Higher Ed Leaders Say Technology Delivers a Pathway to Better Experiences, Greater Efficiencies and Safer Campuses

Want to remain relevant and profitable in the shifting higher ed landscape? It’s time to reimagine your operations and campus experiences, say researchers. Today’s campus demands new ways of engaging, serving, and protecting students and staff. In 2022, industry analysts anticipate a massive financial crunch and growing competition for a shrinking pool of students, forcing higher ed institutions to transform the ways they operate. Two crucial ingredients in that transformation are student experiences and resource-saving automations.

Already, a growing number of colleges and universities are accelerating their adoption of technologies that facilitate contactless access to resources and services—from class check-ins to virtual queueing, touchless payments, order-ahead dining, and more—via mobile and other web-enabled tools. More than keeping students safe from a pernicious virus, automations also provide a necessary foundation for thriving in the months and years to come.

With that in mind, we’ve asked higher ed leaders how they’re using technologies to solve emerging problems. We worked with Higher Ed Dive and surveyed 142 higher ed leaders spanning roles from the C-suite to student life, enrollment services, finance and more on the problems they’ve been working to solve since the onset of the pandemic. Specifically, the survey asked how they’re tackling those challenges with technology.  The following are a couple key takeaways from the survey results.

More convenient, better user experiences tops the list of contactless technology benefits cited most often by respondents. From saving money to saving time and minimizing error,  contactless functions can have a massive impact on the quality of campus experiences and operations. From a student or consumer standpoint, you can get what you need without having to jump through hoops, wait around to get an answer, conclude a transaction, or be present at a certain location or time. From a staff standpoint, you can get far more done with less effort, and redirect your attention to higher-impact activities. And from an organizational standpoint, you can scale without added burden on staff, plus identify trends in the data generated by these technologies to avoid losses or waste that would go unnoticed otherwise.

Real-time, campuswide financial data is the function that would most positively impact organizational goals. When asked what would move their institutions closer to organizational goals, nearly half of respondents pointed to real-time, campuswide financial data that would allow for more accurate projections and decision making. Campuswide data gives greater visibility into finances, operations, trends and student behavior, and—most importantly—the  dynamic relationships between them. Rather than raw data, administrators want the information visualized in dashboards they can monitor, and available in reporting formats they can digest and turn into practical steps. 

Download the Survey Report to Learn More

Gain research insights and actionable guidance for lasting wins with students, staff, and all who visit your campus (including donors) or help fund your mission by downloading your free copy of Your Campus, Reimagined: Better Experiences, Greater Efficiencies, Safer Solutions.