PSB Academy gets smarter with data through Microsoft

Singapore, 16
June 2016 –
Microsoft announced today that PSB Academy, Singapore’s leading education
institution for tertiary and university studies, has tapped on Microsoft to
ramp up its productivity and inventiveness in serving its students and
prospects. With the deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Office 365,
the Academy is making leaps into workflow automation, as well as gain greater
visibility of its 11,000 students and potential enrollers.

With
over 50 years in applied experience, PSB Academy prides itself on its ability
to draw upon the academic strength of its educators and standing of its
university partners in equipping students with knowledge and practical
application experience relevant to real-world and professional situations. The
Academy sought solutions to address the need to transform its operations in
order to improve its ability to engage with existing and potential students, as
well as to make smarter decisions for targeted student engagement.

“At
Microsoft, we are committed in empowering every organization and individual to
do more. The Academy’s goal in becoming better stewards of its students was key
in its digital transformation and we are delighted to be able to partner with
them in their journey in transforming its operations to meet the demands of its
ever-changing and growing community,” said Ngiam Foong Chee, Marketing &
Operations Lead, Microsoft Singapore.

“Productivity
is embedded in our DNA. We believe that learning cannot simply take place via
rote or classroom settings, but through the application and use of technology
and hands-on experimentation to drive productivity transformations across
organisation and communities, as well as enhancing the way an individual works
in a professional environment,” said Derrick Chang, Chief Operating Officer,
PSB Academy. “It was thus important for PSB Academy to also walk the talk. We
needed to explore ways to enhance our operations with data, to ensure that we
continue to offer a compelling and enriching experience to our students.”

Considering
finite resources as one if its main challenge within the organisation, PSB
Academy sought capabilities that would help market the institution at scale,
and to appeal to potential candidates who had the calibre and fit for the
education experience it offers. It was important for the Academy to better
understand its students, which meant that they needed the capability to
capture, analyse and visualise data to drive better insights.

Mr
Chang said: “Knowing our students – what courses they are taking, how they are
progressing, and how they prefer to be engaged – these are things we need to
keep track of. A better understanding of our students will help us better shape
policies and syllabus, and so, we embarked on this partnership with Microsoft
having recognised that we can do a better job.”

Previously,
PSB Academy relied mainly on spreadsheets in order to manage enquiries to gain
insights of its student database. Inquiries averaged about 5,000 per month. The
institution recognised that she needs to be more responsive to the needs and
preferences of her existing and potential students by gaining insights into key
trends, observations, and important workflows in real-time.

With
Microsoft and their partner Pratyaya, PSB Academy migrated its data and
workflows into Microsoft
Dynamics CRM Online, a cloud-based customer engagement
solution. The deployment resulted in significant gains in terms of visibility,
traceability and the ability to make smarter student-engagement and operational
decisions from insights generated. Pratyaya also provided the level of
automation PSB Academy required in improving its workflow. For example, each
request or feedback previously was tagged with individual ticket number, and
needed to be cross-referenced. This resulted in delays and inefficiency due to
limited tracking mechanisms in place.

The
migration to Dynamics CRM Online has improved PSB Academy’s ability to assess
the fit and calibre of potential candidates, and also the ability to help
students arrive at a more informed enrolment decision. “For every 100 inquiries
today, we are able to tell which ones will likely translate to actual
enrolments. In fact, we are able to tell which source the inquiry came from,
and we can look into specific profiles or in aggregate. By knowing specific
trends and details about prospective students, we were able to focus engagement
efforts where it was most needed.” Said Mr. Chang.

The
ability to analyse potential student pool has enabled PSB Academy to engage and
recruit at scale, whereby Mr. Chang and his team are now able to optimise
applications from the onset and to be able to work with each of these
applicants even in the early stages of programme enquiry. The deployment has
also enabled the Academy to engage with candidates every step of the way, and
identify when candidates become less engaged.

Mr
Chang shared: “With Dynamics CRM Online, we have seen over 14 percent rise in
enrolment numbers, without having to spend an additional cent on more
marketing.”

At
PSB Academy, social media engagement is an important component of the
institution’s student education and engagement strategy, especially when its
primary audience are millennials and digital natives. With Dynamics CRM Online,
PSB Academy is able to rely on alerts and triggers whenever there are mentions
or discussions of the institution across social channels.

Mr.
Chang recalled an incident with a candidate and how he managed to extend help
to him. “It was through social listening on public forums that I discovered how
a potential student had wanted to apply with us, but was worried about
financial resources. I personally reached out and referred the student to our
office for academic aid, with hopes that he would be able to pursue his studies
with us.”

PSB
Academy has also deployed Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity
tool, in a bid to drive collaboration among students and educators. The
deployment has enabled staff to be able to work on documents together,
communicate with colleagues virtually, as well as better keep-track of academic
calendar.

The
institution remains focused on empowering lecturers with the ability and convenience
to collaborate, and work on-the-go, from almost any device. In the near future,
PSB Academy hopes to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with Office 365 as
well as its educational portal to customise the user experience for each
student. This will enable the Academy to gain better and deeper insights into
every student, and interact better with students by appealing to their
preferred mode and themes of engagements.