Higher Ed Ask Me Anything with Erin Casale, Customer Success Head of Education [Sept 1 - Sept 15]

I have a few questions:
1) What is the most exciting project you've been a part of in your current role?
2) What is the most challenging project you've been a part of in your current role?
3) What are the biggest changes you've seen in Higher Education in the last 6 months (since Covid entered the scene)?

Hi @VirginiaM! First of all, thank you for your patience. Some crazy winds knocked out power and internet to SLC and took most of us offline. My answers below, and I'd absolutely love to hear what other folks think. Please chime in!
1) What is the most exciting project you've been a part of in your current role?
Sneak peek! Right now we are building out a StudentXM package specifically for higher ed. This product recognizes that so many groups at higher ed impact student experience, from pre-enrollment to post-graduation. The goal here is to provide a framework and enabling technology to help institutions get an overall view of student experience and make targeted investments in the moments that matter off and drive key outcomes. This project is a true cross-functional efforts, and key Customer Success team members you know and love are acting as the "voice of the customer" to share what they hear from you.
2) What is the most challenging project you've been a part of in your current role?
This is a tricky one. Right now what's top of mind is working with institutions on contact tracing and symptom checking; this is also a content for "most exciting" as well. It's truly an honor to be working with schools through some of their darkest moments and biggest challenges as everyone weathers the ups and downs of learning (on-campus and remote) this year. We've mobilized to create operational solutions that capitalize on the Qualtrics "System of Action," which hasn't been a small feat.
3) What are the biggest changes you've seen in Higher Education in the last 6 months (since Covid entered the scene)?
Where to start with this one? One of our customers shared a saying that really rings true: "we're all in the same storm, just in different boats." I suspect everyone here is acutely aware of all the operational challenges, so won't go into detail on those and instead will focus on 3 main changes we're hearing on the experience side (student AND staff):

• Higher expectations of listening and--more importantly--actioning listening: faculty/staff, students, alumni, and even parents expect their voice to be heard and accounted for. We're seeing passive listening posts (i.e., a tab on a website) paired with text analytics become more popular, as well as super-short more frequent surveys.


• Heightened need for communicating decisions and they "why" behind them: with so many parties impacted by each and every decision, it's virtually impossible to make everyone happy. However, we're seeing customers have success in building trust when they clearly communicate 1) super frequently, 2) why they are making changes (...ideally based on the aforementioned listening), 3) if/how people can provide feedback on changes made. Overall, we see that the absence of information has a larger negative impact than the presence of information, even if it's not exactly what people want to hear.


• Demand for better virtual communities: this is potentially. the toughest nut to crack, and I'm curious how people are tackling this. Both faculty/staff and students are trying to build/maintain communities online. We've talked with a few grad programs who are resourced to host well-orchestrated virtual events, and are hearing from folks that it's more of a challenge with undergrad and part-time communities.

ErinC This is fascinating--thank you for sharing!

ErinC Sorry, I almost missed this altogether! So, I am a brand administrator at a University and besides the awesomeness that is Qualtrics for Research, I am pushing for a ROI by using it as a Do-It-Yourself Business Process Automation tool. We have other tools for BPA but it requires a "project" and lot's of time/coordination. I'm getting the most ROI out of having the administrative side of the organization use it for forms, applications, permits, workflows, etc. I'm wondering how Qualtrics views itself? I know it's an "experience platform" and not a survey tool...and I agree. But does Qualtrics see itself as a BPA option? Do you? I think this is a niche/area of focus that Qualtrics could "sell" itself as without any changes. And with a few enhancements it could rule that area also.

mklubeck - hi there! I'm curious to hear some example of BPA you're especially excited about. Are you open to sharing?
One interesting thing that we've learned about ourselves at Qualtrics over the past year, especially since COVID hit, is that one of our biggest strengths is being a "system of action." This became apparent when we rapidly stood up testing, contact tracing, and symptom checking solutions that eliminated hours and hours of manual processes. So in that sense, yes - we do see ourselves as a BPA option depending on the use case.
What's your reaction to this, and what are the enhancements that are on your mind? Excited to hear more!

ErinC I'd love to chat more on this. Besides using Qualtrics as a Survey and Research tool, we are actively using it as our DIY BPA solution. And the best part is most of the solutions are straight "out of the box" - no extra coding required. Most recently we replaced a software application for dispatching escorts for safe (golf cart, van, or on foot) rides on campus.
I can give you use cases. I can also share the enhancements (which I believe wouldn't be monumental) I have in mind. Most are around expanding current capabilities and changing some rules. A simple example is using the Panel (Contact List) more purely as a data source rather than as a distribution tool. Because it is primarily a distribution tool, it requires an email for each record. And in Actions it requires a First and Last name. Easy enough to work around (I have created lists with noreply1@nd.edu - through - noreply30@nd.edu) but it shouldn't have to have the workaround. AND if you could call more than one of these lists called in the same form...
Marty