Join NACCU members for Pecha Kucha style sessions covering four current hot topics in the campus card industry.

Disruption in the Industry: What Now? Dawn Thomas, NACCU Executive Director When talking about disruption in an industry, the conversation normally addresses movers and shakers that intentionally innovate and fragment the status quo. Higher education was already being disrupted by many converging forces prior to COVID-19 – an unsustainable rise in college costs, negativity across the country about work-readiness of graduates, the financial attractiveness of MOOCs from anyone with a website, and the looming “enrollment cliff” predicted in the next five years – just to name a few. But what does that all matter with the pandemic crisis we face today? As college and universities now work to pivot services and develop a “new college experience,” opportunity abounds. As many have said before us, “Never waste a good crisis.”

Mining Campus Card Data to Enhance Student Outcomes Chris Corum, CEO of CR80News and Avisian With predictive analytics, we analyze data from the past to identify patterns that impact the future. Institutions can use past data to identify patterns and behaviors from students that were successful – those that graduated – and compare it to patterns and behaviors from those that were not successful – perhaps those that dropped out after their freshman year. But this part of the process is simply using big data to identify something. When this becomes powerful is when we add the predictive component and apply these identified patterns and behaviors to current students to make educated assumptions about which individuals are on a course to graduate and which are heading toward dropout-ville. Add one more component to predictive analytics – and intervention strategy – and we have a chance to help change behaviors and help at risk students succeed. Pioneering campuses are already using card system data to make a difference in student outcomes. Projects from early adopters will be highlighted.

How Robots have Impacted Student Life Danny Anthes, Director of Technology Services, George Mason University Food delivery robots have made an impact on student life at George Mason’s campus. We will explore the ways in which students, staff, and guest engage with Mason/s food delivery robots and their interactions. The robots have played a critical role in food delivery in our current environment. These delivery robots have changed student, staff, and guest engagement in variety of ways offer a method of food delivery with less contact. This presentation will look at these interactions between our guests and the delivery robots and the impact these have had on the community and student life.

But What about (Socially Distanced) Customer Service? Kim Pfeffer, Director, EmoryCard, Emory University In a world of robots, droids, devices, apps and mobile wallets we cannot forget the human component of what we do every day. All of this new technology is great, but there is a tradeoff. While automation provides for higher levels of efficiency and consistency it is at the expense of personalized services. The lack of personalized services has led to a gradual decline in overall customer service to the point where we accept subpar service. How can we tip the scales? Doing just a little something extra makes our service the sole differentiator. We can reenergize the human component of our customer interactions – even in these times of social distancing – by making emotional connections, rupturing stereotypes, delivering positive surprises and avoiding four service pitfalls.