University of Birmingham success after just 6 months with Gecko!

Another top-ranked UK university says YES to Gecko! In less than 6 months, Gecko Labs have helped the University of Birmingham refine their data collection process and make sure that paper forms and excel spreadsheets are now things of the past – and they see the benefits of it already!

Before implementing Gecko, the University of Birmingham was struggling with a challenge that many institutions face nowadays: Inconsistent data collection. This is usually a direct result of:

• Lack of internal processes
• Different ways of capturing data across multiple departments (spreadsheets, various apps, paper forms)
• Time-consuming tasks such as manually typing paper forms information, homogenising lists, syncing to CRM, following-up after events in your hotel room etc.
• Enquiries stacking up

If no action is taken, this issue can quickly become a competitive disadvantage in terms of student experience, brand image, and staff motivation. The University of Birmingham decided to grab the bull by the horns and contacted Gecko.

We had the honour to be joined by Claire Hawkins – Postgraduate Recruitment Officer at University of Birmingham – during our Gecko session at Hobsons U EMEA, where she shared with her peers how beneficial Gecko have been for the University since its implementation at the end of 2015. Below is just some of what they have achieved in the first 6 months of usage:

• Quick implementation
• Real-time engagement with students
• More than 1500 enquiries captured every month
• Instantaneous CRM synchronisation
• Consistency and improvement in data quality
• Advanced workflows to avoid manual processes
• Ability to measure effectiveness of events, open days, paid ad and mailings
• Ability to segment audience and tailor marketing efforts accordingly
• Strong team engagement with the user friendly technology
• Gecko now adopted beyond international recruitment – with new use cases everyday
• Detailed reporting to make better data-driven decisions

The University of Birmingham can now let Gecko do the ‘dirty work’ and concentrate on real enquiries and strategic decisions. Gecko helped them streamline the flow of information coming in to the university and automate the majority of outbound communications whilst maintaining the personal approach. They now know what channels are performing the best and can allocate their budget accordingly. In 6 months, Gecko and the team at the University of Birmingham managed to effortlessly implement internal changes and modernise processes making life much easier!