Competition for top students is intensifying and students are seeking a greater degree of control over what, when and how they study with personalised advice, technologies and opportunities to better support their individual needs, priorities and aspirations

Students are expecting more value from the financial investment that a degree represents

These are experiential challenges which begin at the decision making part of a student journey and stretch beyond graduation.

The majority of students today are tech savvy, digital natives. This means that the experiences they desire when interacting with a higher education institution reflects their digital experiences and expectations outside the institution.

Informed by the emergence of customer experiences that are 100% mobile, students expect polished digital interactions and exceptional customer service..

The term digital is a convergence of new technologies and social changes that have led to a new ‘digital reality’. The convergence of social media, mobile and the web have created a new kind of connected consumer. For these citizens the virtual and the physical world have equal relevance.

They carry their friends and families everywhere they go via social media and when buying an item they are more likely to consult their network than traditional advertising.

That is why we are seeing a growing number of organisations adopt a digital transformation agenda to meet the needs to the new digital customer

Digital transformation is not just about integrating technologies into business processes.

Digital transformation steps back and looks at the customer journey of the new digital consumer and considers how the new consumers interact with an organisation on line and IRL (in real life).

First and foremost digital means being customer centric, by mapping the student journey on line and in real life we are able to identify things we need to change.

An undergraduate journey map was created with students in August 2016

30 hours of feedback from focus groups
100 + students

Data is cross referenced to other sources ie Teaching & Learning Survey, Leavers Survey, Decliners Survey for further validation

Painpoints are identified and a gap analysis is undertaken by looking at annual plans and current projects

Outputs feed into planning process







4 other data sources cross referenced including Teaching and Learning Survey, Colmar Brunton Leavers Survey, Decliners Survey & Micro database

There are distinctive personas emerging and differences between faculties. Arts has a predominant "Explorer" persona and Science are more subject orientated and vocational.

For Maori the student journey starts as far back as year 7, prompting additional enquiry and focus groups with schools with the Schools Partnership Office.

We found that those explorer students with no clear vocational path needed help with decision making at the start of the journey, choosing the wrong programme or course was related to changing majors, dropping courses, time to graduate.

A dynamic and smart digital solution to guide students, help plan their programme, build their time table and track their progress

Work with BA Renewal Programme
Complete high school focus groups for Maori Student Journey
Map Pacific Journey
Future State Design with Doctoral Programme
Complete 7 additional cohort analysis for Science general undergrad group
Help business case - smart digital guidance and advising at scale