Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Interview
CRM Pushing into New Areas of Higher Ed
10/2/2008
Implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) solution can require "difficult or even painful behavioral challenges" for administrators in higher education, according to Nicole Engelbert, a lead analyst with research and analysis firm Datamonitor. "It means re-orienting yourself to your students. That can be tough, so you need to be ready for that."
As a class of software, CRM solutions help automate processes. In higher education, that often means automating recruiting steps like generating and coordinating letters, calls and e-mails, tracking marketing efforts, and collecting customer service information. But more innovative uses of CRM are ahead, Engelbert says.
According to a recent survey by Datamonitor, only a third of colleges and universities have any sort of CRM solution in place. As the number of high school graduates continues to drop, however, increased competition for students will drive more CRM adoption. Datamonitor predicts a steep CRM adoption rate in higher education over the next six to 24 months.
Engelbert's research has focused on how education institutions use mission-critical applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and CRM solutions, among other tools and technologies. We recently spoke with her about the growing role of what she prefers to call "constituent relationship management" software in education, especially its push into new areas of higher ed, such as student retention.
Campus Technology: How are CRM tools currently being used in higher education?
Nicole Engelbert: Higher education has a history with CRM, but it's been more or less limited to the admissions office... and to areas such as campaign management, where it's used in contacting prospective students and alumni... In more recent times, CRM has migrated to the middle of the student lifecycle, into areas like the IT help desk.
What's new--and where thought leaders in this space have started applying CRM applications--is retention efforts. This is really exciting for higher education; this is the core for higher ed. Admissions is at the front of the campus gates, development is beyond the campus gates, but retention really is in the middle...
Institutions are starting to pull information from their student information systems, from their ERP systems, their learning management systems--to create this 360-degree view of the student experience, and to use this to manage relationships with students over a longer period of time. [It's being done] in an effort to keep them connected to the institution, and to ensure that they have a productive experience on campus.
CT: How new is this use of CRM you've just described, in which it's used for long-term student relationship management?
Engelbert: In the for-profit sector [of higher education], I would say the last five years or so. Formalized retention programs are the sine qua non in this sector because tuition is the main revenue source and business model for these institutions. But the traditional, non-profit institutions are catching on, as the competition to recruit and retain has become more intense in recent years. That's been happening in the last eighteen months to two years.
Recommended Reading
- Georgia Tech Helps Develop Web-based Tool To Improve Blood Supply
The Georgia Tech College of Computing, working in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed a Web-based tool for tracking blood safety. The program is expected to help developing countries improve the adequacy and safety of their national blood supplies through better monitoring and evaluation.
- Mississippi State Implements Reflex Virtual Management Center
Mississippi State University has implemented Reflex VMC (Virtual Management Center) from Reflex Systems. The application allows IT administrators to monitor a virtual infrastructure and enforce business and IT policies.
- Stanford Law School Launches IP Litigation Clearinghouse
The Law, Science & Technology Program at Stanford Law School has launched the Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse (IPLC), an online database that offers comprehensive information about intellectual property (IP) disputes within the United States.
- Texas A&M Health Science Center Adopts Banner Administrative Management
The Texas A&M Health Science Center has selected the Banner Unified Digital Campus (UDC) from Sungard Higher Education to help unify its geographically-dispersed community and to enhance and expand services and communications to its growing student enrollment.
- NCCC: Data Cleansing Key To Managing Growth
Community colleges are in a good spot in some ways during the economic downturn, as tight family budgets drive up the appeal of the community college option. But along with the rest of higher education, most community colleges also face shrinking IT budgets and tighter resources. That makes it that much harder to handle the growing enrollment numbers that some community colleges are seeing.
- Finjan: Layoffs Could Drive IT People To Become Cyber-Criminals
Security vendor Finjan predicts that the current economic downturn could herald a sharp rise in cybercrime during 2009--driven by the rise in the number of IT people being laid off. According to a report from the company's Malicious Code Research Center (MCRC), more unemployed IT personnel will be tempted to seek "new and easy income by purchasing and using crimeware toolkits that are sold by professional hackers."
