The University of Canberra has continued its push to deliver streamlined digital tools for its students and staff, replacing 12 systems and automating more than 200 workflows as it overhauls its customer relationship management system (CRM).
‘UC Student 360’ plugs student-facing systems into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online, automatically channelling enquiries around the university and providing a clearer path for communication.
The multifunctional CRM brings together all of the information students or prospective students need, providing a more consistent and faster platform for engaging with the university.
For the staff, it provides a more holistic, insightful view of a student’s time at the university which can be used to boost engagement, tailor offerings to each student and reshape marketing strategies for maximum impact.
The single point of truth for student information can also be tapped into for marketing purposes, improving the outcomes of broad-stroke campaigns by targetting the relevant students and making sure more directed campaigns are hitting everyone in the intended audience.
UC Student 360 also plugs into the university’s AI chatbot Lucy, through which students can raise IT tickets and other queries, as well as a custom-built predictive analytics platform called InterFace to proactively support students who might be struggling.
Canberra Uni is using the enhanced connectivity of UC Student 360 to tap into the lucrative international student market, treating the platform as a landing pad for connecting with the overseas agents who act on behalf of prospective students.
In the future, this capability will be expanded to gather data on how these interactions shape international students’ experiences at the university.
Already, ROI for the project is positive, with the platform’s simplification of complex university processes contributing to increased enrolments, higher retention rates and a more positive sentiment of students.
Financially, the platform replaces systems that previously cost $1.84 million a year to maintain. As the project is expected to be in use until 2020 at least, that equates to a $5.52 million saving.
Already, the new CRM has handled a quarter of a million cases and sent over a million tailored messages.
This project has been named a finalist in the Education category of the iTnews Benchmark Awards 2018/19.
