California State Polytechnic University, Pomona aims to flip the transcript into the traditional student experience, offering digital means for retrieving information and handling administrative tasks.
The public university, located 30 miles east of Los Angeles, has embarked on a multiyear digital student experience journey, which will see its use of ServiceNow expand from IT use cases to the challenges students face. . The technology launch will open over the next few years, said John McGuthry, vice president and CIO for the information technology division at Cal Poly Pomona.
“We want to stay away from students who can go to an office or pick up the phone, because that’s an experience they have in very few organizations outside of the higher ed,” he said.
The new approach was launched amid an influx of student applications. Cal Poly placed 49,634 first-year applications, a 21% year-over-year increase and the highest number of applications for any California State University campus.
John McGuthry
“Every one of those students will have classes online as a result of the pandemic,” McGuthry said. “Each of those students is likely to engage in purchases on Amazon and other services, not just on social media online, but in commerce. They’ll all get used to doing almost everything on the mobile phone. So, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t fit into that model in the future. “
Towards the digital future
ServiceNow provides a technology platform for the evolving student experience. Cal Poly Pomona originally used ServiceNow with an “IT-centric view for how we interact with that service,” McGuthry said. The primary function of the SaaS application is to manage help desk tickets and automate employee workflow. The school’s financial aid office, for example, uses ServiceNow to track tickets. The president’s office uses ServiceNow to handle requests and assign tasks to various vice presidents.
From the beginnings of employee engagement, the use of ServiceNow has “slowly shifted to student engagement,” McGuthry said.
Matt Schvimmer
Matt Schvimmer, senior vice president of products at ServiceNow, said the digital experience, whether for students or employees, has become a strategic focus across a range of industries. “Which person under 35 wants to walk into an office or make a phone call?” he asked. “Everything is self-service or digital.”
We want to stay away from students who can go to an office or pick up the phone, because that is an experience they have in very few organizations outside of the higher ed.
John McGuthryVice president and CIO, information technology division, Cal Poly Pomona
At Cal Poly Pomona, the first step in that direction is the university’s student dashboard, which lets students know when they have an important issue that needs to be addressed. “There might be a hold on their account, maybe there’s a bill they have to pay, maybe they haven’t signed up for the appropriate number of credits yet,” McGuthry said. An SMS text message prompts students to view the dashboard when such action items appear.
But telling students what they need to do doesn’t always solve their concerns. They also need to know how to do something, such as removing account hold. The university now plans to add functionality to the dashboard that will allow students to click a button if they need more information on how to accomplish a task. If the information isn’t enough, students can open a service ticket-also using the dashboard-to resolve an issue. Those features are under development.
The works also include what McGuthry calls “student history” that maintains information on a student’s dealings with university administrative offices. The student history draws a page from consumer contact centers where representatives can refer to a record of a caller’s past interactions with the company. The Cal Poly Pomona version of this feature aims to change the old university experience of students walking from one campus building to another to seek help. The goal is to provide all relevant information on a student’s interactions, so that an administrator with appropriate access can assist the student or help them get to the correct office without further handoff.
Preparing for digital change
The Cal Poly Pomona student experience initiative is not all about technology. “We need to rethink how employees interact with students,” McGuthry said. “A lot more training needs to happen.”
University staff are accustomed to working directly with students, almost half of whom are first generations to attend college. “One of the scary things you might ask some [employees] what to do is move their work style to digital, “McGuthry said.” It’s scary because it’s kind of redefining the way they interact with students. “
The self-service aspect of the digital approach, however, will address many of the needs of students, McGurthy suggested. This will reduce the lines of students seeking help in administrative offices and allow staff to focus on students who need the most help.
“Because we’re going to digitize it, employees will be able to spend more time interacting with those who really need help,” he said.
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John McGuthry
Matt Schvimmer