IBM Brings Strategic BI Technology to the College Campus

IBM is now bringing the same strategic business intelligence technology used successfully by banking and other industries to the college campus. e-business technology in the form of data warehousing applications will help improve business processes such as marketing, recruitment and retention and provide invaluable support for colleges and universities trying to increase their endowment resources.

Schools the world over compete for the best and brightest students and are constantly working to understand why some students select them and others do not. They also need to better understand the issues affecting student retention and performance and the key financial and performance indicators that signal how well the institution is attaining business goals. Managing alumni relationships especially in a tight financial environment is equally critical. By applying the same types of disciplines so successfully deployed by industry, IBM can help administrators and educators use their data to better understand the issues and formulate solutions.

Belmont University, the second largest private university in Tennessee, is using IBM's Business Intelligence offering to gain greater insight into different trends and determine the factors that influence student enrollment and alumni contributions.

"IBM worked with us to develop Belmont's initial Data Warehouse Strategy," said Valerie Cooper, the Belmont Data Warehouse Strategy Project Manager. "I was impressed with IBM's Business Intelligence methodology and with IBM consultants' expertise, knowledge of higher education, and intellectual capital. Like most universities, Belmont struggles to determine how students make college decisions and why some alumni are or are not inclined to make donations. I'm convinced that what IBM brings to the table will help us get a much better handle on these and other challenges."

"Bankers know that keeping customers happy is the best way to not only retain them but to grow their business," said Sean Rush, general manager IBM Global Education. "Educators are just beginning to think of themselves as having clients. Delivering a superior education is the product and students and their parents are the customers. Understanding their needs and what makes a successful college experience is the key to word of mouth recommendations, which impacts recruitment and student retention. Why not use the tools we have to improve our understanding and thus contribute to the health of the school?"

Business intelligence is the gathering, management, and analysis of raw data on an organization's customers, products and services in order to drive strategic decisions. Using a combination of servers, storage, database software, analytical tools and consulting, data warehouses serve as the central business intelligence technology for the collection of this data. This information helps organizations boost speed to market, pursue closer user relationships, improve operations and reduce costs.

About IBM

The IBM Global Education Industry offers a wide range of products, services and solutions to schools and higher education institutions around the world. The IBM e-business for Schools portfolio of integrated applications uses the Internet to help schools transform the way students learn, teachers teach and administrators manage. For more information, please visit the IBM Global Education Industry online at the following url: www.ibm.com/solutions/education.

Contact Anthony Suarez, TSI Communications, IBM Global Business Intelligence Solutions, 212-320-2316, asuarez@tsicomm.com.