Why does a university need a CRM?

In a context of increased competition between higher education establishments, universities must today adopt a "customer" approach to attract, recruit and retain students, as well as to develop lasting relationships with their various partners. Establishing a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) therefore becomes a major strategic issue for universities. This tool allows them to centralize data, optimize processes and improve communication, in order to better meet the expectations of their audiences. Discover the main use cases and benefits of a CRM for a university.

Summary:

1- The challenges of a CRM for a university
2- The main cases of use of a university CRM
3- The concrete profits of a CRM for a university

The challenges of a CRM for a university

Choose a CRM adapted to university specificities

The selection of a CRM for a university must be done with care. It is essential to clearly define upstream the scope of the project and the specific needs of the establishment. This will identify the essential features that the CRM solution will have to offer.

Another crucial point is the CRM integration capacity within the existing information system. The tool should be able to communicate and exchange data with other applications used, such as schooling software. Good integration will facilitate adoption by teams and avoid the creation of data silos.

Finally, it must be kept in mind that each university has its own particularities: multi-site, multi-component, various training ... The chosen CRM must be sufficiently flexible and customizable to adapt to this unique context, without imposing upheaval of the processes in place.

Convince teams of the usefulness of data sharing

Team membership in data sharing in a university CRM can come up against certain reluctance. Users can fear losing control over "their" contacts or fearing that confidential information is too widely shared.

To overcome these obstacles, it is essential to involve the teams upstream of the project. Workshops allowing future users to express their needs and concerns will help define rules for sharing and accessing data, and therefore creating a climate of trust.

The implementation of clear governance, defining everyone's roles and data management processes, will also reassure the teams. Finally, regular communication and training actions will have to explain the concrete benefits of the CRM and support users in handling the tool, to anchor the right reflexes for sharing information.

Set up a data management strategy

"The CRM must comply with the General Data Protection Regulations in force in the European Union." This point raised by a CRM expert is crucial. The personal data of students and partners must imperatively be collected, stored and used in accordance with the RGPD regulations, under penalty of heavy sanctions.

Beyond this regulatory aspect, we must also think upstream of its data import strategy in the new CRM: what data migrate from old systems, on what historical depth? Choices that will impact the quality of the base. Finally, governance work must define data access rights, potentially sensitive or confidential, according to user profiles. While cultivating the information sharing reflex, essential for the proper functioning of the CRM!

The main cases of use of a university CRM

Recruitment and admissions management

The application and admission process can quickly become complex and time -consuming for universities teams. Following each file manually, communicating with the candidates, sending the documents to the various services takes a considerable time.

A CRM dedicated to recruitment makes it possible to automate a large part of these tasks. As soon as a candidate completes an online form, his information is centralized in the CRM. Workflows can be set up to automatically send monitoring emails, request additional parts or transmit the file to the persons concerned.

The CRM offers an overview of the progress of each candidacy. Teams can easily identify priority files and relaunch candidates if necessary. Thanks to the time saving allowed by the automation of repetitive tasks, they can focus on a quality relationship with the best profiles.

By fluidifying the end -to -end admission process, the CRM helps to offer a positive and differentiating candidate experience. A key asset to attract the best students in a competitive context.

Student journey monitoring

The use of a CRM for academic monitoring and support for students has many advantages:

• It allows to centralize all the data and interactions linked to the student's journey: notes, absences, appointment with the administration, exchanges with teachers, etc. All this information is quickly and easily accessible by the various stakeholders.

• Alerts can be set up to quickly identify students in difficulty and set up remediation actions. CRM facilitates collaboration between teaching and administrative teams.

• The student benefits from personalized follow -up. The exchanges are drawn in the CRM, allowing better responsiveness and taking into account its profile and its specific needs. Follow-up meetings can be planned regularly.

• At the end of its curriculum, the CRM retains the history of the student's journey which can be exploited within the framework of relations with the alumni and to analyze the success factors.

Relations with former students

Maintaining the link with alumni is essential for a university. A CRM allows:

• Centralize the coordinates and profiles of former students

• Send them regularly newsletters on school news

• Invite them to dedicated events (Networking evenings, conferences ...)

• Offer them to get involved (testimonies, mentoring, apprenticeship tax ...)

This followed relationship strengthens the attachment of alumni to their school. They then become valuable ambassadors, recommending the establishment to those around them. The Alumni network is also a great opportunity for current students, in terms of internships and professional integration. A CRM is therefore a key tool to boost and perpetuate the community of ancients.

Management of business partnerships

The CRM is a precious tool for effectively managing relations with partner companies. It allows all key information to be centralized on these partners: contact details, interactions history, recruitment needs, feedback on hired students, etc.

Thanks to this consolidated data, the university can communicate in a personalized manner with each company. For example, she can regularly send them the profiles of the students corresponding to their recruitment criteria. The monitoring of exchanges in the CRM also makes it possible to identify the satisfaction and improvement points raised by companies on the skills of students. Precious information to develop programs if necessary.

The CRM also offers a global view of business partnerships. Reports can be extracted in a few clicks to analyze the number of students hired by company, by sector, and thus very concretely measure the university's performance in terms of employability. An undeniable asset to strengthen its image and attractiveness.

The concrete profits of a CRM for a university

Centralization and organization of data

A CRM makes it possible to centralize all the essential data on students, partners and graduates within a single base. No more information dispersed in unconnected spreadsheets or bases between services.

Thanks to this centralization, the data is easily accessible by all authorized users, wherever they are. Everyone thus has a 360 ° view of the students and can interact with them with full knowledge of the facts.

Improvement of internal and external communication

A CRM makes it possible to considerably streamline communication, both internally and outwards. By centralizing all the information on students, graduates and partners, it offers each service a 360 ° view to interact in a relevant and personalized manner.

However, to take full advantage of this potential, the adhesion of the teams is essential. Reluctance can emerge in the face of information sharing. Clear governance, defining access rights according to profiles, is necessary to establish a climate of trust.

With this acculturation effort, the CRM becomes a real catalyst for exchanges. It allows you to send the right message to the right person at the right time, whether for recruitment, prices follow -up or alumni relationships. Communication gain in efficiency and impact.

Optimization of administrative processes

Manual management of administrative processes such as registrations, monitoring of files or reminders can quickly become time -consuming for teams. Enter data, update it, send the information takes considerable time to the detriment of tasks with higher added value.

Automation allowed by the CRM saves precious time. Online forms directly feed the database, workflows warn the right interlocutors at each stage, the recovery emails are sent without human intervention. Result: the processes are accelerated and fluidified, the risk of error decrease. The teams can refocus on personalized support for students.

Help with piloting and decision -making

A university CRM centralizes a large amount of essential data: information on students and their journey, interactions with partner companies, performance of marketing campaigns, etc. But these raw data only have value if they are analyzed and restored in a relevant way to help decision -making.

This is where CRM reporting features take on their full meaning. In a few clicks, it is possible to extract key indicators: transformation rate of prospects into students, number of internships and alternating contracts signed, opening rate of emailing, etc.

These dashboards thus offer a synthetic vision of the establishment's performance on its major issues. They quickly identify the strengths and improvement axes. For example, if the professional integration rate of students in certain sectors is decreasing, shares can be implemented to strengthen partnerships with companies in these areas.

The CRM thus becomes a real decision -making tool, giving the management teams visibility on the essential metrics for the strategic piloting of the university. Something to make informed decisions to optimize performance!

In conclusion, a CRM has become an essential tool for universities and schools who wish to optimize the management of their relationships with students, partner companies and alumni. By centralizing the data and automating the processes, the CRM saves precious time and improving communication at each stage of the student route. It thus offers a 360 ° view for personalized follow -up and a quality candidate and student experience, key assets in a context of increased competition between establishments. Thanks to its advanced features, a CRM like that proposed by Emundus contributes to simplify applications and admissions, while offering precious decision -making tools to pilot university performance.