As we discussed in our recent webinar, a Financial Aid process driven by intelligent automation will drastically improve your staff’s ability to focus their expertise where it’s needed most. But many of these principles apply to more than just your Financial Aid, or even Admissions processes, and can drastically improve the way that your team and institution functions at a deep level.
Here are 10 key technology takeaways from our Automate Financial Aid & Streamline Your Students’ Experience webinar that can help you eliminate the waste of manual effort and disjointed processes for your campus:
1. Various drivers impacting FA offices today – staff shortages, regulatory compliance requirements, a less-than-desirable student experience – can be augmented, if not outright alleviated by intelligent automation. A software system designed with your institution in mind will transform your staff and students’ experience.
2. Automation not only improves your staff’s ability to handle and transmit information – it also reduces your overhead. Say goodbye to paper-based processes, mail-merge solutions, duplicate handling-processes, and tedious manual data entry.
3. A document management solution will capture your documents however they are received – email, fax, electronic forms, physical mail, and more. Valuable contextual data is captured and lives with your documents for their entire journey through the business process, unlocking insights and efficiencies like never before!
4. Auto-indexing captures relevant document data (defined by you) automatically upon document capture – making contextual information instantly available to integrate with SIS or ERP systems at your institution. Should a field need identifying, one-click indexing will make users’ validations a breeze.
5. A document management system will allow you to transmit document metadata to and from your other systems of records. Bi-directional data flow means your student data is accessible when and where it’s needed throughout your FA and institution processes.
6. Electronic forms are flexible, useful web-based forms that simplify, improve, and accelerate data collection. Use text fields, checkboxes, drop-downs, calendar inputs, file uploads, and more for precise and secure information capture via web browser for your staff and students - integrated directly into your existing systems.
7. Customizable workflows empower you to set up precise rules for handling documents, information, and decisions throughout your processes, with deep levels of transparency and control. When processes like completing a student packet, or managing financial aid award approvals can be designed for your precise needs and automated to remove wasted time, your entire student onboarding improves.
8. Automated task management helps your team complete small tasks with huge efficiency. Modern automation software will help you create and complete detailed task assignments with customizable email notifications – so nothing important is left lying around, and tasks are completed on time.
9. Intelligent automation helps anywhere that mail, documents, or information flow between employees occurs in your organization. Financial Aid processes are ripe for automation, and it’s easier to expand across the organization than you might think. A trusted partner will help you navigate your digital transformation journey with your specific needs in mind!
10. Lastly, and most importantly – implementing process automation across your institution gives you back time to focus on your students, and providing them best-in-class service in support of the futures you’re helping to create. With intelligent automation, we can create a level of student communication management, file sharing, electronic form creation, and custom workflow development that transform your institution’s core functions.
Interested to learn more? View a recording of our Automate Financial Aid & Streamline Your Students’ Experience webinar below, and talk to us today about streamlining your FA and campus processes!