Dynamics CRM for Polytechnics & Higher Education Institutions

Louise Alderton, 11 April 2011

In my last couple of blog posts I have been discussing the use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM within education organisations and the benefits to be gained from implementing such a system. If you ignore the ‘customer’ part of customer relationship management (CRM) and view it as a system that is capable of managing any type of relationship, Microsoft Dynamics CRM can really be a complete solution for effectively running an education institution. In my last post I looked at Universities specifically, now let’s take a look at Polytechnics and other tertiary education providers.

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Polytechnics and other tertiary education providers face some unique challenges, different from schools or universities. These challenges include strong competition for student recruitment and quality staff, budget constraints, technology trends and expectations, management of large amounts of information, meeting reporting requirements and developing commercial relationships with local businesses. Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help in addressing all of such challenges by providing a foundation for the management of all aspects of running a tertiary education institution from administration, staff and students to promotion and donors.

Here’s some of the ways how:

Community Connection
Improve the flow of information to key contacts by sending targeted communications to faculty, alumni, community leaders, donors, and others. Easily manage and nurture commercial relationships with local businesses that provide apprenticeships schemes and student placements. Enhance the profile of your institute in the education community.

Improved Administration
Microsoft Dynamics CRM lets you create automated workflows allowing tasks to be managed effectively across the various faculties and functions of your organisation. This saves time and creates efficiency through smoother running of courses, classes and administrative tasks.

Effective Promotion
With Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s targeting and campaign tools you can effectively promote your tertiary education organisation and successfully compete with other higher education providers. This can be anything from recruiting students and staff, to event and donor fundraising management.\

Here’s a real-world example of how a New Zealand Tertiary Education Provider has benefited from Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

New Zealand Management Academies

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New Zealand Management Academies (NZMA) is a 100 per cent New Zealand-owned, well-established tertiary education provider. With four academies in Auckland and Hamilton, the academy accepts students from New Zealand and abroad who want to study Business, Hospitality, Contact Centre or English. With a pressing need to improve its internal and external communication and get a better grip on the management of its business processes NZMA turned to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This solution provided the company with the tools it needed to streamline and automate processes, improve productivity, reduce administration times and allow for a better flow of information with its partner agencies. NZMA noted team productivity gains and reduced workloads, application processing was about 80 per cent shorter and weekly prospect reports could be completed much more quickly, resulting in a 90 per cent time saving for the company each week.
Read the full case study

A few of the solutions Magnetism has built recently for Tertiary Education Providers:

International Agents Management – this allows for the management of International Student Recruitment via external agencies, including training management of their councilors and commission management.

Supplier Contract Management – this allows for the management of supplier contracts including, singing authority origination rules, and rating of contractors, milestone reviews and payments as well as document management with SharePoint.

Short Course Management – Management of short course, specific to different industries for ongoing education of staff or compliance as required.

* Image 1 from: http://www.hailsocial.com/higher-education-jobs.html
** Image 2 from: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Dynamics-CRM/New-Zealand-Management-Academies/New-Zealand-Management-Academies-Opening-the-door-to-efficiency-with-Microsoft-Dynamics-CRM/4000007612