Dr. Wendy Kilgore, director of research and managing consultant for AACRAO, conducted a session on CRM Ownership: Use and Impact on Practice, Policy, and Staffing at AACRAO’s 24th Annual Strategic Enrollment Management Conference. The session presented the results of an AACRAO survey on the ownership and use of Constituent Relationship Management solutions at U.S. institutions. The survey, which was supported by Hobsons, investigated the impact of CRM use on practice, policy, and staffing. It was anticipated that the survey would clarify the extent to which CRMs are used to manage the entire student lifecycle and if not, what roadblocks hamper their adoption.
Today’s college students are operating in a saturated and competitive higher education landscape. They deal with more information from schools than their parents did. Colleges and universities increasingly recognize that this environment requires them to begin a dialog with prospective students early in the search process. However, many institutions lack the adequate infrastructure to reach and engage with prospective students, especially non-traditional students. Establishing a communication plan that incorporates a CRM is an important step institutions can take to initiate and maintain relationships with students during the early stages of the search process.
But obtaining a CRM is just the beginning. Maximizing the benefits of CRMs requires follow-through and commitment. For example, it is imperative that institutional administrators monitor CRMs to ensure that counselors are setting up a contact strategy that leverages technology appropriately. “It is an invaluable tool as colleges and universities realize that student-school relationships do not end with an undergraduate admit/deny-enroll decision,” says Douglas Christiansen, Vice Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions, Vanderbilt University. “It is just the beginning of the story” that relates to the entire student lifecycle.
The sense that CRMs were not being used to their full potential was impetus for the CRMs research project, which was conducted this past summer. AACRAO’s 2014-2015 State of CRM Use in Higher Education Report obtained input from more than 600 enrollment management and admissions professionals. The survey was designed to measure the extent of ownership of CRM applications at higher education institutions and to assess the impacts of these systems.
However, despite the increased efficiency reported at institutions using CRMs, two-thirds of respondents indicated that their institution is not maximizing the use of their CRM. Roadblocks to "maximizing the use" of CRM include having enough time for training and implementation as well as a lack of human capital to manage the system and its processes.
Other key findings include:
- Implementation of CRMs has a significant influence on changes in practice and staffing. Eighty-two percent of respondents indicated there had been changes in practice and 59 percent indicated there had been changes in staffing.
- CRMs are most likely to be used to support admissions and recruiting. Fifty-six percent of respondents indicated use of the CRM for both functions; Career Services was the least likely to be supported by a CRM.
- Few institutions (only 3 percent) are using their CRM to provide student lifecycle management support.
- Institutions are not fully integrating their CRM data with their Student Information System (SIS) data. Only one-third of users have all of the data they need for analysis and planning imported into their SIS. Forty-eight percent indicated that, "Yes, some of the data we need" is being shared, while 14 percent indicated data was not being shared.
- The majority of respondents (59 percent) indicated their institutions have only been "Moderately successful" in the overall use of the CRM. Three percent reported their use was "Not Successful."
The report and Dr. Kilgore’s presentation at AACRAO SEM recommended that the effective implementation of a strategic CRM plan requires strong institutional leadership, comprehensive and in depth change management skills and a willingness to let go of old business practices, perseverance, employees who are committed to change, a realistic capabilities assessment, and the necessary resources. Furthermore, it is also important for leadership to cultivate a CRM culture after implementation through team building exercises and training.
To provide feedback on the survey results, contact Wendy Kilgore at research@aacrao.org.
To view the infographic and download the full report, click here.