Optimizing student service and inquiry management on college and university Web sites, Intelliworks has unveiled Intelliworks Chat, a new Web-based tool. Now, prospective students can get real-time responses to their questions directly from their institution's Web site, the company said.

 

Studies have shown that students are adapting newer methods of communication to seek and provide information. While e-mail and Web pages are still very much in demand, modern technologies such as instant-messaging, online chats, podcasts or virtual tours will give that extra technological edge to the institute.

 

Along with various features and capabilities to help deliver a better online experience for prospective students, Intelliworks Chat delivers an intuitive administrative interface. The institute can now integrate chat sessions with Intelliworks CRM and attach cases to individual contact records. It can also locate visitors instantly via Google (News - Alert) Maps integration.

 

“In working with colleges and universities across the country we identified the need for better communications with prospective students across multiple channels. However, admissions and enrollment departments rarely have the resources to dedicate a full-time staff member to this kind of online communication," said Todd Gibby, chief executive officer of Intelliworks, in a statement. "We found that existing chat solutions, while feature rich, offered difficult to use interfaces”.

 

Intelliworks Chat comes with SSL encryption to ensure the safety and privacy of online chats. Institutes can also respond to common questions with canned messages. They can also connect chat with Google Analytics to see where chats are taking place. The company has also added a feature wherein the institutes can ban users to stop abuse. Also, like in other chat programs, the institute can save and send chat transcripts with individual prospects.

 

Intelliworks created products aimed at the education field of education earlier too. Last August, the company announced the launch of Intelliworks Bluechip, a Web-based product configured to enhance relationship management and recruitment for collegiate athletic departments. Bluechip is designed to help college athletics programs manage all interactions with prospects, players and alumni to improve recruitment, compliance and fund-raising efforts.