Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Milovic Boris
Faculty of Sports, Union Nikola Tesla University
Abstract.In the work of higher education institutions there is a need for Customer
Relationship Management CRM which will help to create and maintain relationships
with existing and potential students. The goal is to find, attract and create a positive
image of higher education institution in order to become respected in wide circles and
ultimately attract potential donors. Academic institutions increasingly perceive students
as users of their services. Implementation of CRM solutions in these institutions
enables them to create a strong relationships with students and other interested parties
(alumni, parents, staff, donors, etc.). The possibility of distance learning, web
development, electronic commerce, the emergence of a large number of different
faculties have contributed to the development and implementation of CRM project in
higher education. Perception of the students as customer provides a competitive
advantage for higher education and increases the capacity for educational institutions
to attract, retain and serve its customers.
Key words:customer relationship management; CRM; e-CRM; higher education; high
education institutions; online learning.
1.
INTRODUCTION
Events in today's economy, scientific and technological revolution and information era
create a complex environment that impose a constant necessity to maintain adjustment
and innovation in all areas of life. Education as the main driving force and the base of
every society requires special attention when it comes to adapting the concept of the
educational system, as well as continuous review of its efficiency and competitiveness.
CRM strategy of non-profit institutions at its core in the higher education sector
includes colleges, high schools and universities. The term CRM is implemented in the
operations of every institution in the higher education sector, but it is not recognized as
CRM strategy. Its role in this segment is to offer and to customize the behavior of the
institution on education market, since they affect the lives of people from local
communities, on the way of life, and particularly the status in society. Higher education
institutions are organizations focused on providing services and certain factors that are
part of the marketing activities are found. All institutions have: Product offered courses
of study, schooling, multimedia classrooms, lessons in nature, sports associations; Service
teaching, finding the company where they will perform professional practice (such as
additional services), library and information services, personal development programs;
customers (targeted group) potential students;Cost tuition, fees, etc..; distribution
the place to transfer knowledge from teachers to students (can be physically in the
classroom, but today there is more and more online use of personal computer through
various portals for e-learning); competition other colleges and universities that offer the
same or similar programs of study. In this case, higher education institutions could carry
out targeted marketing, which means that the institution has chosen one or more market
segments and developed a specific offer to meet the needs.
Higher education has expanded remarkably in recent decades. Growth is, by all
measures, fasterthan anticipated. Projections gave 120 million students worldwide by
2020, but that number hasalready been achieved (Daniel, Kanwar, & Uvalic-Trumbic,
2006).Over the past decade, growth in student enrollment in some European countries is
presented in the following table, showing a significant rate of increase in the number of
students:
Table 1: Student enrollment trends (Unesco Institute for Statistics, 2012)
Student enrollment trends in public and private universities in European
countries
Country
1999
2009
%
Austria
252,893.00
308,150.00
82,07
Belgium
351,788.00
425,219.00
82,73
Cyprus
10,842.00
30,986.00
34,99
Denmark
189,970.00
234,574.00
80,99
Finland
262,890.00
296,691.00
88,61
France
2,012,193.00
2,172,855.00
92,61
Iceland
8,462.00
16,919.00
50,01
Ireland
151,137.00
182,609.00
82,77
Israel
246,806.00
342,707.00
72,02
Italy
1,797,241.00
2,011,713.00
89,34
Malta
5,768.00
10,352.00
55,72
Netherlands
469,885.00
618,502.00
75,97
Norway
187,482.00
219,282.00
85,50
Portugal
356,790.00
373,002.00
95,65
Spain
1,786,778.00
1,800,834.00
99,22
Sweden
335,124.00
422,580.00
79,30
Switzerland
156,390.00
233,488.00
66,98
United Kingdom
2,080,960.00
2,415,222.00
86,16
Understanding the factors and circumstances that create a market environment is a
primary goal of modern-oriented higher education institutions in order to align the offer
with current demands and define the appropriate CRM strategy. CRM strategy
Strength of CRM lies in its necessary foundation: strong database, network speed,
ERP (Enterprise resource planning) automation of back-office functions, acceptance of
the Internet, and communications technologies. CRM is a business strategy that
encompasses the entire organization and it is designed to optimize revenue and customer
satisfaction by organizing institution based on customer segments. Developing a CRM
system in higher education institutions is not always as easy transition as it is in the
business sphere. Therefore, CRM technologies, applications and processes require
adaptation to the distinct characteristics of the institution. This strategy can bring a
serious change in the existing organizational culture and behavior (Fayerman, 2002).
CRM infrastructure is consisted of four components, information, processes,
technology and people. Each of these four components is critical in delivering successful
CRM program (Virgiyanti, Bakar, & Tufail, 2010).
One of the biggest challenges for vendors of CRM solutions for the education sector
is the ability to develop solutions specific to the department level, where processes are
unique to individual departments, and also the ability to deliver solutions at the corporate
level so that information can be stored, resources shared and cooperation increased.
2.
technology, want to be more in control of their environment for education.On the other
hand, in the new learning environment, faculty and student services are closely linked,
dynamically sharing resources and strategies to enable student learning (Lvanya, 2011).
Prerequisite of the satisfaction is that higher educational institution creates and
provides students with a greater value than the competition. This value is what makes
students choose to purchase and use products/services of particular higher education
institution. Every higher education institution seeks to provide customers with a
product/service that will bring them additionalvalue. In this way it differs from
competitors, and throughout the meeting of the needs of customer it can influence their
satisfaction and thus retain them. By understanding the elements that constitutes, i.e. give
satisfaction to the students, management of the higher education institution can "manage"
customer satisfaction.
Reliability
Pro4duct Quality
Situational Factors
Responsiveness
Assurance
Service Quality
Customer
Satisfaction
Empathy
Prices
Tangibles
Personal Factors
in a far more efficient and fun way.The fact that makes them powerful is the number of
users that is increasing indefinitely from day to day.Different profiles of users of social
networks with different interests will create their own groups within the network and thus
it will make it easier to find targeted group.Through a profile on social networks, higher
education institutions can look for potential students, invite interested parties to organized
events and carry out a complete marketing campaign.Higher education institution can
daily add new contents, video clips and articles about the school on its profile and thus
control the image of the school where theres always something happening, that
cooperate, organize, monitor and take care of its students.The advantage of this method of
communication with the targeted group and the general public is also measurable, since
within a social network, it can be found out who is our "friend", how many we have, what
age they are, education level, their interests and similar information. Any educational
institution can afford its profile on social networks regardless of their budget.
Students require a high level of access to information about their options, performance
and their future. They also require that technological resources are an integral part of their
educational experience. Standards for access to High education institutions and student
services have changed as students want virtual access to resources of university and
student services. The old ways of interacting with students are becoming unsustainable
as the expectation that students stand in line for hours while instead they can choose an
institution that can respond to their needs, with the appropriate layout, using virtual
support system (Grant & Anderson, 2002).
All institutions of higher education have a variety of stakeholders, and while each
institution must work to satisfy them, the stakeholder with the most influence is the
customer the student (Seeman & OHara, 2006). Students are categorized as primary
beneficiaries of education and should therefore be viewed as customers (Yeo, 2008). The
most common understanding of service quality is its connection with the participation of
professors and students in relation with the certain level of professionalism/intimacy,
which directly affects the immediate and lifetime learning. In managing the student
participation in the education process, the quality of the experience as perceived by them
will depend on their values and expectations (Telford & Masson, 2005). The emphasis on
continuous improvement is the key for sustainability of quality services.
Seen from the perspective of CRM, the concept of student life cycle can be divided
into phases that students go through when considering and using the services of
educational institutions. Phases through which the student passes during its life cycle are
as follows (Nair, Chan, & Fang, 2007):
provide long-term returns for the organization in the form of alumni donations, which can
persist for years after graduation. Wrong users are those who do not offer this type of
long-term revenue but also they are inadequate because of the critical features of
academic preparation and benefits they are seeking from higher education. Wrong users
have the ability to drive away high-risk right users. Right users must be retained, wrong
users must be allowed to drop out and risky right users must be recovered. Strategies
must be set to their proper placeso that institution can achieve its competitive goals and
long-term profitability. Institutions need to timely detect high-risk students to prevent
them to transfer to another institution or to prevent them to drop out. CRM has to identify
risk factors so that teachers can intervene in time to encourage students to continue their
education at the institution.Withdrawals from the university can take place at any stage in
the institution-student relationship. Once the relationship has broken down, the likelihood
of de-registration and formal withdrawal is high. Universities and colleges need to
manage each of the stages in the relationship life cycle, even though the service staff at
each stage may be different. A whole college and coherent strategy of retention is
necessary. In addition, retention strategies need to embrace all stages in the life cycle of
student(Rowley, 2003).
Student loyalty after graduation is different from a simple customer loyalty to the
product. It includes activities such as providing students with information regarding
employment, providing practices for current students, holding a reception for prospective
students to talk about the institution, maintaining contact with other students who
completed their education, helping in fundraising for the school, attending alumni
meetings, and other related activities (Ehigie, 2009). It is important that school stays in
touch with former students because they can engage in activities that will help promote
the image of the school. Student loyalty after graduation depends on the efficiency of
managing the expectations of student performance, service and satisfaction with the
services they received as students. Based on student satisfaction for the time spent at
university their future loyalty to the university can be predicted. The school must provide
appropriate services to students so the loyalty may remain even after graduation.
Consideration of the school needs to go in the direction of academic and social services,
because both areas are very important for student loyalty after graduation.
CRM business strategy is intended to provide support to students during the
recruitment and enrollment. Marketing and management processes and applications can
provide support and recruitment for enrollment and fundraising. The institution may
target specific groups, using data analysis to determine which potential candidate would
be likely to sign up. Personalized mails campaigns are run using e-mail and traditional
mail. With each e-mail, the potential candidate would receive a personal identification
code to access the university. To all candidates who do not respond in any way (Internet,
e-mail, phone, fax, etc.) would again have been accompanying e-mail message (Grant &
Anderson, 2002).
CRM for administrative systems of High education institutions also provide true selfmaintaining system that encourages an administrative team to review the investment of
administrative resources in institutional services.Transferringresponsibility for the
information to students and faculty members, and encouraging them to complete the
relevant processes and secure access to vital information, administrators can focus on
High education institutions should take into account all, including current, former,
prospective students, parents, faculty staff, government organizations, vendors, corporate
sponsors and the entire community. These users can be grouped into three categories:
consumers, business users and internal users. Each user group has to interact with
different functional areas of a college or university. Knowing the user's interest, identified
through historical records, can enhance all interactions and overall relationships that
higher education institutions has with its customers. Conversion of historical information
into the user's knowledge can be useful for customers as well as higher education
institutions. A set of processes and technologies that can together convert customer
information into user knowledge is in fact customer relationship management CRM.
Technical innovations have made CRM a reliable, affordable and implementable
technology (Fayerman, 2002).The rapid development of CRM system, as pointed out is
related to the development of information communication technology and the Internet.
information. The best approach is to develop a customer data warehouse, and delivery
channels such as tools for campaign management and customer service applications.
Collaborative architecture provides a single point contacts through the organizational
portals and analytical systems that allow decision makers to analyze customer
information (Fayerman, 2002).
4.
Academic institutions have far less problems in terms of computer literacy of their
customers than companies that work with the public, so therefore it doesnt surprise quick
adopting of CRM concept and endeavor to make a concept of preparation and conducting
the teachings more appropriate to the moment and state of the facts. In this sense there is
the recommendation to definitely consider implementing the following activities:
with alumni and donors at all stages and fund-raising activities, and improves
relationships with alumni with application of customized and targeted information
towards users through the appropriate contact mechanisms (Fayerman, 2002). Benefits of
CRM application in the educational progress are increased campaign efficiency and
intermediation, increased average amount of donations, increased user satisfaction,
reduced costs of campaigns, and increased alumni participation.
CRM technological tools available in the field of education make possible to exploit
the potential of databases, data mining systems and interaction technologies with the aim
to collect and store large amounts of information about the characteristics and behaviors
of students, and to create knowledge about them that would be made available to teachers
so that they can more effectively contribute to the educational process of students.
However, conventional technologies are limited to collecting and analyzing information
about student behavior and virtual environment; especially when students work together
in carrying out educational activities (Daradoumis, Rodrguez-Ardura, Faulin, Juan,
Xhafa, & Martnez-Lpez, 2010).
CRM brings the following advantages to higher education institutions (Miloevi,
2006):
CRM system for higher education institutions allows users to consolidate the list of
students and alumni in a central database. This includes e-mail marketing tools that
monitor responses and calculate return on investment. Students questions can be
monitored and can immediately respond to them. Tools for event management can
manage invitations and reminders. Options of retention and improvement facilitate a
long-term relationship with students through integrated student information systems and
systems management courses. The control panel will allow users to view reports and
analysis ofenrolment and campaign results and other data (5 Best CRM for Higher
Education, 2011).
Management of the relationship may be a key strategy for coping with the challenges
unique to higher education institutions, like usually politicized environment, a strong
emphasis on building consensus, problems with funding and budget and individual or
faculty power of veto. Significant changes in the expectations of incoming students also
contribute to the importance of relationship management strategies. Customer
relationship management is a holistic, integrated approach which is applied across the
organization to manage customer relationships in relation to time. Often, it requires a
dramatic change in IT management. Nature of relationship management in IT today and
its significance for higher educational environment provides a framework for
understanding how its successful execution can dramatically improve the way the user
sees IT. Relationship management strategy helps to match IT resources to the
requirements of the organization, and it can help to mitigate the usual criticisms of IT
such as (Conant, 2003):
in which all users of institutions can benefit from increased access to information and
services (Grant & Anderson, 2002):
Students, alumni, faculty members and staff can access and update information
from any device with Internet anywhere in the world;
The evolution of "point-to-point" integration between applications and databases
which includes a facility with an integrated library of business rules and
workflow processes will blur the differences between students, finance, alumni,
and human resource systems;
The need for the customer base becomes the focus rather than strict procedural
structure that is the focus of the present systems;
Administrative systems are seamlessly integrated with instructional computing
and communication systems.
CONCLUSION
Customer relationship management creates the perfect relationship between the seller
and the buyers - between the school and its students.In a dynamic and competitive
environment, the future success of educational institutions is based on the ability to
differentiate themselves from competitors and build up a significant relationship not only
with current students, but also with potential. To achieve this, one must use the full
potential of the internal systems through the integration and use of CRM that provides
easy access to the disseminated information from all types of databases and resources,
while maintaining the necessary high quality of services provided to students (Virgiyanti,
Bakar, & Tufail, 2010). Improving the reputation of the faculty with potential students,
increasing the rate of registration and enrollment, and increasing student satisfaction, are
only one part of a comprehensive CRM solution. This solution must also provide reduced
costs while also maximizing revenue. CRM for higher education sector should be
possible to achieve these goals and also to develop valuable relationships with students
throughout their life cycle.
Higher education products are highly intangible and have characteristics that limit the
application of marketing framework (Ramachandran, 2010). Emerging CRM processes
and technology will manage the growth of new types of resources and services. Within
higher education organizations, the majority of these new features will be on focused in
CRM. This new level of student-related features and performance will have an impact on
students and the administrative staff and management, faculty, and institutions as a whole
(Grant & Anderson, 2002). For the High education institutions, this means increased
revenue through improved recruitment and retention, reduced recruitment costs,
improved customer service, fasterstudents winning over, increased student satisfaction.
Business of higher education should be focused on the people it serves, and not on
administrative systems. While CRM efforts are often very demanding, the benefitsthat are
eventually obtained are impressive.
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