EmoryCard: Our Service Enhancement Journey
Faced with excessive wait times, long lines, inadequate infrastructure, and unsatisfactory customer service obtaining an EmoryCard was considered an undesirable yet necessary evil.
During the 2018-2019 academic year, the EmoryCard Team embarked upon a journey to research and adopt a variety of service enhancements to bring quality service to our customers.
With a focus on Customer Service, Infrastructure Development and Communications & Outreach, EmoryCard now offers a wide variety of services and enhancements that make the campus card experience so much more than a necessity. These enhancements positioned us perfectly to pivot our service offerings during the pandemic as well as planning for our operations post-COVID.
- What challenges (if any) has your department faced related to your reputation on campus?
- What steps/enhancements have you taken/made to attend to that reputation?
- What worked? What didn’t?
- How do you see your department positioned currently? In the future?
Brian Wilson: Ouch
Deborah Nightingale: seriously!
Nathan Gray: who gets to critique the provost?
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: He is no longer with Emory University . . .
Nathan Gray: good
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: But that talk was in front of the entire enterprise IT group
Nathan Gray: he was a *beep*
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: He is now an institutional president.
Nathan Gray: LOL. Of COURSE he is
Deborah Nightingale: love the donation idea…
Brian Wilson: We were told that ID Center COULD NOT be associated with Passport. I’d love to know how that process worked.
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: Interesting – EmoryCard was offering a passport photo service prior to my arrival. When I came on, we simply found a more efficient system so that we can offer both physical and electronic versions of the photo.
Milton Alexander: How many employees/staff do you have working at one time? What are the levels?
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: Currently we have 4 full time employees – Director, Coordinator, Admin. Assistant and Customer Service Representative
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: We have also added a temporary employee for this summer to assist in production.
Deborah Nightingale: Emory’s plan for moving to self-provisioning/mobile?
Milton Alexander: Do they work 40 hours a week?
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: @ Deborah – that is not on the table at the moment.
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: @ Milton – yes, everyone works 40 hours per week
Brian Wilson: The replacement payment options are understandable, but how from a budgetary stance, how did you manage your materials costs for all the free replacements?
Milton Alexander: My next question Brian
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: We budgeted for the free replacement day as a service to the community. We did have a pool of reserve funds that we could use – unfortunately, due to budgetary changes, those funds are no longer easily accessible.
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: And we just got our mock-up for the voice first experience . . . fingers crossed we can roll it out before the first day of classes.
Brian Wilson: What about the more standard free replacements mentioned previously? That seemed like a normal day to day option.
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: Sure – much of what we do is budgeted as service to the community. The provost in the video wanted us to provide a “Ritz Carlton” level of experience – so we were permitted to put a lot of funds towards these types of initiatives.
Brian Wilson: Okay, so (not at all trying to speak down to the idea) it was funded as an enhancement and kept as a budget instead of a one time.
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: Additionally, I did an exercise to determine the “true cost” of a card and what we are currently charging covers about 2 cards, so we can cover those “freebies.”
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: Yes @Brian. 🙂
Brian Wilson: Your Excel-Fu is mighty.
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: Evolis Kiosk is on my Christmas Wish List!
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: I took a template that was provided to me by a NACCU colleague on the listserv.
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: I can provide it to Jorrun so that she can send it out.
Deborah Nightingale: thank you
Jen McDonald – Georgian College: What part of your messaging to the various program areas changed? how did you customize it?
Munny Malik: Can you link the appointment system you are using so I can look into it further
Bob Gager: Https://iqueue.cloud
Cedric Giles: What is your office’s approach in engaging with students and parents during Orientation? Do you do a presentation, tabling, etc.?
Brian Wilson: We have an office of 1 FTE, multiple student employees and me as the manager/tech/etc.
Jen McDonald – Georgian College: We have me as FT (40h), 1 Clerk (24h) and a student ambassador (12h for social media only)
Brian Wilson: Thank you and Please!
Deborah Nightingale: what an amazing approach you took in the face of such public adversity.
Brian Wilson: Do you have an option or ability to “limit” the replacements? I realize that may bring your customer service into question, but it bears asking
Milton Alexander: Thank you Brian and Jen. Very helpful on structure.
Jen McDonald – Georgian College: We have a dedicated session during Orientation and we set up a promo booth (when in person) in front of the library for the first two weeks of the semester
Cedric Giles: ok, thanks. That’s our struggle as well.
Jorrun Liston: Please feel free to unmute and ask a question or share.
Brian Wilson: So you replace free for Damaged and Name Change, but NOT lost. Okay I somehow missed that.
Jen McDonald – Georgian College: We implemented something similar at Georgian for donating remaining funds
Brian Wilson: Jen could you post a link to this process?
Jen McDonald – Georgian College: I can email you the work instruction I created. It isn’t posted online
Brian Wilson: We have a Food Bank as well so I’d love to help fund that in this way
Brian Wilson: That would be wonderful
Deborah Nightingale: thanks Kim…you are a rock star!
Jen McDonald – Georgian College: Awesome job Kim!
Milton Alexander: As always. You ROCK Kim!!
Dawn Thomas: Great questions and sharing today. Appreciate everyone joining today.
Brian Wilson: Thank you, Kim. This was very helpful and I hope I can pick your brain again in the future.
Dawn Thomas: Leading with Quality Service https://naccu.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1533058&group=
Kim Pfeffer [she|her]: Always happy to answer questions and talk about our experiences here at Emory!
As the only association that specializes in the campus identification and transaction industry serving the national and international campus card community, NACCU is dedicated to high quality educational programs, resources, services, and tools. The NACCU community offers its members networking, partnerships, leveraging technology, problem-solving, insight sharing, and professional development.
NACCU membership is open to all colleges, universities, secondary institutions and companies that are involved with the campus card market. Learn more and join the community at https://www.naccu.org
Related:
Dining and Retail Technology to Support the Student One Card Experience
The Road to Becoming a High Performing Card Office
