Leading the class with solutions for education providers

If there’s one thing that our years of experience in the higher education sector have highlighted, it’s that not everyone in an organisation has the same pain points. So, what’s worrying you? What does your wish list look like? Below you will find specific insights on how we uniquely understand, and know how to help:

• IT Directors, CIOs
• Student Administration, Student Services
• Marketing and Business Development

Trying to drive value from legacy systems is often a road to nowhere. And the responsibility for and weight of change is likely on your shoulders.

A question of risky business

Maintaining, developing, and monitoring disparate, ageing on-premises or hybrid systems, patching application vulnerabilities, and supporting APIs, requires a considerable investment in time, resources, and money. And the older your systems are, the more significant your risk profile. Support runs out, developers move on or retire, and staying ahead of cybercriminals becomes all-absorbing.

Lack of user engagement

You’re probably also concerned that your systems are so hard to use that only a small number of staff actively record student contact and interaction information, or capture international agent details. As for the rest — they’re probably resorting to spreadsheets or paper. Yet you know that further developing your system UI or functionality is simply throwing good money after bad.*

Reporting and compliance

As the legislation which governs the education sector continues to evolve, so does the need for transparent, accurate and timely reporting. Failure to meet compliance requirements can have a drastic impact on your bottom line as an educator.

Are you falling short of expectations?

You’re also under pressure from other stakeholders to automate manual time-intensive or repetitive processes, provide self-service, and leverage the data you do have to help you compete for enrolments and streamline applications and more. Everyone wants to do more, and do it better.

And then, there’s cloud

Like the rest of the world, the higher education sector must embrace cloud technology or die. Not only do cloud-based applications enable the sophisticated digital experience that today’s students expect, but they support the demands of the international market, and the work-from-anywhere 24/7 expectations of your people. And, of course, it turns the pain of capital expenses into predictable operational expenses.

The business case for change

We get it — we know change is on your mind, and that you probably already have a strong business case for digital transformation. We work with some of the leading higher education providers in New Zealand and Australia, so the problems you face are very familiar to us. And so is designing and delivering innovative solutions that deliver quantifiable outcomes.

What can we do for you?

With a leading cloud CRM that is always up-to-date, secure, and future-proofed, you’re well on the way to transforming your organisation. In addition, the cost, effort, and risk of managing it all is less. All your contact data is in one place, and you can share it seamlessly and in real-time with other applications, so reporting is all of a sudden easy and fast (and you have dashboards!).

Getting a prospective student from A to Z is faster and more efficient. We can transform your processes and tasks into automated workflows, and eliminate the need to duplicate data entry. Once a contact’s information is captured, e-forms can be pre-populated with their data — lessening the barriers to completion and commitment. Documents (both generic and personalised) can be hosted in a self-service portal that can be accessed by students, international agencies, and faculty — decreasing the use of emails and the pressure on support staff.

Best of all, with Fusion5’s history of success in the higher education sector, you know it will all work. Beautifully.

You’re all about the students. From admissions, scholarships, course management, assessments, maintaining academic records right through to graduation. Customer service is in your blood, but it’s hard to perform to your own expectations without great data, let alone those of your employer.

Data, data, everywhere

You know there is a wealth of student data in your legacy applications, spreadsheets, and even on paper. But getting it out of these siloes and using it to deliver an exceptional customer experience is much easier said than done. So, we’re not surprised if your wish list starts with having a system that holds all your data in one place. And a UI that makes it easier to capture and maintain that information, whether it’s self-service or entered by the admin team.

Admission anxiety

We know that admission time is stressful for just about everyone concerned. Administrative workloads peak when faced with bulk applications, validating applicants, managing missing or incomplete electronic and hardcopy documentation, manual data entry, printing and sorting out applications for review, and making and finalising offers for course placement. And while your team may operate as a finely tuned machine, it’s still unlikely to be anyone’s favourite time of the year, including for the students who anxiously await your news. For a generation used to everything-instant, waiting is an off-putting, anxiety-inducing experience.

Ebbing engagement?

Students who aren’t engaged in or supported through the learning process are less likely to make it to the finish line, let alone recommend you to their peers. While you can always expect a degree of natural attrition due to unforeseen circumstances, how do you ensure that the drop out of fail rate remains minimal and within expected ranges, or better still, raise the bar?

What can we do for you?

With a single cloud-based platform at the heart of your student management system, you have a unified source of data. Even better, by enabling self-service and eforms, information is always correct (as it’s input by the applicant) and can be shared across applications.

And those human-intensive paper processes that add complexity, require manual handling, and delay decision-making to your admissions? By introducing digital workflows, you can streamline the speed and efficiency of admissions, including using RealMe to verify an applicant’s identities, collating and validating certificates and evidentiary documentation, and fast-tracking the review, offer and acceptance process.

Best of all, we can make the student experience of the application to acceptance to enrolment process a better one, with instant updates, alerts, and messages on the channel of their choice (including instant messaging, SMS, and email).

Keeping students engaged is the key to achieving excellent learning outcomes. With easy access to the information that’s important to them (like academic, attendance and progress records), as well as anytime access to a self-service portal and an app to find information and request services, you’ve just improved your ability to keep their eye on the ball. We can also help you automatically identify slipping grades or attendance fall off so you can provide targeted support when needed.

Best of all, with Fusion5, you can be confident that we understand where you’re coming from, what your issues are, and how to deliver innovative student-focused solutions that work.

You’re responsible for generating and maintaining student enrolment numbers. But if your technology doesn’t support and accelerate your strategy to capture and convert prospect interest into action, and then share the love throughout the student lifecycle, you’re fighting an uphill battle.

Capture every prospect

Have you run events to attract new students, but failed to optimise your ability to capture their details (while ensuring you have their permission, of course)? Do your recruitment teams put in the effort but cannot follow up with personalised communications to truly nurture prospects? And what’s worse, can you see what you’re missing out on?

And how are you managing international agents? Are you able to maximise the relationship with portals and responsive, timely updates – or are you still working with emails and spreadsheets and still hoping to carve out your share of the highly competitive international student market?

Can you work that data?

Data is great; it’s the root of all knowledge. But if you’re unable to use it to create segmented, interests-driven marketing databases to drive registrations, even the best-conceived plans will fail.

Likewise, it’s in your best interests to fast-track placement offers to increase the likelihood of enrolment. Without connected systems, your job is just that much harder. Even maintaining accurate data is a challenge when it’s not in one place but distributed across disparate applications, spreadsheets and even on paper.

What’s worse is when you can’t even be sure that you have permission to use that data to contact prospects in the future and risk breaching the Privacy Act. And ditto with alumni events. Suppose past students didn’t opt into ongoing communications (and you haven’t had the capability to reach out to them since they left). How will you leverage their positive experience of learning with your organisation, so they recommend you to their peers? It’s just another missed opportunity.

What can we do for you?

By connecting systems and data in automated ways, Fusion5 can enable you to deliver your prospective students with the kind of communication cadence they have come to expect. So, from their first interaction with you, your message is tailored to reflect their channel preference and educational interests and objectives. You are marketing the way you want to — and it is personal, compelling, and timely.

We can make capturing that data easier, too. From open-day apps to heads-free scanning of QR codes, prospects can register their attendance and areas of interest, and agree online to the terms and conditions required under the Privacy Act. Suddenly, you have a clean, compliant, and accurate marketing list.

Yes, every marketer’s dream.

Our portals enable you to streamline not only student interactions but your relationships with international agents. Think automated alerts, on-demand collateral, welcome packs, notices of acceptance, online signing of offers. Everything is easier, faster, and smoother — so you have time to focus on your next marketing initiative.

With Fusion5, you can be confident that we understand where you’re coming from, what your issues are, and that we are focused on helping to achieve your sales and marketing objectives.