“We are not doing AI for the sake of it. We’re doing it with purpose.” — James Rail, QUT
Hear the entire iTnews podcast with QUT’s James Rail
For many people, while university may be a thrilling experience, it may also be daunting and confusing — even frightening.
Thrust into a world of adults, people who were high schoolers just a scant couple of months earlier quickly learn the truth of the adage to ‘sink or swim’.
And while Australian universities continue to lift student support services, vulnerable cohorts such as First Nations, overseas students or those from Non-English-language-speaking backgrounds, and people living with other challenges need focused support at point of contact.
The desire to meet the evolving needs of students was one of the reasons that Queensland University of Technology (QUT) embarked on ‘Digital Connections’, its multi-year data + AI program to transform how the institution can connect with and support students, staff and alumni. It created a 360-degree view of students from their initial consideration of QUT as a place to study, through their uni years and onwards as successful alumni.
Led by James Rail, QUT’s digital transformation program leader, Digital Connections has utilised Salesforce to unify previously siloed frontline services.
“We’re bringing our services online iteratively, and have been doing so since about 2022 from digital marketing and future student conversion through to student success and engagement; from alumni connection through to business development and advancement,” Rail told an iTnews podcast.
“This year, the focus is on supporting our students at risk of study progression, connecting our support centres and our contact centres in new ways.”
Streamlined, unified CRM for students and staff speeds targeted support services
By the end of 2024, QUT will have 24 business units and 750 frontline staff on Salesforce providing personalised student support and engagement. The university has also decommissioned 25 legacy systems, consolidating its data into Salesforce’s single, powerful platform. Salesforce technologies QUT has integrated into its student support services include:
- Salesforce for Higher Education CRM: Builds a 360-degree view of students throughout their engagement with the tertiary institution. QUT’s now unified platform empowers it to attract, engage, and continuously support learners before, during, and after their studies.
- Salesforce Einstein AI: Students can talk to contact centre AI agents as if they were human agents using natural language. QUT deployed AI to augment its human staff and provide them with more time to take on more complex assignments.
- Salesforce Data Cloud: QUT leveraged Salesforce’s extensibility and common data model to standardise and boost data use and operational performance in unique and specialised ways across its business units from digital marketing and student success to alumni connections and business development.
Artificial intelligence augmentation empowers humans to help humans — when and where they need
Leveraging Salesforce’s Einstein AI, QUT is transforming its contact centre operations to enhance service responsiveness and efficiency.
Natural language processing empowers students to converse with the AI like they would with a human. AI-powered case classifications and custom prompts streamline the triage process, enabling human agents to spend more time on complex enquiries.
“We don’t want AI to rule the world. We don’t want AI to take over how we do things,” Rail said.
“Rather, we see AI being a support structure that complements the flow of work; it takes away some of the ‘busyness’ and administrative burden of our agents as they manage inquiries.
“And so that we can free them up to do what they do best — and that is provide support in meaningful and personalised ways to those that need us.”