Corporate News

Just after midnight on Sunday, July 29, 2007 a prospective university student sat at her

computer wanting to find out about the fees at Athabasca University. Within seconds she

had an answer. This event marked a milestone for the leading Canadian distance-education and online university. It was the millionth time a student was able to access information about its school in this fashion: from the comfort of her home computer at any time of day without waiting to speak with a person or waiting for an email reply.

“Despite a 42%increase in students, emails have virtually been eliminated while self service queries through the IntelliResponse AskAU service have grown dramatically,” adds Lori VanRooijen Vice President, Advancement at Athabasca University. “AskAU is now answering over 20,000 queries per month with well over 95%of all queries receiving one right answer.”

In fact, in the past four years, since the implementation of IntelliResponse, total queries from prospective students have gone up by 52% but staffing has only increased by 13%. In short, Athabasca University has saved over $5 for every $1 invested in IntelliResponse, an ROI of 500%. “The IntelliResponse system has paid for itself in future staff savings alone, and when the incremental value is considered, it is a slam dunk,” adds Michael Shouldice, Coordinator, Information Centre at Athabasca University.

On top of the change in quantity of email and telephone queries, there has been a

significant change in the quality of the conversations that now take place between

staff and prospective students. Because the staff no longer spends so much of their time

answering routine calls, they can now have higher quality conversations that are more

consultative in nature. “The average call length has increased by 31%,” says Shouldice. “This tells us that students are now getting the one-on-one help they need to make the most of their education at Athabasca.”

Read the full Athabasca case study on the IntelliResponse web site.

About IntelliResponse
IntelliResponse is an award-winning technology helping organizations manage and answer high volume questions from its online visitors. Unlike traditional website search tools that force visitors to hunt and peck through a dizzying number of possible answers that are often confusing and ambiguous, IntelliResponse delivers One Right Answer to each question. The visitor experience is greatly enhanced, messaging is targeted and consistent, and every interaction is captured by a 24x7 research agent then transformed by a rich reporting suite into actionable business intelligence.

With over 140 implementations, IntelliResponse has answered nearly 30 million inquiries with One Right Answer, reduced call and email volumes by up to 90%, and optimized the productivity of call center support staff.

The largest corporations and higher education institutions in the World trust their web self-service to IntelliResponse, and include TD Canada Trust, ING Direct, American Express, Scotiabank, The Ohio State University, Penn State University and Johns Hopkins.