Jenzabar has over four decades of experience supporting the higher education community. 11

14 Sources AACRAO. ( ). State of CRM Use in Higher Education Report. Carroll, D. M. (2015). President, Dominican University. Creative Ways to Increase Persistence to Graduation. The Council of Independent Colleges. Cook, R. Studying CRM Software in Higher Education. Retrieved from CRM Search: Davidson, C. N. (2012). Now You See It: How Technolgy and Brain Science Will Transform Schools and Business for the 21st Century. Penguin Group Publishing. Denneen, J., & Dretler, T. (2012). The Financially Sustainable University. Bain & Company. Ebersole, J. (2014, 01 13). Top Issues Facing Higher Education in Forbes. 1.Gartner, Inc. Top 10 Business Trends Impacting Education in 2015, Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Terri-Lynn B. Thayer, Marti Harris, Bill Rust, Gartner, Inc. Top 10 Strategic Technologies Impacting Education in 2015, Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Terri-Lynn B. Thayer, Marti Harris, Bill Rust, 2014 Greenstein, D. (2013, December 16). Essay arguing that major changes are coming to higher education. Inside Higher Ed. Lang, L., & Pirani, J. A. (2014). Maximize Institutional Relationships with CRMs. EDUCAUSE. Manning, D. K. (2014, March 9). The Perfect Storm: Factors Driving the Future of American Higher Education. Huff Post College. Rivard, R. (2013, December 9). Private Distress. Inside Higher Ed Jenzabar, Inc. All rights reserved. Jenzabar is a registered trademark of Jenzabar, Inc. 12 The Jenzabar logo is a trademark of Jenzabar, Inc. CRMWP