Chancellor’s Customer Service Excellence Award – TEAM Nomination 2012

Kennesaw State University Enrollment Services Strategic Communications Project

This submission is to nominate KSU’s “Strategic Communications Center” which is a unit within Enrollment Services andalso consists of Registrar, Admissions, Financial Aid and Student Marketing.

S.M.A.R.T.Introduction:

KSU has become the University System of Georgia’s third largest university with over 24,000 students. As a result, front line Enrollment Service offices have encountered an increased volume of inbound telephone traffic which has become awkward and impersonal to handle. Increased calls have distracted customer service attention regarding front counter duties and diminished quality control.

Calls often become complex and involve emotional complications and are compounded with unwelcome transfers to other offices for resolution. Frequent topics for first responders include: residency, eligibility, deadlines, lawful presence, requirements, appointments, testing, research, explanations, scheduling, directions, appeals, reinstatements and untold time consuming issues. Peak season activity addswait time to access services. This frustrates student customers and often creates poor public relations and image problems.

By design, Call Center Agents provide initial information for Enrollment Services inquiries to resolve issues. If the matter is too complex or beyond the authority of the agent a call back ticket (business practice) is created and directed to a designated departmental staff person for scheduled follow up.

Specific

Initially, the Strategic Communications Center was implemented as a central Voice Over Internet Provider (VOIP technology) Call Center to restore personal high touch care via state of the art high tech tools. The project was launched in 2011 with the assistance of the Governor’s Office of Customer Service using the AVAYA Call Center Solution product. Within the year it eventually morphed into a unique strategic in-bound and out-bound communications role with impressive impact for the division.

The Call Center began as a centralized inbound clearinghouse to handle calls on a personal level. It was designed to improve customer service for current and prospective students regarding optimal enrollment support. As a result it has directly contributed to an unexpected level of increased operational competency which has significantly benefited the campus enterprise, but most noticeably our students and other audiences that must engage the university for enrollment matters.

The strategy to pool front-end inbound call reception in a common facility has boosted “first call triage resolutions” and created a skilled, cross-trained personnel resourcetalent base that has become a powerhouse of reliable University knowledge. Additionally, the cross pollination of departmental information has added a confidence levelwhich further galvanizes the Division of Enrollment Services as an enhanced campus player well beyond previous silo models.

Measureable

Within 90 days appreciable data was collected and compared using AVAYA analytics. Frist call resolution outcome was the initial objective to prevent unnecessary call transfers and therefore achieving customer satisfaction with the original call. Data quickly revealed that as each week passed first call resolutions went from (69%) to (88%) as of June 7, 2012. As a bonus, the departments began to report a significant drop in actual student visits to the front counter. This was further documented by student comments via the Survey Monkey tool option. Students offered voluntary feedback following calls which provides evidence of satisfaction. When considering the testimonials one can see that the Call Center is delivering a courteous, helpful, accessible, responsive and knowledgeable high touch service.

  1. 89,418 total calls handled to date (6/6/12) of this nomination
  2. 92,310 tickets were created, number of tickets resolved in Call Center: 81604 (88.4%)*
  3. 1,403 total surveys voluntarily submitted

(*Some calls generate multiple tickets to resolve issues.)

Sample Survey Testimonies:

  1. Excellent friendly service! As a freshman parent it was so nice to have this level of support so that we do things right the first time! Thank you so very much! 2/21/12
  1. In the past, it has been the worst... Almost IMPOSSIBLE to speak with someone. This was my first time calling in about 8 months, and I experienced and incredible amount of improvement! I'm glad! 2/22/12
  1. I just have to say that coming into KSU as an adult learner who has been out of school for many years everyone I have come into contact with thus far has been very friendly, courteous, and more than happy to help me with any questions that I have. They don't seem annoyed by any of my questions and are very patient with me. For that I am very grateful. Keep up the good work! 3/8/12
  1. The KSU representative who answered my call was especially kind and patient. I was really glad I did call. It was a highly efficient process overall, and I am glad I did not have to make the trip to KSU for my inquiry. 5/23/12
  1. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of help I received when I called. I have not had this experience at other colleges, which is one of the reasons why I applied to KSU. I was made to feel like I mattered and all of my questions were answered with a positive and friendly attitude. My immediate thought when I hung up the phone was "KSU ROCKS!" I now want to attend this University even more. 5/16/12

Accomplishments

Several outcomes were realized that resulted in win – win gains for the campus, students and departments:

  1. Dedicated Function: The new structure has provided for a dedicated service and undisturbed space that is not distracted with “walk-in” traffic. Agents can fully focus on the call and not have to multi-task among competing phones, visitors nor other projects that must be completed at the expense of inbound calls.
  1. Shared Space: The Call Center was implemented in a cooperative spirit within an existing telephone survey lab which was not being used during the day.
  1. Merged roles and Space Utilization: The Call Center’s primary purpose was soon expanded to include an “Outbound” recruitment calling function. This was so successful that an existing outbound calling operation in another part of the Division/campus has been administratively realigned to merge which will allow for more efficient management.
  1. Central Knowledge Base: The Call Center is driven by common Customer Relation Management (CRM) software which contains a knowledge base archive of quickly retrievable facts relating to questions and answers. This system is the core of information which the Telephone Associates (Telecounselors) use to address questions posed by students, parents, spouses, guidance counselors, etc.
  1. Management: The merger of similar staff roles allows for better orchestrated phone projects and accountability. Central supervision, planning and training produce more efficiency and better bottom line results for reporting and student satisfaction.
  1. Analytics: The AVAYA software includes a range of metrics and tracking tools which allows for the assessment of the Center’s performance. It reports overall call volume from an enterprise perspective to individual associate’s performance. Data can be extracted to analysis peak days, hours and reason for calls.
  1. Surveys: The Call Center soon added an optional “on-line” survey giving students an opportunity to evaluate the service. Topics range from “Friendliness and technical navigation ease to Knowledge of subject and Overall satisfaction”.

Time frame

The Call Center was conceived in the fall of 2010 and a project driver was named. After several meetings, research and field trip a working committee was assembled and began meeting in late Springof 2011 with a timetable to launch the Call Center in September or October of 2011. A strategic decision was made to bring up Registrar, Admissions and Recruitmentbefore the first of the new -year. Financial Aid was scheduled to come up last in January, allowing ample time for Financial Aid training and any adjustments, so to not overload the system. The Call Center went live Thursday October 27, 2011 and we have not looked back. The plan was flawless, with very few glitches. Upon reflection all parties involved have deemed the project a success.

Results

  1. Reduced Calls and Visits: Within 90 days Enrollment Service Departments began to report a reduction in both calls and office walk-in traffic. This has permitted staff to redirect their time to other duties and expedite work within the office.
  1. Maximized Space: The outcome was shared common space which prevented the need to duplicate or build and expand other quarters to accommodate the facility.
  1. Knowledge Base Archive: The Call Center - CRM has become the core of facts and information about the University. It is dynamic and can be updated within minutes for all users. The Knowledge Base has become the trusted “go to” source of reliable KSU factoids and policy inventory for quick reference.
  1. Training Laboratory: The Center naturally became an enriched learning environment making training more efficient and accelerated by using the CRM knowledge base archive.
  1. Mergers: Student marketing outreach/recruitment and inbound triage calls are often similar duties. These similarities were a natural fit to expand reach using blended staff to toggle between roles as seasons demanded. The piggy back arrangement adds deep value to the Center becoming a Strategic Communications Center.
  1. Multimedia: The most recent realization is that the Call Center has morphed into a multi-faceted and versatile full service strategic communication resource. It now is poised to deploy agents to home platforms again freeing up space. Additionally, it has harnessed inbound and outbound voice communications, but now is transforming to use email and Chat to reach audiences in a variety of preferences and timetables beyond traditional work hours.
  1. Guest Visits: As an unexpected complement, we were requested by the Governor’s Office of Customer Service to host an Open House in March 2011 to showcase the Call Center. Four dates were arranged and 16 colleges with over 90 people from USG and TCSG attended the sessions to see the operation. Since then other agencies such as GSFC, UGA have visited the Center.
  1. Reports: The AVAYA analytics feature is “on demand” and provides valuable data to determine scheduling, staffing, trends and accountability. The data is very useful for overall divisional planning and forecasting as well as validation.
  1. Crises Management: As an unexpected outcome… the KSU Central Administration has viewed the operation as a bonus resource in case of campus crises. It offers an alternative communications venue to handle announcements, notifications, call reception and a 24 hour central control headquarters if necessary. Terrorism, tornado, floods, fire, shooters and any threat to the campus can be better addressed with this facility.
  1. National Video: AT&T made a proposal in May to feature KSU’s Call Center in an industry case study video which will be shown nationally. Production will take place over the summer of 2012 and be available for the public in early Fall. The purpose will be to showcase our state of the art approach and permit AT&T a venue to offer services to other universities that may be considering a Call Center implementation.

Conclusion

In less than a year the success of the KSU Enrollment Services Strategic Communications Call Center project has been impressive and attracted broad attention from a variety of external audiences. It is a flexible system that lends itself to pinpoint tracking and accountability on multiple fronts which can also better support decision makers.

The Call Center benefits have propelled KSU to a new level of customer serviceperformance equal to the demands of our market area. Document feedback indicates a high degree of satisfaction that is expected from a university level institution. Our peers have also been complementary and sought further advice regarding how to implement a similar operation.

We are excited to have this nomination opportunity. Additionally, we wish to thank the USG for this venue to share our innovation andto spotlight what we have accomplished in order to better serve our customers.

Submitted by:

Joe F. Head

Special Advisor to Enrollment Services

Kennesaw State University

770 499 3575 or 678 797 2895

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