Going digital to provide an omnichannel experience

The Universidad Tecnologica de México, UNITEC, is one of the largest university education institutions in Mexico. More than 90,000 students enter its 11 campuses distributed throughout the country every day. It has over 100 academic programs oriented to the needs of the working world, which are offered through face-to-face, executive and online modalities.

The Economic Support Program finances half of the students at UNITEC, providing them with First-Income academic scholarships to carry out their high school, undergraduate or graduate studies. In addition, UNITEC recognizes the efforts of students with access to educational funds and part-time employment.

Making a complex decision easier

UNITEC is strongly oriented toward facilitating social mobility in Mexico. “We serve a very large group of young people who are facing the challenge of growing professionally,” said Leandro Cruz Hernández, Digital Director and Customer Experience at UNITEC. “Furthermore, what and where to study are two complex decisions, which are often made along with the father and mother over a period of several months.”

“These are highly digitalized young people who, during their last year of high school, look for options through all the tools available on the Internet. Our challenge is to stand by them. Our educational advisors invite them to visit the facilities,” added Cruz Hernández. “And whether on campus or when they return home, we accompany them with digital campaigns and content that help them make the decision.”

UNITEC has always been aware that young people are immersed in a digital world, but it relied on different technologies, applications and processes to respond to them. It needed a new solution to speed up and improve the university experience for students and teachers.

UNITEC identified that its legacy on-premises system had at least three flaws.

Disintegration. There were standardized processes, but the different technologies didn’t offer the visibility needed to understand what was happening at multiple points of contact.

Lack of effectiveness. When changing the channel, the user had to transmit a query the same way as the first time. This deteriorated the quality of the experience and increased response times.

Isolated information in silos. The data that allowed UNITEC to build a picture of the user’s needs didn’t travel with that user from one point of contact to the next.

To overcome this, UNITEC sought a cloud-based customer experience solution. After evaluating different providers, the Genesys Cloud solution was chosen for its integration capabilities and proven stability. The implementation was successfully done by Genesys Professional Services and partner Kranon.

Meeting all students’ needs

Recognizing that its young clients are the first to adopt technology, UNITEC knew it needed to accommodate them. “We didn’t approach them until we built a very precise client path — a path that includes the family and clearly identifies the moments of truth,” said Cruz Hernández.

To bring the students closer to their teachers, UNITEC created a digital experience that conceives the campus as an always-connected environment.

“We evaluated different technologies with the aim of achieving a 360-degree experience,” said Cruz Hernandez. “Genesys Cloud is the omnichannel solution that was perfectly integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. And it has the flexibility we needed to give the customer what they were asking for.”

Today, UNITEC manages all channels through the Genesys Cloud solution, including inbound and outbound voice calls, chat, WhatsApp messages, Facebook, email and click-to-call from the website. “The whole community enjoys that omnichannel nature from the internet portal,” added Cruz Hernández. “There, both students and teachers can choose how to communicate.”

In the past, it was complex and costly for UNITEC to understand how to read the data generated through client interactions. “Now, the data that is produced helps us to improve the experience,” said Cruz Hernández. “The cloud allowed us to generate smooth conversations. Now we can identify the person in a very unique way, from the first time he contacts us and throughout his life as a student. It was quick and easy to implement. It simply works… all the time.”

Fostering agent satisfaction

All 250 agents in the UNITEC contact center now use the Genesys Cloud solution. All contact rates have improved; chat volume has increased by 100%.

“And the automatic voice dialing tool allowed us to have 35% more contact with our prospects compared to last year,” explained Cruz Hernandez. “WhatsApp conversations grew by 38%, but in addition, because the application is integrated into the cloud, our educational advisor can see the conversations he has had before with that student and can follow them up better.”

The effect on the contact center team was also overwhelming. Now that it’s easier to achieve objectives and conversations are smoother, agent turnover decreased from 4% to 2%.

A platform that’s ready for the future

“Digital channels are what our students use and expect, and we are excited to offer that,” added Cruz Hernandez. “Switching to Genesys Cloud has been really great for everyone involved — a phenomenal change. I would recommend it to anyone who is considering moving to an ‘all-in-one’ solution in the cloud.”

“With Genesys technology, we are able to offer the best service possible and change the lives of students who contact UNITEC,” concluded Cruz Hernandez. “Without this platform, we would not be able to help as many people as we do today.”