CRM for Academic Institution and Universities

Abstract

“Keep your customers happy and satisfied to create value in the long run for the firm.” The statement is the motto of all business organisations to become a successful enterprise. Customer relationship management is mainly used to identify the buying habits of the customers, analyse trends and patterns, and market the product to the targeted customers. Academic institutions and universities are considered as a service industry, so the scope and role of CRM would be drastically different compared to manufacturing industries. In the Indian context, the main customers of the institutions or universities are parents of the students who spend significant amount on their children’s education. The companies that recruit graduate students are also considered as the customer for academic institutions and universities. The chapter discusses the fundamentals of CRM, its uses and application in academic environment, and technology supporting CRM. The major emphasis of the chapter is on how to automate communication among the students, parents, and faculties. The chapter also focuses on streamlining and providing the details of the performance of students for the campus interview and final placements to the companies. The chapter also throws light on the role of technology in CRM implementation in academic institutions and universities. Advantages offered by CRM in academic environment are also discussed. The chapter provides guidelines for successful implementations of CRM in academic environment. To narrow down the scope of the study, it is confined to CRM for academic institutions universities offering higher education (graduate/post graduate courses) in Indian environment.