CRM and Business Management Solutions for the Education Sector
Concentrix supplies CRM, Business Management solutions and IT security software to schools, colleges, universities and other organisations in the UK education sector.
CRM is used in the education sector to manage everything from grant allocation to student attendance. It also provides a number of benefits to educational organisations who are involved in employer engagement strategies such as Train to Gain, especially because of Concentrix's ability to configure CRM solutions to the specific sales and marketing requirements of colleges.
In addition CRM solutions provide one centralised location for all information which improves efficiency and effectiveness across the organisation and can ultimately enable the institution to achieve the Training Quality Standard (TQS). Concentrix has worked closely with a wide variety of customers in the education sector including the learning and skills council (LSIS), Summit Skills (the sector skills council for the building and plumbing industry), Darlington College and many others.
Integrated Finance and CRM software solutions are used in the education sector to create a link between front and back office functions. Implementing a completely integrated solution provides transparency across the organisations and streamlines business processes.
Data is the most important asset to any educational organisation; however breeches in security are on the increase and these can have catastrophic implications. Implementing an IT security solution will protect an educational organisation from malicious attacks and keep data secure.
CRM for the Education Sector
With an ever evolving curriculum and increasing government targets, the UK education sector is highly diverse and results driven. This, coupled with economic, technical and cultural changes has made the educational environment extremely competitive. All institutions are striving to increase student loyalty, ensure each year's quota is full and ultimately gain a competitive advantage over rivals.
Rapid advances in technology and developments in IT software have separated the educational institutions which thrive and those which just survive. Some institutions have embraced the IT revolution as an opportunity and have subsequently done well. Others less so; it is these educational institutions which will ultimately pay the price. After all, complacency of any type is not positive and within the education environment is more likely to lead to failure.
Within every type of organisation there are often several different ways to store information and the education sector is no exception. It just depends which department you work in, as to which method you use. Some employees will use spreadsheets, others will use paper files and there will be a few who store all the information in their head. However, this in itself will cause problems as there will be significant gaps in knowledge across the organisation. It is gaps in knowledge which can result in a poor level of customer service and ultimately student retention.
However, CRM solutions have revolutionised the way many organisations in the education sector operate. Customer Relationship Management Software provides educational institutions with a central point to store information relating to all their contacts whether they are suppliers, customers or competitors. CRM provides schools, colleges and universities with a method of improving efficiency. It is all about building relationships with customers to ensure they remain loyal at the same time as attracting new customers.
The term Customer Relationship Management is at the least misleading as the strategy, software and processes apply equally to the management of every relationship - irrespective of who the relationship is between. This is a concept which Microsoft has branded xRM , where the 'x' can be replaced with anything you like whether it is 'Student', 'Tutor' or 'Alumni'.
Professionally implemented Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems enable educational organisations to store all their data centrally, eliminating duplication of effort and providing all staff with access to the same data. This in turn enables the institution to become more customer centric. It also provides employees with all the tools and features to help them to run more targeted marketing campaigns, improve forecasting and greatly enhance the customer experience - whether the customer is a student, prospect or parent. Essentially a Student Relationship Management system will enable a school, college or university to build and strengthen their relationship with prospects and students.
The benefits of implementing a CRM solution in the education sector include:
- One centralised database - providing a complete view of all prospects, customers and suppliers
- Improved communication - between students and staff as well as between different members of staff
- Administrative tasks are made much easier - as a result of automation
- Enhanced staff efficiency and effectiveness through streamlined processes
However, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) will not only enhance the relationship side of an educational institution. For schools, colleges and universities involved in Employer Engagement strategies such as Train to Gain (the government initiative to encourage businesses to train their staff) CRM can help them to sell their training. But an educational institution doesn't have to be involved in Train to Gain to benefit from CRM, it will provide benefits irrespective of which schemes they are involved and may help to achieve the Training Quality Standard (TQS).
Concentrix has helped several educational establishments to improve their operations through implementing a CRM system. We supply the best in breed CRM solutions including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage CRM and FrontRange's Goldmine. Our customers in the education sector include, Bradford College, Grantham College and Darlington College. We've also deployed systems for the Learning Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) and SummitSkills - the sector skills council for the Building and Plumbing Industry.
Integrated CRM and Finance Solutions for the Education Sector
For many organisations in the Education sector including schools, colleges and universities accounting activity using accounting software has been a must for a number of years. Just as accounting moved being a manual process to being performed by software, CRM software has changed from being a nice to have to being an essential component for providing educational establishments with a competitive advantage.
However, although educational organisations very often implement CRM solutions to provide one centralised source of data, this can be undermined by using a different accounts solution in the back office. If for example office staff are using a different system to tutors and lecturers, there will be duplication of effort in terms of inputting information. What's more there may be conflicting contact details for the same student which means that confidential information has the potential to get into the wrong hands.
However, implementing an integrated CRM and Accounts solutions will provide organisations in the education sector with a link between the front and back office systems providing a full view of students, prospects and lecturers. Through using an integrated CRM and Accounts solution, staff will have an increased level of student and supplier knowledge which will enable them to deliver an exceptional level of service and ensure student loyalty at the same time as increasing profitability.
Concentrix takes a product agnostic approach to supplying ERP software and provides the mid-market solutions Sage 200 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
IT Security for the Education Sector
The majority of educational institutions now have some sort of reliance on technology to assist in the day to day running. However as the reliance on technology has increased, so too has the security threat from malicious attacks. After all, an educational institutions most important asset is its data and this can be easily corrupted by viruses or spam.
The prevalence of viruses and spam is nothing new and as a result, the majority of organisations have software in place to protect against it. However there is a new type of threat which is catching lots of organisations out, this is the threat of data leakage from internal sources.
Data leakage has become an increasing problem as a result of the availability of portable storage devices such as USB sticks and DVD's. It is now easier than ever for an individual to copy large amounts of data and either use it to their own personal advantage or sell it in order to make a few quick pounds and this needs to be protected against. In the education sector, this is particularly important as much of the information is highly confidential and sensitive.
Concentrix takes a product agnostic approach to supplying software and provides security products from leading suppliers including GFI, Sophos and Watchguard. Through implementing one of these solutions you can rest assured your data will be safe.