Kingston University Enhances Student Relations with Vonage Contact Center

• Cybersecurity & Privacy - Identity & Authentication Management
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Backup & Recovery

• Finance & Insurance
• Telecommunications

• Personnel Tracking & Monitoring
• Smart Campus

• System Integration
• Training

Kingston University, located in South West London, is a popular choice for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, with over 25,000 students. The University's 'Debt Recovery' team, which manages a sales ledger of £100 million and oversees the collection of all student fees, was struggling with a basic telephony system that offered no voicemail service or forwarding capabilities when the lines were busy. The team fields an average of 6,000 calls per month from students, which peaks to more than 12,000 during the month-long enrollment period each September. The lack of advanced features in their telephony system led to missed calls, delayed payments, and unresolved queries, which ultimately strained the relationship between the Debt Recovery team and the students.

Kingston University is a popular choice for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, located in the leafy suburbs of South West London. The University has over 25,000 students and offers a range of exciting academic courses designed to provide students with greater career prospects. At the core of the University, is a 'Debt Recovery' team that manages a sales ledger of £100 million, and oversees the collection of all student fees. The team, led by Hope Merris, Kingston University's Credit Control Manager, fields an average of 6,000 calls per month from students, peaking to more than 12,000 during the month-long enrollment period each September.

The University's Credit Control team chose Vonage Contact Center (VCC) as its solution, based on a recommendation from the University's Applicant Services department. VCC, a contact center technology delivered as a service over the internet, provides an enterprise-class virtual call center solution for organizations of all sizes. Deployed in just a week, VCC provided the team with a robust platform for handling large quantities of calls. The system included a voicemail and call routing service to other departments within the University. Calls are no longer dropped; when all lines are in use, callers are now greeted with a range of options to help resolve their queries. The system also prioritizes callers who want to make payments within the queuing system, converting a large number of these calls into successful payments. Kingston University also benefits from VCC's call recording service, enabling staff to review phone conversations in the event of suspected abuse, disputes or fraudulent activity.

• The implementation of Vonage Contact Center has dramatically improved relations between the Debt Recovery team and students. Queries are now resolved more efficiently, and payments are taken with no delays. The system's call recording capability helps the team to resolve disputes or identify potential fraudulent activity relating to card payments. The system offers easy access to all calls so that they can be played back as needed. As a result, staff feel more empowered and confident in the way they engage with students on a daily basis. In addition, the team can now access interactive reports, so that team members are better able to forecast busy periods and call patterns, and can more efficiently allocate staff resources. The reporting and recording capabilities of Vonage Contact Center are also being used by Kingston University's management to monitor staff productivity, and identify gaps for further training.

• The number of student complaints since the system's implementation has dropped by 80 percent.
• Online payments have almost doubled since the implementation of Vonage Contact Center.
• There’s been an overall increase of 40 percent in incoming payments.