Campus life in 2020 has changed into a blend of online and in-person teaching with less socialising. This tough sell, with ongoing lockdowns and travel restrictions, has left universities staring at funding deficits. High fees from international students can no longer be relied on. That’s hitting hard. Income is also under pressure from drops in research work and less catering, conferencing and accommodation revenues as disillusioned freshers look to escape halls and move back home or house-share in town.

Modelling the long-run losses, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said 13 universities could end up with negative reserves and the risk of insolvency. The knock-on effect would widen current skills gap in the UK workforce. That would be bad news for the economy at a time when we can least afford it.

Treat students as customers

The pandemic has simply shone a light on longstanding higher education issues. Future success won’t only depend on staff and leadership. It will come down to digital transformation and treating students like an outside business would – as customers. That means offering the best in connected learning, backed by unbeatable omnichannel service and communications.

Fulfilling the life-changing experience students seek – from that all-important first contact and visit to when they graduate and leave – is key to attracting and retaining them. That means building the digital capability needed to assure superhuman service is the first step in not only reducing student churn, but also balancing the books.

If only it was that easy … well now it is

To have legs, that investment model must be affordable with monthly costs that smooth cash flows, not disrupt them with hefty upfront capital expense. And it needs to be more agile than ever.

That’s where Genesys can help. Our flexible licencing means universities can consume contact centre as a service – telephony, predictive routing, email, chat, messaging, bots and workforce management – with one monthly bill paid in concert with OpEx income. In addition, new users, locations and digital channels can be quickly turned on and off as requirements change. Which they will.

Improving journeys at every stage

In return, Genesys Cloud provides a powerful digital transformation platform. First, by consolidating real time data and communications into one easy-to-use omnichannel desktop. Second, by giving universities the key they never had – newfound ability to optimise the experience across all stages of the student and staff journey. Here’s how:

  • Converting more website hits – Genesys Predictive Web Engagement extends a welcome and offers a timely webchat helping convert prospective students into students.
  • Growing Open Day attendances – Genesys Cloud Dialer multiplies marketing reach, making outbound contacts more successful and getting social media sites buzzing.
  • Efficiently managing clearing – Genesys Cloud makes it easier to onboard and roll back extra staff, while also reducing admin and automatically serving them with the latest notes and records.
  • Connecting and integrating campus life – Genesys Voicebots and Chatbots smooth out call and webchat spikes, triaging and resolving FAQs while releasing expert staff to handle more complex inquiries.
  • Reducing student churn – Genesys Agent Desktops enable on-the-fly messaging through WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter all within a single view – informing students of new offers, changes to timetables, health and safety guidance, and social and sporting events.
  • Eliminating exam stress – Genesys Cloud can streamline and expedite communication of results through the student’s preferred channel of choice.
  • Building a network of ambassadors – Genesys Cloud makes it easier to keep in touch with alumni – via phone, email, text or social.

More good news

Super human service improvements don’t end there. Genesys AppFoundry offers 200+ off-the-shelf plug-ins and customisations, while our strategic alliances with leaders like Microsoft and Zoom make it easier to connect Genesys Cloud with existing CRM and collaboration systems. So, agents can seamlessly interact with Teams or Zoom. They also spend less time looking-up contacts, dialling and transferring calls. Plus, there’s less need for message taking, data entry, and follow-up actions.

Finally, whatever the future holds, Genesys Cloud gives universities peace of mind knowing they can rapidly pivot to home working with zero impact to service levels and the student experience.

To learn more about transforming the student experience and the university itself, click here.