American University used a suite of ServiceNow solutions to streamline information sharing

How do you help 14K students do everything? American University transforms the service culture to improve the student experience, while creating a self-service portal to provide easy access to information on available campus services.

A little background
American University (AU) had outgrown its service delivery system and wanted to improve the student experience and transform the way it shared information with students, families, faculty, and staff. Assistant Vice President, IT Customer Services, Terry Fernandez, explains: “Students had great difficulty finding resources because information was disjointed and spread across many different platforms—if it was available at all. Our primary goals were to enhance our ability to serve our customers, and to increase our overall maturity as a service organization.”

On the RiSE
A campus initiative called RiSE (Reinventing the Student Experience) was a primary driver to find a new solution that would break down silos between departments and provide better access to information.

University-wide usage
IT Service Management (ITSM) became AU’s first ServiceNow solution, implemented in three months by just two AU people. The university quickly realized the value of ServiceNow beyond the IT department and, within a year, it became an early adopter of ServiceNow Customer Service Management (CSM) and IT Business Management (ITBM).

Self-service
Students, families, faculty, and staff can access information by portal, telephone, email, or chat. Content is wide-ranging and varied, stretching from housing to fees and even dealing with parking and the location of washers and dryers. Students can access five knowledge bases and can take part in chat sessions with ServiceNow Virtual Agent. Some 600 people support the site where 41 workflows and 19 process flows have now been automated.

Higher service levels at lower cost
With the Now Platform, AU students enjoy a personalized and engaging interface that is consistent across the university. Users can decide what information they want to receive and how it should be delivered, and self-service means that they get their questions answered more quickly. “We have had a great relationship with ServiceNow from the start. We have been given direct access to product managers and developers and ServiceNow people really take an interest in what we’re doing,” says Terry.

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