Improve the Student Experience using e2s Retain | Engage2Serve

1. Case Study University of Sunderland Improve the Student Experience using e2s Retain to run a centralised Service Desk Mark Colman, Helpdesk Deputy Manager said Background The University of Sunderland was running helpdesk functionality through a service it called Gateway. This process meant that enquiries were handled by a large number different teams scattered across both the Sunderland and London Campuses. “We reviewed various Enquiry Management systems built for Higher Education to support our front-facing services in an environment where customer experience is more important than ever. Engage2Serve was the provider who impressed us most with their obvious knowledge of the sector, confidence in their product, and commitment to after-care”. The University was looking to consolidate these services in order to, improve the student experience and make the way the staff work more efficient. Part of the consolidation exercise was to re-evaluate current Gateway processes and revise these to meet the changed shape of the University academic and support services structures. More importantly, this effort was meant to enable a centrally located resource base to manage a growing number of customer engagements, whilst optimising costs. There was a Gateway (one stop shop) on each Sunderland campus and an identical operation running at the London campus. These Gateways centralised all student enquiries and were the single enquiry/first fix point for students. The new solution has enabled the University to manage enquiries, encourage self-service and understand the type of enquiries arising and the ways in which the students engage with the University. e2s Retain was chosen to provide a web-based, configurable solution to fully support and enable their high quality, student-centric service, while enabling effective links and seamless integration with other parts of the University and its data infrastructure.

2. Solution Benefits The ability for the system to have two distinct logins for both the Sunderland and the London campuses has proved really beneficial. Both support teams have access to what amounts to the same system, but there are different FAQ’s and responses that can be made, to the students. This is vital as the requirements and types of student differ on the London campus as opposed to those in Sunderland. But at the same time reporting and management information is the same which, is critical in developing the service further. Therefore, being able to generate the same reports and monitor the teams in the same way provides consistency across the University. Service Desk with FAQ’s: e2s Retain has been instrumental in improving the student experience, by allowing students to self-serve via the comprehensive range of FAQ’s available to search via their own personalised portal. If they cannot find the response they require they can then quickly and easily raise a ticket. These tickets are then managed through one central system, improving the speed and efficiency for University staff who respond to the queries. Tickets can seamlessly be transferred to other departments and responded to, but at the same time the responses are captured centrally. This allows staff to be able to see a full communication history with every student to be seen via their student 360-degree view. Appointment Booking made easy: Helpdesk tickets based on their frequency and complexity, Another great feature of e2s Retain is the ability to manage and book appointments with students and staff via the system. The system allows the University staff to build their own booking forms for appointments. This means that when a student or member of staff books an appointment, the relevant form can be used to book the appointment asking for the information that will be required. This means that staff can prepare for appointments in advance as they already have the information at their fingertips. Appointments are now much shorter and most of the time the purpose of the appointment is being achieved the first time. This both improves the student experience and makes for more efficient use of staff time. can be moved into a growing knowledgebase of FAQ’s with a single click and approval. Thus, the system learns and grows. Seamless integration with institutional systems: The system has also been integrated with SITS, the University’s attendance monitoring system, finance systems for fees and Campus card system. Further integrations with the Library system and Gladstone, the University’s sport booking system are being planned in the near future. This integration makes the 360-degree view even more powerful as staff can view all the information on a student in one place and, therefore be able to respond and service them much Student Feedback and Rating: more efficiently, without having to spend time logging in and out of multiple systems. Reports and analytics can be The University of Sunderland has also found that utilising e2s Retain to automatically request feedback after each ticket has been closed has proved invaluable. It not only allows staff to see if they are responding to tickets correctly, but enhances staff training, as it highlights where additional training is needed in support of team members. viewed in one single dashboard. 360-degree student view to measure engagement and history: The students themselves have their own 360-degree view, that they can access via their Portal. This allows them to view Staff messaging: and update their profile through multiple devices. They can change contact details such as their address and phone This support to team members has been further enhanced by the ability of support staff and team members to post private messages and offer advice via the staff portal. So, if an important message needs to be flagged to all support staff it can be sent quickly and efficiently. number and this is then automatically reflected in SITS due to the integration. Students can even update their passwords through their portal, which allows access to other University systems.

3. Mark Colman, Helpdesk Deputy Manager said “Working with Engage2Serve has been a rewarding and positive experience. The team have taken the time to understand the internal processes at the University of Sunderland, and not only implement our own ideas of creating more efficient ways of working, but volunteered their own to ensure we maximise use of their product. The team have been flexible, committed, and we look forward to further developing our relationship in the future” Summary e2s Retain has proved invaluable to the Support teams at the University of Sunderland. It has made the way that staff respond to student queries much more efficient, saving the University time and resources. More importantly the student experience has greatly improved. Students now know where to raise any queries and can track them to closure themselves. They benefit from a faster turn around and can be more confident in the responses they are receiving. It’s All About Student Experience! e2sRecruit e2sRetain e2sConnect Automate Marketing and Admissions Engage and Serve your Students Better Nurture your Alumni www.engage2serve.com +44 7788 431284 info@engage2serve.com