There were 3 key challenges for Middlesex
1)Disjointed systems and processes:
Although some Clearing activity has remained the same over the years, for example, outbound calls, the engagement activity disjointed. Not only were they unable to log calls, but they also couldn’t track and manage all the engagements with students during Clearing. For example, seeing the call scripts alongside chat transcripts and emails that they would send. This meant they were not able to monitor the whole student journey.
2) Meeting students expectations in the 21st century:
Meeting the demands of digital natives across multiple platforms was also a challenge for Middlesex. Historically, communication during Clearing was predominantly through phone calls but with new trends and technology, Middlesex needed to adapt their approach to meet the demand of the students.
3) Unprecedented times:
Additionally, while last year Clearing was turbulent as a result of the government doing a u-turn late in the day on A-level results and grades because Middlesex had these sound digital processes in place, there was much less disruption. They pivoted to meet Clearing demands.
The University needed to centralize and standardize the Clearing process to give teams time back to focus on student engagement and experience.
Solution:
By implementing Gecko as Middlesex’s front-facing inquiry channel for Clearing, in addition to using multiple modules in the Gecko platform to diversify new ways to connect to students through chat, Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp, Middlesex was able to lead the trend of meeting students where they are on the digital platform of their choice.
The biggest advantage for Middlesex was the Gecko and Radius integration. They were able to manage interactions through case management within Radius, which is connected to Gecko, and are now able to get closer to that single student view. Ant Bajabee, explains:
“We used Gecko because it had this great integration with both Connect and with Radius. Moving the data between our old Connect instance and our new Radius instance (the same provider) was a manual process and a hassle. We used Gecko’s expertise and functionality to push it to both systems at capture.”
The impact on student experience was significant. Saving the team a huge amount of time allowed them to focus on the student engagement elements of Clearing.
Partners who use Gecko for Clearing
