University Business - March 2010 - (Page 1)

ADVERTISEMENT Remember the Lifetime Value of a Student – and Handle With Care Campus Commerce Can Help it or Hurt it, So Choose Vendors Wisely The social media revolution has ccording to Forrester Regiven dissatisfied customers more search, customer relationpower than ever. Remember the ship management (CRM) statistics about the typical angry cusis an $11 billion industry. Busitomer telling between eight and 10 nesses clearly see the value of not other people about their problem? only winning new customers but Today they can instantly air their nurturing and retaining those they grievances to an audience of thoualready have. sands. And, whether deserved or If there were ever a customer not, the bad press never goes away. relationship that requires taking Some schools know this all too the long view, it’s the one between well. Time will tell whether their disa college or university and a stusatisfied customers come back into dent. Students pay the bills today, and their donations as alumni build How will students feel if they the fold, or to what degree their lifetomorrow’s buildings. Many send know their private information time value diminished. their kids to their alma maters. IdeChoose Partners Wisely ally, they are “customers” for life. is given to a campus vendor Under pressure to curb expenses and Higher Education knows this without their consent? boost efficiency in the business ofand is investing in CRM like never fice, many schools outsource a host before. Some institutions, however, of commerce functions. It makes might not think twice about giving sense for certain things like parking away their CRM data. Some vendors want a piece of that lifetime value, and not necessarily with a or foodservice. But when it comes to students’ money and personal information, choose your partners with care and monitor what school’s best interests in mind. Choose them with caution. they do with it. If they are dealing directly with your students, vendors are Touch Points and Hot Buttons The special bond between alumni and their school would make more than vendors. They are representatives of your institution even the most successful businesses envious. It is shaped in large and its image. Even if billing or another business office funcpart by their time on campus and the many touch points in the tion is handled by a third party, everything is associated with the school. If the billing duties are in a vendor’s hands, so are your student experience. Key touch points include the classroom experience, but also “customers,” and so is control of that ever-important touch point advisory and placement services, housing and foodservice, even in the student experience. When choosing any vendor, an institution should ask if the athletics. Another is billing/refunds. Sure, it’s mundane, but also one of the most important. After all, if money matters can wreck vendor’s revenues and profits come from the institution or from marriages and family relationships, they can jeopardize student re- students. And, at the end of the day, does the service elevate the school in a student’s mind, or pull it down? lationships, too. Remember, what happens on campus no longer stays on camFor instance, how will students feel if they know their private information is given to a campus vendor without their consent? pus. Dissatisfaction can cost you big time today, and even more What if a vendor uses that information to peddle unsolicited prod- down the road. The lifetime value of your students is too imporucts and services? What if the same vendor attaches strings to a tant to leave in someone else’s hands. student’s money? http://www.touchnet.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - March 2010

University Business - March 2010
Contents
Editor’s Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Financial Aid
Human Resources
Viewpoint
Money Matters
Community Colleges as Economic Saviors
Web Content Needs - Solved
Paths to the Presidency
What’s New
End Note

University Business - March 2010