Professional Services Opportunity?: Helping universities launch online programs

Do traditional schools have core competencies in building a lead buying plan, managing call centers, consultative sales in an outbound environment, processing financial aid in volume over the phone or developing multimedia courseware?

Of course not - but that is precisely what they need to do if they hope to achieve the same success as Umass, UMUC and South New Hampshire State University in bringing their programs online (see my post Traditional Schools Moving Online). Given the trends stated by Eduventures and others, students prefer to go to get even their online education from schools with ground campuses nearby. But there is not a single services firm out there that can provide the full range of services needed to assist these schools in launching an online education platform.

Right now, colleges would have to use a patchwork of services to get online delivery up and running -

• Buy leads from a vendor such as Quinstreet or use direct mail, email marketing to alums
• Funnel leads into some type of lead management system that tracks lead performance and allocated leads efficiently
• Structure call centers for admissions, FA, academic advising properly - making the right technology selection and process design decisions
• Get some type of Campus Portal, such as that offered by eCollege or Blackboard
• Convert courses into an online format
• Hire people with the right skill sets to get things done

What if there was a single one-stop shop a college could go to get these services done. This firm could even provide capital and take an equity stake in the online entity.

If anyone knows of a company offering all these services now, drop me a line!

Comments

[Chris Tilghman]

eCollege + Datamark?

[Jason Stoffer]

Works for some of the student lifecyle (marketing and learning platform) - but they lack call center and financial aid expertise.