Ferris State’s admissions office works smarter with Tenfold.
The Admissions Office experiences high call volumes, both inbound and outbound, supporting recruitment efforts, application processing, financial aid assistance and more.
Student data lives in different systems, with different users having various levels of access, which made tracking and collecting relevant data challenging. Tenfold unified their CRM, student data platform and telephony system to make data access and capture a seamless process. As a result, recruitment productivity increased as access to relevant context helped build better relationships with students.
The Challenge
Unifying student data across multiple systems.
The University housed data in Salesforce as well as Banner, their student information system. Different departments, even within admissions, were forced to use different screens to view or input student information. The Admissions Office is staffed by a mix of full-time professionals and student admissions representatives, further complicating the process.
“In a perfect world, we really wanted everybody to just jump on Salesforce or be able to jump on Banner and put notes in the same spot. But because of security reasons, our student callers can’t necessarily have access to certain screens within Banner that our financial aid staff can,” shares Jessica Davison, Coordinator for Communications and Visitor services at Ferris.
Ferris State’s Admissions Office needed updated call notes on each student record to expedite future calls and allow them to build relationships with prospects instead of spending time asking students to repeat and verify information. With the need to receive and make anywhere from 200 to 500 calls each day, the wasted time slowed the teams down.
Jeff Stewart, Assistant Director of Admissions Recruitment at Ferris State describes their previous call logging process as “difficult.” “It was just very time-consuming and tedious at times to have to put it in different areas so that people could run reports off of it, or people could actually see what the result of our calling has been.”
The Solution
Implementing user-friendly, full-feature CTI for Salesforce.
Ferris wanted a system that would allow them to log notes on a call where everyone would see. They didn’t want to cause a drastic change in their current workflow, and finding a solution that would integrate with Salesforce while allowing them to keep their current Avaya phone system was also vital.
Angela Garreyn, Associate Director of Admissions Recruitment shares, “Tenfold had all the features we were looking for. It was a great match for us from a financial standpoint as well.”
The admissions office began using Tenfold in their entire call workflow – from dialing out using click-to-dial, to logging calls into Salesforce through the Tenfold popup.
“It puts everything that we need to know about that student in one spot, and our student representatives are able to access that same screen,” Davidson says.
Tenfold also satisfied Ferris State’s IT requirements. According to Sam Fattore, Manager of Enrollment Technical Services, “We picked Tenfold because of the compatibility with Salesforce. They allowed us to actually keep our 1-800 number, which was one of the biggest factors for us.”
The Results
Smarter data unification increases productivity.
“We have three separate teams on Tenfold right now,” shares Davidson. “Before Tenfold, we spent a lot more time trying to solve problems that really would’ve been solved had we just known who talked to that person and what they said to them. We now have that data within the student record in Salesforce.”
“It’s just really about that relationship building with that student. I can already look at all of the information about that student, get a good idea of who that student is, even before I pick up the phone,” he says. Click-to-dial has also decreased their error rates,” says Jeff Stewart, Assistant Director of Admissions Recruitment.
Garreyn, who oversees the recruitment team, also shares, “From the recruitment standpoint, productivity increased because of the pieces of Tenfold. The popup, click-to-dial, and the information coming in have made the recruiters’ jobs easier.”
Omar Gonzalez, Coordinator of Recruitment, says that the ability to log call notes while in-call has allowed them to reach more students in a shorter amount of time. “I can do it right away automatically while the phone call is in session. When I’m done, Tenfold logs it in, and I move on to the next one.”
Student admissions representatives, known as STARs, also share that their jobs have become easier since using Tenfold.
STAR Carlton Thompson says, “Finding student numbers is a lot more efficient. It sped up the process of figuring out who is calling. Once we have that information, we can answer almost any question that they have, or be able to direct them to the proper people.”
Diana, also a STAR, says that before Tenfold, a call usually lasts about 3 minutes. “With Tenfold, it takes me a minute or two because I can easily access their profile,” she adds.
Shari Chamberlain, Admissions Transfer Counselor, says her favorite Tenfold feature is the Tenfold dashboard. “The dashboard shows us when we receive a lot of calls from students. It helps everyone realize what time of day are the peak calling hours. It’s making us more efficient. I’m spending hours of my day doing the things I need to be doing.”