Improve your business and community engagement

1. Collaboration

Problem

Collaborative engagement, whether it is co-designing learning resources or undertaking collaborative research online, with businesses and the community through information technology, presents a number of challenges. These include strategic alignment and internal support for security and access.

Previously university and college staff often turned to externally provided solutions rather than working with internal functions as a way of circumventing what they saw as restrictive systems and procedures. Factors such as cost and activities not being recorded adequately have been a barrier to them delivering sustainable services for business and community engagement.

A collaborative solution

We ran a series of eight trials that took an institutional problem and worked with a variety of online technology solutions to provide a collaborative space for engaging with businesses and the wider community. These included a blog as a ‘listening zone’ for small and medium sized enterprises, a marketplace for referrals and contacts, and an online community of professional photojournalists doing webinars with students.

How you can benefit

Consult the infoKit on Using Collaborative Online Tools for BCE, which describes how different strategies, tools and technologies were used, with a case study on each institution highlighting the benefits. If you are developing an innovative and resource-efficient approach to knowledge transfer, ‘KT 2.0’ highlights the benefits of using new web technologies, open innovation and virtual networks.

2. Access to resources and open innovation

Problem

The Wilson Review noted: “Collaboration between universities in supplying business needs can only benefit the university sector as a whole”. But previous studies have shown that SMEs, entrepreneurs and other external parties often have difficulty understanding and accessing the wealth of information, knowledge and opportunities within institutions, which could help inform, improve or sustain their business or venture.

A collaborative solution

In the first phase of the Access to Resources and Open Innovation initiative, we funded eight institutions to develop their strategic engagement ‘offer’ and to enhance their connections with external academic partners and businesses for mutual benefit. We supported institutions’ development of information and knowledge services through web technologies. The projects focused on partnership opportunities, new business models and innovation possibilities, with collaboration at the centre of their engagement activity. We’ve just funded a second phase of 11 further projects.

How you can benefit:

You can access a series of case study reports, which summarise good practice on how your institution could seek to adopt their solution, as well as summary information about the new projects. We’ve also produced some digital stories telling the tale of project development and what they achieved:

3. Continuing Professional Development

Problem

Those of you dealing with business and community engagement require an unusual combination of skills and knowledge. A key challenge exists in recognising and providing support for these skills. We recognise that capability as being vital to the UK economy – so it includes ‘boundary-spanning’ across departments and sectors.

A collaborative solution

Online development resources for BCE practitioners are being provided through the Supporting and Embedding CPD for BCE project, funded by JISC, in partnership with the Association for University Research and Industry Links (AURIL) and a range of national stakeholders. The project is doing a major update of the current AURIL ‘CPD Framework for Knowledge Transfer’ to reflect the whole breadth of BCE activities and the changing education landscape.

How you can benefit

You will be able to use the online tool that JISC is developing based on the new AURIL framework (available autumn 2012) to advance your own professional development. The tool will also offer social networking features allowing BCE practitioners and providers to upload resources. Visit our project blog for announcements.

4. Customer Relationship Management

Problem

The Wilson Review recently warned that “an ineffective relationship management system carries significant reputational risk”. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is becoming increasingly important as education institutions try to meet the challenges of financial austerity and increased student and stakeholder expectations. Effective processes are necessary for our people to maintain and develop valuable relationships with externals.

A collaborative solution

Drucker famously said, “We’ve spent the last 30 years focusing on the T in IT, and we’ll spend the next 30 years focusing on the I”. We’ve found that CRM is about focusing on three core elements: people, processes and technology.

How you can benefit

Use the JISC Self Analysis Framework to ask fundamental questions about the people, processes and systems currently adopted by your organisation and discover your level of CRM maturity. Then you can work through organisational issues before purchasing a technical solution. This will help you avoid major pitfalls. You can share other institutions’ experiences in achieving key benefits, for example:

Business Intelligence – for financial viability, reporting and strategic planning

Improved Collaboration – cross-departmental and cross-institutional working

Improved Efficiency – less duplication of data; recording interactions enhances responsiveness; staff are better informed

Reputation – reduction of embarrassing incidents, such as duplicate contacts

Improved Policies and Procedures – data quality, data sharing, access and ownership

Improved Value to Customer and Institution – mutual benefits; trusted partnership

While the benefits of a strategic CRM approach may vary for each institution, if you can articulate the benefits to all involved that may lead to a more positive view of the change.

Briefing Papers, including ‘Maximising the Impact of your Partnerships’ and ‘Managing Your Customers’.