Forthcoming CRM-SLRM Call for Funding
Next week we will be releasing a CRM-SLRM Call for Funding with two components:
- Customer/Partner Relatiosnhip Management (CRM) process improvement pilots
- Student Lifecycle Relationship Management (SLRM) pilot projects
This call is also under JISC’s emerging theme of Relationship Management, which explores the links between the entire student lifecycle (from prospective student to alumni to employee) and interactions with business and community partners.
The CRM component represents Phase 2 of the BCE CRM work , which will put into practice the CRM Self-analysis Framework developed in Phase 1 (see www.nottingham.ac.uk/graddschool/crm)
CRM is positioned within the BCE programme stream ‘Enhancing Knowledge Management’, which aims to support institutions in developing sustainable systems and ICT strategies for management and exploitation of their knowledge assets, enabling the following benefits:
i. Integrated management and exploitation of business critical knowledge assets for enhanced BCE;
ii. Easier reporting and more informed and resource-efficient strategic decision-making;
iii. More effective management and promotion of resultant knowledge/expertise, offers and related business and market intelligence.
As a whole, the BCE CRM work has the following objectives: To enable institutions to map, manage and optimise partnerships and relationships on an enterprise-wide basis, focussing on the strategically important ones;
- To provide institutions with support and guidance on CRM processes, systems, risks and benefits to enable financial savings and operational improvements;
- To encourage institutions to consider the longer-term benefits of more integrated/interoperable models.
Here’s some further information to bear in mind when reading the Call.
As the JISC 2007 CRM study by the KSA Partnership noted, CRM is often viewed as a panacea to solve a range of problems, the roots of which lie elsewhere. The study concluded:
- that both CRM deployment and the CRM functionality used across the sector was generally underdeveloped;
- the importance of cross-institutional business process review before procurement;
- that partnership relationship management (PRM) may be more appropriate for HEIs working with such a disparate range of partners;
- that there are largely untapped opportunities for cross-selling, relationship management, targeted marketing, strategic knowledge management and resource management.
The Study found that the lack of CRM development in the sector is typified by ‘islands’ of CRM with little connection, the main barriers being cultural (resistance to change), operational (multiple narrowly-focussed operations, multiple partner/client types), and procedural and system/data related (migration/change).
The study concluded that if business, employer and community expectations are to be satisfied, institutions need to take up the significant challenge of integrating client-facing systems into a consistent operation. The benefits of effective CRM are well-documented in other sectors but an optimum usage of CRM can help institutions:
- become more business-like and customer/partner-focused;
- integrate information, knowledge, resource & record management to enable improved strategic oversight, risk management, financial analysis, cost savings and operational efficiency;
- support, manage and connect knowledge transfer/exchange, alumni engagement and employer engagement[1]including facilitating the three way dynamic between institution, learner and employer;
- segment their customers, partners and markets more clearly to enable a more focussed, resource-efficient and effective marketing approach, particularly when linked to central marketing strategy;
- develop a stronger basis for articulation of offers and services and for the tailoring of these to specific client needs, enabling a managed provision of knowledge and expertise services (e.g. consultancy, continuing professional development) to targeted client and partners;
- provide clearer channels for engagement and communication for clients and partners, enabling more confidence in the institution’s management of the interaction and a sense that they are ‘valued customers’
- develop more accurate reporting of enterprise interactions both for internal benchmarking and quality, and for external reporting (HESA, HE-BCI Survey);
- develop better business intelligence, strategic management, supply-chain management and business cross-selling opportunities.
However, CRM processes and systems, if inconsistently used or implemented, can just as easily damage customer value as create it. The quality of the data is often the deciding factor in the success or failure of an implemented system. This is partly dependent on clear usage policies, procedures and protocols, which need to be communicated, accepted and adhered to, if the resultant information is to be reliable.
The message behind Phase 1, the CRM Self-analysis Framework is ‘look before you leap’; it’s probabaly best for an institution / department not to purchase a CRM software system until there is a clear, shared understanding of the precise business processes that the system will support, the ‘critical path’ within those processes and the policies which will control and enable the usage of the system.
Happy bidding, as they say on a well-known online service!
[1] See BCE Employer Engagement Pilot CRM4UNI http://www.sugarforge.org/projects/crm4uni/
Resources available from the JISC Advisory Services
This post aims to highlight a range of resources already available to support Business and Community Engagement provided by the JISC Advisory Services. General resources from each of the JISC Advisory Services may well be of benefit to all so it’s well worth taking a look around each of their websites:
- JISC Digital Media: www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk
- JISC infoNet: www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk
- JISC Legal: www.jisclegal.ac.uk
- JISC Netskills: www.netskills.ac.uk
- JISC Procureweb: www.procureweb.ac.uk
- JISC TechDis: www.techdis.ac.uk
Each service has produced a range of resources focussed on BCE including general guidance, online training and publications.
The Guardian: Barriers rising between business and universities
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 March 2009 11.12 GMT
Business leaders are increasingly frustrated with university red tape and “unrealistic expectations” of how much research discoveries are worth, says a report from Imperial College Business School today.
Getting universities to work with industry to commercialise academic research is a key government policy and ministers have earmarked £150m a year to promote it. Innovation is constantly hailed by ministers as a route out of the current recession.
But the report, seen exclusively by the Guardian, suggests universities have used the extra funding to set up offices to liaise with industry, and to patent and licence the knowledge created from research. According to firms dealing with universities, this has led to a “rising tide” of bureaucracy, says Dr Ammon Salter, a co-author of the Advanced Institute of Management report.
Read the full story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/12/business-research-spin-outs
Inaugural BCE Programme Meeting
Over 30 delegates took part in the inaugural BCE Programme Meeting held in Daventry, Northamptonshire on 5th/6th March 2009. The meeting brought together a wide range of project and programme stakeholders to discuss various topics outlined below.
The purpose of the event was to create a shared sense of purpose among BCE projects, celebrate achievements so far and provide guidance on evaluation, dissemination and sustainability. Following an introduction to the event by Simon Whittemore, the day commenced with a light hearted BCE quiz compered by Andy Stewart, which gave delegates an opportunity to get to know one another, as well as the wider BCE agenda.
Where, what, how, when, who?
Discussions at both the Advisory Services Away Day and the recent BCE Programme Start-Up meeting highlighted the variety of information sources and tools available to access BCE information across JISC. This post aims to summarise some of what is available relating specifically to BCE…