Post on 23-Aug-2020
Alumni Relationship Management with Cloud Computing : investigating
CRM and cloud computing solutions for managing alumni relationships
A study submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Information Systems
at
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
by
YOONSANG LEE
September 2011
II
Abstract
Background: Alumni are very valuable resources to higher institutions, in terms of
recruiting new students, promoting the university and funding. However, many universities
are deeply challenged in maintaining alumni relationships and tracking lost alumni.
Aims: The aim of this dissertation is to determine an appropriate alumni relationship
management (ARM) strategy to maintain the relationship between alumni and their
universities as well as tracking lost alumni, by investigating existing customer relationship
management (CRM) principles alongside the cloud computing technology.
Methods: An iterative development research methodology, design research, was used in
the development of the system, based on interviews data retrieved from eleven participants
including alumni, lecturers and university alumni administrators. Two prototypes were
created of its characteristics that had to pass through the traditional developmental process
of requirements, design, development, and evaluation for each prototype.
Results: From the literature review, it was discovered that based on the huge success of
social networking services in binding relationships, a development of a cloud-based ARM
system would deliver the desired research outcome. A prototype was created that fulfilled
that requirement. Then, it was observed from the interviews that up-to-date alumni
information and having an ARM system with in-built social networking features have been
regarded as the most critical factors which the final prototype appropriately sorted out.
Conclusions: It was concluded that maintaining the relationship between alumni and
university is crucial. While social networking sites are valuable resources to have active
user information and the potential to reach other alumni, a connection with social
networking sites and an attractive ARM system could be very helpful to maintain their
relationship. For future work, based on the several feedback that were received during the
interviews, possible issues of cloud computing and legal statements should be dealt with, as
the application is involved with sensible data of alumni.
III
Acknowledgment
First of all, I want to give all the Glory to God for a successful completion of my master‘s
degree. I also want to thank my parents who have supported me all the while and given me
the opportunity to study abroad. For completing my dissertation I want to specially thank
my supervisor, Dr Miguel Nunes, whose support and advice throughout the process gave
me the encouragement to work harder and the fact that he was always ready to give new
guidelines. I also have to thank my girlfriend, Ilyoung, who waited patiently throughout
this one year and gave me the happiness to go forward. Then, all of my friends who gave
me valuable support in several ways, that without their help I wouldn‘t have been able to
reach the level where I am today. Finally, all the interviewees who participated in my work
are very much appreciated.
IV
Table of Contents
Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................................... II
Acknowledgment ................................................................................................................................................... III
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................................IV
Table of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... VII
Table of Diagram ................................................................................................................................................. VII
Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Research Background ............................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Aim ................................................................................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Research Question and Objectives .......................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Summary of Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.5 Limitation and Practicalities ..................................................................................................................... 3
1.6 Dissertation overview ................................................................................................................................ 4
Chapter 2: Customer Relationship Management ............................................................................................. 5
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2 CRM ............................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2.1 Definition .............................................................................................................................................. 5
2.2.2 Evolution ............................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.3 Adoption ............................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.4 Strategies ............................................................................................................................................... 8
2.2.5 Benefits................................................................................................................................................ 10
2.2.6 Challenges in CRM .......................................................................................................................... 11
2.3 CRM in Higher education ....................................................................................................................... 13
2.4 CRM for alumni ........................................................................................................................................ 13
V
2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 14
Chapter 3: Cloud Computing ............................................................................................................................. 16
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 16
3.2 Cloud computing definition .................................................................................................................... 16
3.3 Cloud Computing Technology Concept .............................................................................................. 18
3.4 Benefits of Cloud Computing ................................................................................................................ 20
3.5 Cloud Challenges ...................................................................................................................................... 21
3.6 CRM with Cloud computing .................................................................................................................. 23
3.7 Cloud Computing in higher education UK.......................................................................................... 24
3.8 Cloud CRM and Alumni ......................................................................................................................... 25
3.9 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 27
Chapter 4: Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 28
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 28
4.2 Design research ......................................................................................................................................... 28
4.3 The Outputs of Design research............................................................................................................. 29
4.4 Research Design in the context of the dissertation ............................................................................ 31
Chapter 5: Prototype ............................................................................................................................................ 32
5.1 First Prototype ........................................................................................................................................... 32
5.1.1 Requirements analysis ..................................................................................................................... 32
5.1.2 Design .................................................................................................................................................. 35
5.1.3 Development ...................................................................................................................................... 37
5.1.4 Evaluation ........................................................................................................................................... 39
5.1.4.1 Findings ............................................................................................ 40
5.1.4.2 Discussion ......................................................................................... 41
5.1.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 43
VI
5.2 Second Prototype ...................................................................................................................................... 43
5.2.1 Requirements analysis ..................................................................................................................... 43
5.2.2 Design .................................................................................................................................................. 46
5.2.3 Development ...................................................................................................................................... 49
5.2.4 Evaluation ........................................................................................................................................... 51
5.2.4.1 Findings ............................................................................................ 52
5.2.4.2 Discussion ......................................................................................... 52
5.2.5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 54
Chapter 6: Data Collection ................................................................................................................................. 55
6.1 Data analysis of the interview ................................................................................................................ 55
6.2 Interview script .......................................................................................................................................... 56
Chapter 7: Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 57
7.1 Summary of the project ........................................................................................................................... 57
7.2 Reviewing objectives ............................................................................................................................... 58
7.3 Difficulties .................................................................................................................................................. 59
7.4 Future work ................................................................................................................................................ 59
Reference .............................................................................................................................................................. VIII
Appendix 1 ........................................................................................................................................................ XVIII
Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................................................... XIX
Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................................................................ XX
VII
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Users and providers of cloud computing adapted .................................. 17
Figure 2: Cloud layer based on analysis of work .................................................. 19
Figure 3: ARM platform connected with social networking sites on the cloud .... 26
Figure 4: Reasoning approach in design research circle ....................................... 29
Figure 5: Sheffield alumni test page ...................................................................... 38
Figure 6: Social networking page in the ARM system.......................................... 38
Figure 7: A page for response income messages................................................... 39
Figure 8: An opt-in dialog for the ARM application in Facebook ........................ 49
Figure 9: Search result of a professor in the ARM application ............................. 50
Figure 10: Communication between alumni and professor in the ARM system .. 51
Table of Diagram
Diagram 1: Use case diagram of the first prototype in the ARM system.............. 34
Diagram 2: An activity diagram showing the communication
between the university ARM system and a social networking site ............... 36
Diagram 3: Use case diagram of the second prototype in the ARM system ......... 45
Diagram 4: Activity diagram showing the process opt-in function ...................... 47
Diagram 5: The activity flow of an in-built social networking feature in the ARM
system ............................................................................................................. 48
Chapter 1 Introduction
1
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Research Background
Every year a huge number of students graduate from various higher education institutions.
These higher education institutions provide the students with the necessary level of
sufficient education for their career in the very competitive business environment upon the
graduation. However, maintaining the relationships between graduates and universities has
remained a great challenge. This is because the students no longer require the higher
education service anymore when they leave the university (Hilbert et al. 2007). Barnard and
Rensleigh (2008) state binding alumni should be top priority for any higher education
institution because of the great benefits they provide. They say that the alumni of a higher
institution could be the most beneficial resource that contributes to the institution socially,
strategically, and financially. For higher education, alumni can help to attract potential
students, by their participation in guest lectures, which is not only beneficial for their
current careers but also provides the opportunity to interact with students. This could also
improve the reputation of the university and increase the amount of funding. Another
benefit is their feedback which could provide a basis for an improvement of their courses
(Matlay, 2011). Pinar et al. (2011) state that higher education institutions, in a bid to
adequately survive in this present highly competitive world have turned to branding. It is,
therefore, of paramount importance that universities begin to see their students as
customers. Finally, tracking and managing the huge number of alumni has become
impossible without the technical support. An increasing number of universities are adopting
similar customer relationship management (CRM) principles because of its proven success
in managing and tracing student recruitment effectively (Zastrocky et al., 2007; Seeman
and O‘Hara, 2006).
The background of this study is also due to the increasing interest in the emerging cloud
computing technology. Cloud computing provides a more efficient way to run application
on the Internet (Peng et al., 2009). It is one of the fastest growing areas in the Information
Communication Technology environment (Gupta, 2010). The main advantages of cloud
computing are; cost reduction, higher storage capacity, better maintainability, and easy
Chapter 1 Introduction
2
accessibility (Nair et al., 2010; Armbrust et al, 2009; Grossman, 2009). These benefits
show a high potential for traditional IT organisations to adopt cloud services.
1.2 Aim
This dissertation intends to determine an approach to maintain the relationship between the
universities and alumni. In order to conduct this study, CRM which is a well known
marketing approach, will be examined so that professional analytical and rigorous strategies
in the business or commercial sector can be applied to the educational sector. Therefore, a
new term, Alumni Relationship Management (ARM), is used for this study to reflect the
customer relationships management in the higher education environment.
The aim of this dissertation is to determine an appropriate ARM strategy to maintain the
relationship between alumni and their universities as well as to trace lost alumni, by
investigating existing CRM principles alongside the cloud computing technology. This
attempt came from the background that CRM has valuable business strategies to bind
customers and cloud computing can provide numerous advantages to any information
system implementation.
1.3 Research Question and Objectives
In order to narrow to a more accurate and explicit definition the dissertation can be
summarised into the following research question.
Can CRM strategies with the aid of cloud computing be used to maintain a long term
relationship between graduate students and their Alma mater and reinstate lost alumni?
Objectives
To satisfy the research question, the objectives described below have to be achieved.
● To examine the theoretical aspects of CRM that includes the overall understanding,
benefits, challenges and its use in higher education.
● To examine the theoretical aspects of cloud computing technology that includes the
overall understanding, benefits, challenges and its usage in combination with a
CRM system as well as the use in higher education.
Chapter 1 Introduction
3
● To identify a suitable strategy that can find lost alumni.
● To implement and evaluate an ARM system that performs CRM function in the
cloud computing environment.
● To recommend a solution of how ARM can be efficiently applied to managing the
relationship with alumni in higher educational institutions.
1.4 Summary of Methodology
An iterative development research methodology, or so called design research is employed
in this research (Owen, 1998). This methodology is especially suitable for this research
because it was generally designed for research projects that involve some developmental
processes. It is based on the theory that new knowledge about the problem can be gained
during the developmental process of an artifact. It makes use of the conventional
information systems development life cycle process. The development is completed first,
and then the artifact is tested while critical attention is paid to the whole process. This is
iterated over and over again until the system is either complete or resources have been fully
exploited. It has both an inductive and deductive approach by suggesting a theory retrieved
by existing literature and from this theory it develops into specific details. An in-depth
discussion of the methodology will be dealt later in Chapter 4.
1.5 Limitation and Practicalities
The three month research duration was a huge limitation in this research. It was extremely
short to complete the project as it involves a development of an artifact as well as the data
collection of diverse stakeholders. In addition, the scope of this study is restricted to the
United Kingdom (UK) because the characteristics and educational system politics of
universities are too diverse to be presented in this research. The research was conducted in
Sheffield, UK. The cost was low because this dissertation is based on literature and the
implementation of the artifact could be performed without any expenses.
Chapter 1 Introduction
4
1.6 Dissertation overview
Chapter 1 - Introduction: This chapter highlights the background of this study and
identifies the problem that the domain is facing. It focuses on the question raised in the aim
of this research as well as the objectives that the research has to fulfill. A brief description
of the methodology, limitation and practicalities are also presented.
Chapter 2 - Customer Relationship Management: This chapter presents a review of relevant
literature in CRM written by many scholars. The widely used concept in the business sector
can be transferred to the higher education sector and thus contribute to the theory building
for this study.
Chapter 3 - Cloud Computing: This chapter presents a review of relevant literature of the
emerging cloud computing technology. Cloud computing is the basic technology on which
the proposed artifact would benefit from. The theoretical investigation should also help to
build the theoretical basis for this project.
Chapter 4 - Methodology: This chapter introduces the theoretical aspects of the
methodology. It describes the reason of the selection of the design research methodology
followed by a detailed description, along with the outputs that has to be considered for the
implementation in this project.
Chapter 5 - Prototyping: This chapter outlines the entire development process of the
artifact including requirements analysis, design, evaluation, findings and discussion. Two
prototypes were created and each of them followed that development process.
Chapter 6 - Data Collection: The method of the data collection process and the interview
script are presented in this chapter.
Chapter 7 - Conclusion: This chapter summarises the entire research and reviews all the
objectives that was defined at the beginning of this study. It illustrates the future work and
difficulties that were encountered in this research.
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
5
Chapter 2: Customer Relationship Management
2.1 Introduction
The following chapter describes a review of relevant scholarly literature concerning
customer relationship management. It begins with the definition, and then progresses to
examine the evolution of CRM. CRM evolution is the significant insight of the educational
context, because of its dominance in the corporate sector and the little exploration of its
impact on the academic sector. Other aspects of CRM that will subsequently be examined
include, CRM strategies, its adoption, benefits and challenges. This information was
sufficient to support the consideration by adapting CRM in higher education and could be
applied to see the potential performance in that area. It illustrates CRM in Higher Education
and describes the novel area of CRM for Alumni. These will help deliver the basis for a
specific suggestion to build the theory of this dissertation.
2.2 CRM
2.2.1 Definition
Customer relationship management is a broadly used marketing approach that consists of
strategies that have been proven to be efficient to manage the customers over the years. It
has its origin in relationship marketing which was introduced in the 80‘s from Berry (1983,
cited by Payne and Frow (2004)). In the following years, numerous studies have sprung up
in this area regarding the importance of concept and recommendations to the business
practices. Although, it has been widely accepted and well adhered to in the business sector,
there still exists no universal definition that describes this widely used term (Lin and Xu,
2009; Payne and Frow, 2005). Swift (2001 : 12) defines CRM as a business strategy that
tries to understand and influence the customer behavior in order to improve customer
profitability, loyalty, acquisition, and retention. Ryals and Knox (2001) characterise CRM
as customer retention and a relationship development approach and on the other hand,
Peppers and Rogers (1995) view CRM in a more technology driven metamorphosis rather
than a set of strategies that involves the management with customers.
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
6
According to Buttle (2009 : 15):
―CRM is the core business strategy that integrates internal processes and functions, and
external networks, to create and deliver value to targeted customers at a profit. It is
grounded on high quality customer-related data and enabled by information technology‖.
He tries to cover all the core attributes together and define a global definition for CRM. As
a matter of fact, the emerging CRM concept has grown with every new IT advancement,
thus creating new types of services and resources (Grant and Anderson, 2002; Pepper and
Rogers, 1995).
2.2.2 Evolution
In the late 1980s, the first CRM solutions appeared in the market (Feng, 2008). It started off
as database solutions tailored by vendors like Clarify, Onyx Software, Oracle, and Siebel
Systems for marketing purposes. These solutions, then, evolved to emphasise automation
and standardise internal queries to winning, servicing, and maintaining customers. These
software packages laid on the analysis of sales leads in order to keep consistent service to
their entire product line. However, Xu et al. (2002) state that even though these CRM
applications enhanced the companies‘ needs, it was only affordable for big companies and
was difficult to maintain.
In the middle of 1990 the Internet emerged and provided more advanced technological
avenues for CRM. This changed the market for CRM as well as the business requirements
related to customers in the corporate sector. Reynolds (2002) states that the Internet has
allowed the businesses to be able to track consumer patterns, provide new outlets for
promotion, establish new sales channels and foster better relationships with their customers.
In addition, customers were able to communicate with companies directly via the Internet,
rather than having a middle man or buffer to reach the company (Parvatiyar and Sheth,
2001). Significant changes to the traditional CRM solution were in the advanced
technology in their systems; the improved storage capacities, fast performance of
increasingly sophisticated data analysis, and cost reduction of IT resources. The technology
simplifies the addition, modification and the retrieval of the information so that customer
information analysis became more reliable. This trend gave companies the opportunity to
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
7
build a closer relationship with their customers (Payne and Frow, 2004). Furthermore, the
use of client-server architecture in the existing CRM solution has decreased and big
software vendors moved to provide their software on the web. This enabled more
opportunities for small and medium enterprises (Xu et al., 2002).
In the beginning of the 2000‘s, a new market called e-CRM emerged. E-CRM solutions are
related with database management, e-mail management, chat functionalities and knowledge
management etc. It stands for electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) and it
is the latest paradigm of CRM (Scullin et al, 2004; Fjermestad and Jr, 2003). It is more
efficient than the traditional CRM systems due to its automated processes. Ahmad and
Chowdhury (2008) state that e-CRM is a combination of the classical CRM system and e-
commerce which refers to the performance of a firms business activities online. E-CRM
enables businesses to offer better product information and services with cheaper prices and
less effort to their customers than ever before. With this advantage companies are able to
increase their capital and improve their quality which results in higher customer satisfaction.
The Internet has made the customer more independent. Thus, e-CRM providers can offer
self-services functionality on their web page rather than an employee consulting to each
individual customer (Ahmad and Chowdhury, 2008).
2.2.3 Adoption
CRM is a useful tool to manage information about current and potential customers. It helps
to respond to their needs and build a combination of business processes (Karakostas et al.,
2004). As a matter of fact, Band (2008) states that companies invest heavily in CRM to
increase the productivity of their workers and to improve their experience with customers,
all in the bid to survive in the fast changing business market. However, adopting a CRM
solution is a big challenge for many companies. A survey by Band (2008) generally
illustrated that companies evaluated their CRM poorly or lower than the average in all
categories; marketing, customer analytics, customer service, indirect sales, customer data
management, e-Commerce, customer strategy, technology infrastructure, field service,
people management, and direct sales. This is due to the insufficient conceived strategies
that were designed to reduce the cost or increase the revenues of the company.
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
8
CRM can be adapted from a simple to a highly complex form. The simplest form can be a
link to a ―Frequently Asked Question‖ (FAQ) page, send email newsletters, or a call center
to respond directly to their customers. A more complex form is the implementation of a
customizable merchant service or a virtual community (Karakostas et al., 2004).
Karakostas et al. (2004) also recommend that CRM implementation involves three sides.
The first one is the internal side that deals with the customer databases. The other is related
with the interaction of customers; e.g. home banking. The last one is a system that interacts
with business like ordering service with other business via Internet.
Finally, Karakostas et al. (2004) advises the following points to be well considered when
adopting a CRM
● Acquiring a new customer cost five times more than keeping an existing customer.
● Competition does not only arise from existing players in the same industry, but also
from other players in various other business sectors.
● Satisfied customers can contribute indirectly to the company through positive word-
of-mouth.
● With the emerging e-CRM customers are much easier to reach but also easier to
lose by its competitor
2.2.4 Strategies
Customers are the key drivers of the success of any business or organisation. As a result,
management has to adequately recognise their very important role. In the past, many
corporations did not consider customer satisfaction as an important factor and this led to the
loss of customers due to their dissatisfaction and firms experienced difficulties in an
attempt to win them back. Nguyen et al. (2007) pointed out that the success of the CRM
solution depends on the strategy chosen and the implementation process. The strategies can
be listed as follows:
Identification of their customer
Identifying customers is an important technique that has to be considered before
implementing a CRM solution. The company has to identify the right customers who would
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
9
be the most profitable to the company and become loyal in the long run. A commonly used
method of identifying customers is the customer-centricity model (Kumar et al., 2006).
This approach segments groups of customers into similar attributes and tries to maximize
the benefits they gain from their customers and the potential profits of a long-term
relationship. Another method of identifying customers is to create a profit and loss (P&L)
strategy for their customers (Nguyen et al., 2007). This approach allows companies to
calculate the amount of resources they have consumed and have to allocate to retrieve the
greatest profit. In addition, the amount of service, price and discount can also be calculated.
The format of this strategy is:
―Customer profit = gross revenues-(customer allowances)-(credits and rebates)-(product
costs)-(channel costs)-(cost-to-serve)-(administrative costs)‖ (Wreden, 2004, cited by
Nguyen et al., 2007 : 107)
Hence, it is crucial for enterprises to begin by identifying their target customers in order to
strategically direct all CRM efforts.
Selecting the appropriate channel
According to Suh et al. (2005 : 50) a channel is ―the route, path, or conduit through which
products or things of value flow, as they move from the manufacturer to the ultimate user
of the product‖. There are many channels available for reaching customers. It is therefore,
important for companies to know the right channel as well as consider the appropriate
strategies to maximise the use of the channels. Moreover, it is important that organisations
regularly evaluate the channels that are available and suitable for them. For instance, many
companies recently started using the Internet as a new channel because of the benefits it
presents such as low cost and accessibility. However, Nguyen et al. (2007) state that the
recognition of a conflict in their channel is not difficult; the challenge lies in improving the
process by using a new channel to their existing environment.
There are three popular channel strategies suggested by Payne and Frow (2004);
Mono-channel provider strategy. This strategy is based on one channel that interacts with
the customer. An example of this case is the First Direct Bank in the UK. They used only
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
10
the telephone channel to communicate with their customers, but today they provide online
services as well. These days many companies use the Internet as a single channel
environment not only in business to business (B2B) but also in business to customers
(B2C). A representative case is Amazon. However, Berman and Thelen (2004) state that a
multi-channel strategy would strengthen the ability that different channels may complement
each other.
Customer segment channel strategy. This approach offers different customer segments with
different types of channels to interact. A company may operate both in a market for
business and consumer. In this case, they will use different channels to appeal their service
to a specific market segments. For instance, Zurich Financial Service uses a telephone
contact center for 18 different groups of customers because they have different needs and
attitudes. Peterson et al. (2010) advises when segmenting customers in different groups,
employees should have easy access to their identification, supported by necessary tools in
order to satisfy them with any touch point.
Channel migration strategy. This method deals with migrating customers from the existing
channel to another one. It sees the potential of a new channel that might be more suitable to
serve the customers in a different segment in order to save more costs or raise their
customer value. Sullivan and Thomas (2004) state that companies often use the price to
encourage consumers to migrate to a lower cost channel. Originally EasyJet, a low cost
airline, solely sold their ticket via telephone, but now they provide ticket through their
website in the online market.
2.2.5 Benefits
There are numerous benefits that can be obtained by the adoption of a CRM solution.
Among many advantages, therefore, some essential benefits of CRM are suggested by Bock
(2008). These are: identification of key customers, developing efficient relationships with
customers, and establishing customer segments.
The first benefit of a CRM tool is the identification of their most promising customers in its
organisation. Payne and Frow (2006) state that targeting their most key customers are one
of the most important tasks in efficient management. Many companies earn their substantial
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
11
income from some particular customers, mainly in the B2B sector. According to Bock
(2008) this is the 80/20 rule where 20% of their customers can increase business profits up
to 80%. In order to reach this condition, companies need a well established IT environment
that can keep all the necessary information up-to-date to use it in their marketing
department.
Upon the fulfillment of these prerequisites, companies are then able to develop an efficient
relationship with their customers. They can retrieve the data quickly, respond faster to their
customer needs, and satisfy customer desires while boosting revenues by saving cost and
time (Rigby and Ledingham, 2004). This development is a crucial task for businesses
because identifying current and potential key customers provides more valuable
information to the company, so that they can send special product information or superior
services. This advanced CRM technology makes it easier to contact and acquire customers
for the company.
Finally, a CRM solution allows customer segmentation. Companies can easily distinguish
or identify the various segments to which a particular customer belongs to and build
strategies on it to address them more efficiently (Payne and Frow, 2006). This is extremely
reasonable as organisations have to deal with numerous customers, more suitable in the
B2C market rather than in B2B. In addition, Frow et al. (2011) state that segmenting is
useful to characterise their buying behaviour and economic attractiveness. Thus, it
contributes to increase the communication value with their customers.
2.2.6 Challenges in CRM
CRM provides useful business strategies that enterprise need to survive today, but it has
some challenges which have to be understood in order to fully derive its benefits.
According to the report of Economist Intelligent Unit (2007), 86% of 114 executives, all
around the world, respond that CRM solutions will be important over the next three years.
However, among them around 40% do not have even a proper CRM strategy in place, 44%
said that they had an ―acceptable‖ result, and 22% were disappointed of their use. There
might be numerous reason of CRM failure (Foss et al., 2008), but Rigby et al. (2002) state
that it is common that most success comes from a good strategy rather than vast
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
12
investments on the technology. They say it is crucial that employees understand what they
have to do and why, before implementing the system. In addition, another challenge in
CRM observed by Reichold et al. (2004) is the performance measurement. The
performance measurement quantifies the effectiveness and efficiency of past transactions.
This is challenging when diverse relationships like marketing, sales and services are
involved. This means, it is difficult to create the qualitative nature to financial results.
In particular, with the growth of the Internet and matured technology, CRM has become
more and more complex. In addition, even though Internet based CRM solutions come with
numerous advantages, such as real time access or mobility, there are new emerging issues,
Johnson (1999) states that customer‘s expectations have increased with the growth of the
Internet, thus companies have to learn to perform their activities in that level. For instance,
if the server is too slow or Internet speed cannot support the performance, the company will
lose their customer. Furthermore, the advanced technology makes the company more
dependable on CRM solution, this will be a huge risk if the application suddenly fails
(Rigby et al., 2002).
There are also dark sides of CRM implementation. For example, information misuses,
company which uses the CRM solution has to collect detailed information about their
customers in order to provide more satisfied services. This however may lead to
information misuse by anyone that may gain access to the data. Frow et al. (2011) stated
that often companies purchase or sell customer data without their permission. In addition,
with the growth of Internet collecting customer individual data has become much easier.
This could lead to a planned campaign that can target specific customer behaviour. Another
dark side can be privacy invasion. Because companies have access to all their sources in the
customer database, sensitive information such as their behaviour, interest or transaction
records can be observed. With this information companies are able to categorize and
analyse more about their customers‘ priorities. This could lead to a closer relation, but
which is not agreed by their customers (Frow et al., 2011).
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
13
2.3 CRM in Higher education
Recently, it has become common that a lot of universities and colleges adopt CRM
solutions for managing students to their program. This has brought the need of a
technological support in institutions such as high speed of Internet broadband and large
amount of database storage capacities. Bedigian (2006) states that the principle of CRM can
be applied to universities or colleges but it is still far behind the corporate sector. However,
it is true that more and more higher educational institutions are recognising the importance
of CRM capabilities. Seeman and O‘Hara (2006) state that student satisfaction to the
programs and services of a higher education institution, can be greatly affected by the
capabilities of CRM solutions. In today‘s competitive market universities have to prepare
themselves with marketing and strategies in order to survive like in the business world.
Bejou (2005) states that it is now obvious that higher institution considers students as
customers. Consequently, Nair et al. (2007) state that the more organisations centralize
their focus on its students, the more CRM usage has to be promoted. In fact, many
educational institutions have adapted CRM for student administration and recruitment
processes. The theory of CRM can be applied from student enrollment to the post-
graduation. CRM is involved in student registration, marketing, transcript and academic
support services (Seeman and O‘Hara, 2006). Furthermore, the use is not only for
managing the relationship with students but also other internal tasks of the university. For
example, managing department staffs or sharing information within the university. This
shows the extended usability of CRM in higher education which helps the fast
identification of risk that students are facing or prevention of complaints.
2.4 CRM for alumni
In today‘s competitive world higher education institutions have to deal with a vast number
of alumni because each year a number of students graduate from their university. In order
to manage the huge number of graduated students effectively, universities require an
advanced level of technical support. They need some solution like the widely proven
success of CRM techniques which is implemented in the business sector. This is because
the alumni can also be regarded as customers to the higher institution and they have a high
potential of being future resources for their universities (Bejou, 2005). Based on CRM
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
14
principles, it has been proven to be much easier and more effective to retain an already
existing customer which in this case is the enrolled students than to recruit new customers.
According to Barnard and Rensleigh (2008) alumni relationship management is a very
crucial task for higher institutions. They therefore imply that a strategy to adequately bind
alumni will be required, as they could be the most beneficial resource to an institution, due
to the numerous amounts of resources they can provide in terms of finance, social influence
and strategy. This is why the need for an effective CRM implementation is vital for higher
education in managing their alumni. In a survey of Bedigian (2006) an increasing number
of alumni now turn to their previous universities for a number of reasons including career
guidance, further education, networking opportunities than merely finding old classmates.
Adelaide (2008 : 1) states that ―communication is the most critical element in a Network‘s
efforts to build and sustain membership‖ because it will help to promote a number of
various activities e.g. events that are pivotal to a networks growth, but these activities also
have to be accompanied by effective communication to encourage their participation.
According to Petrus and Azri (2005), most European universities have separate alumni
relationship offices because the majority sees the relationship with their alumni as highly
important. They state that the promotion of the university, recruitment of new students and
tracking of alumni are the major reasons why they are interested in an alumni relationship
rather than the potential valuable donations from the alumni as is the case with a lot of
universities in the US. In other words, the EU universities strongly believe that the
communication aspects are the most important and since the universities already have
relevant data about their current students from their corresponding university profiles, this
could be extended for communication purposes with the students even after they have
graduated.
2.5 Conclusion
An extensive examination of CRM from both the business and higher educational
perspective has been performed with major focus on the business sector rather than in the
higher educational area due to the availability of more grounding literature. However, a
valuable standard has been provided for adoption to the higher education sector. In addition,
the important role of the CRM concept in managing students for universities and how it
Chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management
15
could be applied for their alumni was discovered. The basis for the theory building of this
study has therefore been provided from a critical consideration of the data gotten from the
literature.
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
16
Chapter 3: Cloud Computing
3.1 Introduction
This chapter provides an in-depth literature review of the emerging cloud computing
technology. It starts with the definition, concept, benefits and challenges of cloud
computing. Then, it reviews the relationship between CRM and cloud computing and also
describes how it is used in the higher education sector. However, the scope of cloud
computing in higher education is limited in the UK. Finally, the last section Cloud CRM
and Alumni acts as a theoretical foundation for the entire dissertation.
3.2 Cloud computing definition
Cloud computing is a relatively new term that has become popular in recent years. The term
―Cloud Computing‖ has sparked an abundant amount of interest in the area of Information
Technology infrastructure. Thus, numerous researchers have tried to characterize and
define the new term but still confusion remains about its exact definition (Armbrust et al.,
2009). Recently, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST : 2-1) (2011)
announced a concise definition that covers the general aspects of the cloud computing
technology:
―Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a
shared pool of configurable computing resource (e.g., networks, servers, storage,
applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal
management effort or service provider interaction.‖
Youseff et al. (2008) state that cloud computing is a mixture of existing technology, but
Yang and Tate (2009) argue that there is a clear inheritance from older models like grid
computing, cluster computing, service computing, and ubiquitous computing. Furthermore,
Armbrust et al. (2009) characterize cloud computing as hardware and system software in a
data centre that delivers services over the Internet.
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
17
According to them, there are three new changes from the hardware perspective in cloud
computing:
● Computer resources can be used infinitely on demand.
● Hardware resources can be increased only when it is required.
● The resources can only be used for a specific time (e.g. using the storage for a day,
using a processor for an hour).
A major change in the economic and technological perspectives of cloud computing is that
it is now possible to offer such services to utilize computing in hours or days rather than to
have a long-term negotiated contract. Cloud computing therefore allows for a tremendous
change in the current IT infrastructure (Armbrust et a.l, 2009).
Another term that has to be understood in cloud computing is Software as a Service (SaaS)
(Dubey and Wagle, 2007). SaaS is a service that is mostly provided online via a Web
browser. Instead of installing software on an individual machine, SaaS installs the software
in a central server as common software for all users and provides a sign up that gives access
to the software. This has the advantage of maintaining and installing the software more
comfortably and provides simplicity for version upgrades as it can be managed from a
central server. Moreover, end users are able to access the software anytime, anywhere all
around the world (Dubey and Wagle, 2007). Cloud computing provides all above
mentioned advantages and gives the opportunity to utilize computing. Figure 1 illustrates
the new layered architecture in cloud computing.
Figure 1: Users and providers of cloud computing adapted from Armbrust et al. (2009)
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
18
SaaS providers can provide services to SaaS users by using the hardware resources from a
cloud provider. SaaS providers can also be SaaS users, thus being recursive. For example, a
property provider can be a user of Google-Maps services. This provides numerous small
and medium enterprises the opportunity to implement SaaS applications without
provisioning their own data center. Thus, Armbrust et al. (2009) describes cloud computing
as a sum of SaaS and utility computing.
3.3 Cloud Computing Technology Concept
As described above, cloud computing is difficult to describe in one definition, but different
definitions from various scholars emphasise a common structure of concept. Figure 2
illustrates the layer of the cloud computing concept. SaaS is in the top layer which includes;
CRM application, Google Docs, Microsoft Web Office, Salesforce.com etc. The second
layer is platform as a service (PaaS). This layer offers a development environment so that
companies can customise or build their application from an existing platform on the
Internet. Applications can be developed with programming languages like Java, Python or
PHP but only deployed on a provider who supports their languages (Peng et al., 2009).
Examples of PaaS that are currently available in the market include Force.com, Microsoft
Azure, Google App Engine, and Oracle Cloud Strategy. The next tier is the software
infrastructure as a service (SIaaS). This level offers the possibility to manage data online.
There are software products such as Simple database and Simple Que Service from
Amazon as well as SQL database from Microsoft. The last level of the cloud architecture is
the Hardware infrastructure as a service (HIaas). Enterprises are able to use the low level
infrastructure online so that the physical layer such as CPU and memory can be access
through a remote network connection. A representative example of this layer service is the
Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) (Amazon, 2011). EC2 can be imagined as a huge
data center where users have access and control to the underlying physical hardware
instance remotely via network access.
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
19
Figure 2: Cloud layer based on analysis of work from Petkovic (2010)
Cloud computing can also be classified in the perspective of its development, localisation,
and maintenance (Petkovic, 2010).
Firstly, the classification from the point of its development can be interpreted in three views.
● Public Cloud - This is a cloud computing service that is available in the consumer
market. (e.g. Google App Engine, Salesforce.com, Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure)
● Private Cloud - This type of service is limited to private customers either as an
individual or a specific group. The cloud provider can use a private network or the
Word Wide Web which can be served by an internal or external IT provider. (e.g.
big companies, hospital, governments, universities which often deal with sensitive
or private data use this type of service)
● Hybrid Cloud - This service consists of a private and public cloud that are kept
independent, however this combination is done with standards allowing for the
transplant of data and applications (Peng et al., 2009).
Secondly, cloud computing can also be classified based on the location. The source can
either be internal or external. Internal clouds are located indoors and external clouds comes
from outside but can use a public or private cloud (Nair et al., 2010).
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
20
The last classification deals with the maintenance. It can either be done from the in-house
or it uses an outsourcing organisation for their maintenance. Ahmed and Raja (2010 : 190)
state that by outsourcing ―the confidence of end user can be won partially by the guarantees
of service provider and use of cryptographic techniques‖.
Before adopting a cloud computing service, an organisation should consider their needs and
desires that fall into any of the above classifications that will be most appropriate for them.
Private cloud is appropriate to see the internal work-flow and to manage the security
guidelines but not efficient in the economic scale. Public clouds have the advantage in the
economic perspective but have a lot of issues of security. Therefore, it is reasonable to use a
private cloud when the company deals with a lot of sensitive data. However, Sungard (2010)
states that this could probably change in the near future as technology continues to evolve.
3.4 Benefits of Cloud Computing
As cloud computing provides numerous advantages, it has leaded the consumer market
with a variety of available services. The following describes the general benefits that can be
gained by using cloud computing services.
First of all, the price model of cloud computing has several advantages. As enterprises have
to pay only for the time which the server is being used, a lot of expenses of the capital are
reduced (Peng et al., 2009). In addition, the barrier to switch to a cloud computing
infrastructure is low and the cost to scale up their capacity as demand is relatively cheaper
than the traditional model (Gupta, 2010).
Secondly, one of the huge competitive advantage in cloud computing is the scalability.
Dealing suddenly with a huge amount of data can easily be managed, which could be
difficult in a traditional model (Grossman, 2009). For example, if the company has a large
event with a lot of new users their services would see a potential upswing in their loads.
Cloud computing would be a good option here as it could be scaled up and down with
requirements.
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
21
Thirdly, the security in cloud computing comes with a lot of issues as the data is stored by
another company (Ahmed and Raja, 2010). However, there are also advantages in the
security level of cloud computing. Reputable cloud providers try to keep their service
secure and safe. They have strict privacy policies in order to have the credibility of their
customers and market. They use rigorous security measures that can authenticate the user
with cryptographic methods. In addition, cloud subscribers are always able to encrypt their
data and store it to their provider sides. Velte et al. (2010) stated that this way of data
storing can be more secure in some cases than it would be stored on a private server.
Fourthly, because the data is shifted to a third party, the IT department of the company has
less burden and can concentrate more on important tasks related to their business. Moreover,
less manpower needs to be employed for that low level work. Particularly, outage of
networks which is always a huge challenge for the IT staff, can be offloaded to the cloud
provider (Peng et al., 2009).
Finally, in most cases when new technologies emerge a variety of different companies
move into the market to supply these new services. In this case users are confused or have
some doubts about these new service providers. However, in cloud computing the
pioneering companies were those who already have a good reputation in the IT sector
(Velte et al., 2010). Such companies include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Yahoo
who are established in this field to provide reliable services.
3.5 Cloud Challenges
Although, cloud computing enjoys great operational and economic benefits, it comes with
certain issues as the technology is still emerging. Some of them are uniquely related to
cloud computing, others are from the traditional computing topics but which has a vast
affection in this area. The following issues do not apply only for cloud computing but are
relevant for its adoption.
Latency issues. Latency is the delaying time for a request that is made by a subscriber
(NIST, 2011). Normally, it includes the time of at least one round trip on the Internet. This
means, it measures the time from the request message of the subscriber to travel to the
provider till the time it comes back to the subscriber. This time is generally not a number
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
22
but it refers to a range, failure, or configuration errors. This issue is difficult to control
either from the provider or subscriber side. In addition, Wan (2010) states that there are
some Telecom Network workloads which are latency sensitive, thus a distributed cloud
service is incapable. Therefore, a profound analysis to its environment is curial.
Data synchronisation of off-line data is a big challenge in cloud computing (NIST, 2011).
Without Internet connection computing resources are useless. Thus, it is important to have
the ability to synchronise the document or processed data for use when the user goes offline.
Vital requirements for this are; version control, collaboration in groups, and
synchronisation of other aspects within a cloud. In addition, Gupta (2010) states that for
some highly transactional files, high speed access is required and cannot be provided by
public cloud Internet connections.
Although, cloud computing has the advantages to reduce huge amount of operation cost,
there are some risks in the economic aspects (NIST, 2011). For example, there is the risk of
insolvency. Normally, with one information system the product can be used continuously,
even though the provider goes bankrupt. However, for companies which uses their cloud
solution from an outsourcing resource that depends on real time data transactions, huge
damages can be incurred if the cloud business goes out. In this case those companies need a
hybrid cloud solution or a redundant cloud so that the company does not go down from a
single cloud computing provider. As a matter of fact, the cost might be more expensive
than having their own data center.
Among many other issues the information security is the very critical issue in cloud
computing as the data is served from the third party (Grossman, 2009). Kim et al. (2010)
stated that the multi-tenancy nature, serving several clients in one server, could lead to loss
of control of the underlying infrastructure and the unintended sharing resources. This is
why many organisations are wary of storing their valuable data in the cloud. In addition, as
the network is connected to the World Wide Web, the risks of security or errors are
relatively higher than a non-networked application. Also, it is not only the attacks of
hackers, viruses or worms that can take down a server but also there are earthquakes that
lead to damages to the undersea cables. Gupta (2010) stated that threats like fire, storms or
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
23
natural disaster can always happen to physically stored data. Thus, it is important to know
how the cloud provider will respond or which guarantees they offer for such situations.
3.6 CRM with Cloud computing
Today, CRM has not changed much in its core functionality and that is why its vendors try
to include as many new features, accessories and pricing in order to retain their customers.
Cloud computing is one of the new approaches and it encompasses a lot of the modern
techniques used today for CRM. Petkovic (2010) states that the SaaS model is best suited
for companies that have a lack of the performance of their CRM functions or companies
that want to outsource some of its core business operations. However, if an organisation
desires to integrate a complete solution from hardware instance with a lot of applications
that execute all their business tasks, then the answer is cloud computing. For example, a
company might have an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system or supply chain
management (SCM) system, this is difficult to integrate with a SaaS solution. But by using
a cloud computing approach the company could develop their CRM system on the
hardware instance in the cloud and would have more possibilities to customise their
application. In addition, Petkovic (2010 : 368) also states that ―this new field of
development which refers to the cloud CRM application is the social line‖. This is also
known as social CRM. In this model, customers, suppliers and potential customers are able
to communicate with the cloud CRM application to external social networking sites like
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.. Another advantage of the use of CRM with social
networking sites, as stated by Mohan et al. (2008 : 237), is that ―There are number of open
source social networking engines are available, which can be customised according to one‘s
need and can be plugged-in to their existing applications". This means that a company
cloud CRM system could be connected to a social networking site and communicate with
those users. Furthermore, the user‘s friends list in the social network can connect the
company to another party of potential customers. However, the organisation could also add
a private social networking capability in their CRM application like Salesforce.com‘s
Chatter service which allows employees to collaborate more efficiently at work
(Salesforce.com, 2011a). By using such social networking features for their in-house CRM
system the information can be spread much faster, be more private, and secure to their end
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
24
users. In this model users would be able to follow other co-workers, groups of other
departments or information.
3.7 Cloud Computing in higher education UK
Higher education is currently faced with the task of managing increasing amounts of data
requiring large amounts of resources. With the opportunities of cloud computing available
institutions that run their own data center have the advantage of improving their data
transactions efficiency. In addition, it will give higher education the opportunity to focus
more on teaching rather than maintaining software application and complex IT
configurations (Mccrea, 2009). Furthermore, Sasikala and Prema (2010, cited by Mircea
(2010)) state that a governmental involvement could stabilise the adoption of a cloud-based
infrastructure. In the UK, JANET, a government founded academic network, offers a
100Gbit/s backbone network and serves more than 18 million users (JANET, 2010). This
network is connected to all education and research areas in the UK. JANET provides a high
access Internet capability and is responsible for operating, maintaining the network, and
developing new technologies. For example, if the university wants to join their computer
with a machine in the US and simulate an event, this cannot be achieved if the network is
slow. The network in JANET consists of a backbone which is connected to regional
networks with fiber optic infrastructure. This enables higher education the highly reliable,
high bandwidth and a competitive advantage to other universities abroad. The network is
maintained daily and monitored for constant upgrades in the future as new technologies
appear. In addition, Hicks (2009) states that a number of universities in UK have adopted
Google Apps into their system because of the disappointment of their in-house email
system when dealing with high demand from students and cost reduction.
HEFCE (2011) states that the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) will offer the
opportunity for cloud computing services through the UK so that higher institutions can
manage their data in a separate house, host application, and share in a data center in 2012.
This will give universities and colleges a realistic alternative to their IT policy and a strong
competitive advantage to improve the research quality. JANET (2010 : 7) states that:
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
25
―Valuable work continues in this area and studies have shown that shared data centres
offer the potential to save the sector 100 million + pounds over 15 years while improving
services, resilience and environmental efficiencies‖.
To narrow the opportunity, the University Modernisation Fund (UMF) supports universities
and colleges to boost the cloud program in the higher education sector by providing huge
amounts of funding (HEFCE, 2011). They will invest up to 10 million pounds to build a
shared data center through the UK. Through this huge amount of support higher education
can profit from continuous purchasing, less implementation, and the cost for housing
servers. In addition, while there are issues of privacy in the public clouds, using JANET as
their cloud service provider will ensure that the data and information can be managed in a
more secure way for higher education in the UK.
3.8 Cloud CRM and Alumni
Based on the knowledge drawn from past literature on CRM and cloud computing, it is
logical to implement a similar model to higher education institutions, to solve the problem
to maintain the relationship between alumni and their universities as well as tracking lost
alumni. Therefore, a cloud ARM platform could be proposed.
The significance of an ARM platform cannot be over justified as cloud CRM allows for the
benefits of advanced business strategies, the addition of social features with efficient
collaboration by its users and real time connectivity from mobile devices all around the
world.
The social network features for example allow for status updates by a user which can be
seen in real time by people in the network. Some other user can interact with this status
update in a number of ways and hence can incidentally lead to the establishment of better
relationships between people in the network (Mohan et al., 2008; Deng et al., 2009). Social
networking has had an impressive adoption by users worldwide, with the advent of sites
like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, because the ability to connect and reconnect people by
these sites was very impressive. Therefore, a cloud CRM using social networking features
will be a viable solution to bind universities and alumni together. Enders et al. (2008) also
justify this by stating that one of the success factors of social networking sites is that it
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
26
enables its users to find and reconnect with their former classmates or friends that they may
have lost contact with over time. Thus, the integration of the social networking features in
the cloud CRM would help to find the lost alumni. In addition, the classical CRM core
capability would be a great use of strategy which could maintain the relationship. All this
core capability could be managed in one interactive platform.
Cloud CRM techniques can be used by higher education institutions to facilitate the
management of alumni relationships, reduction of high costs, reduction of maintenance
problems, more private and confidential collaboration as well as an increased security.
Another benefits of cloud computing is it can contain a large number of users on the
Internet and the alumni would have the chance to work with a large amount of data in the
same time with a lot of users.
To prove the hypotheses, an ARM application will be developed to test the result. It should
identify alumni and linked to a social networking site that runs in a cloud-based IT
infrastructure. Figure 3 illustrates the conceptual idea of this hypothesis.
Figure 3: ARM platform connected with social networking sites on the cloud
Cloud
Chapter 3 Cloud Computing
27
In conclusion, from the points stated above, it can be said that because of the attractive
social networking features, CRM strategies, and cloud computing technologies the cloud
ARM might prove to be a huge success in binding alumni after-all.
3.9 Conclusion
An exhaustive study of cloud computing was performed and a theory was proposed that
was deductively investigated from the Cloud CRM and Alumni sub-topic. The theory for
the dissertation was retrieved from chapter 2 Customer Relationship Management and
chapter 3 Cloud computing literature review and is stated as follows:
The integration of a cloud CRM to a social networking site could help to reinstate lost
alumni and maintain their relationship more efficiently. This can be referred to as the cloud
Alumni Relationship Management platform.
Chapter 4 Methodology
28
Chapter 4: Methodology
4.1 Introduction
This chapter outlines the methodology that has been undertaken in this research. There are
generally two approaches to research: inductive and deductive (Saunders et al., 2009). The
inductive approach involves developing theories based on collected data while the
deductive approach collects data in order to draw conclusion and validate existing theories.
However, in this research both inductive and deductive were used because of the nature of
the applied methodology. Also, in information systems research, there are three main
methods of investigation: quantitative, qualitative, and design research (Mojtahed, 2010).
The quantitative approach involves developing numerical representations of the collected
questionnaire data that can better help the understanding of the area of study and allow for
predictive inference while the qualitative approach involves developing themes for better
understanding of the case study that can be retrieved in a form of interview data (Bryman,
2008). The adoption of design research in this study is further explained below.
4.2 Design research
An iterative development research methodology, design research (Owen, 1998), was used
for this dissertation. It is based on the theory that new knowledge about the problem can be
gained during the developmental process of an artifact. There are many different types of
methodologies used in the field of information systems for research purposes, however,
Fang, (2010) states that the design research methodology is a widely used research
approach in this area. Therefore, considering the characteristics of this dissertation, it was
appropriate to adopt this method for this project. This is because, several studies exist about
higher education with CRM, but a study that combines cloud CRM with alumni proves to
be a novel area. Moreover, since this research has been identified as one that will involve
an implementation of an ARM system, this methodology was chosen as the most
appropriate. Furthermore, design research was especially suitable because it involves an
iterative approach of analytical techniques in a sequential process which is a crucial process
in development. Figure 4 describes the implementation process of this methodology.
Chapter 4 Methodology
29
Figure 4: Reasoning approach in design research circle from Fang (2010)
Design research usually begins with developing an awareness of the given problem and
since it is an improvement research technique due to the fact that it involves solving
problems and improving performance, a solution can be easily suggested. The suggestions
are obtained from previous knowledge of the problem area. Then, it goes to implement a
prototype in the development phase. If the prototype fulfills the requirements the product
should be partially or completely implemented in the evaluation phase. However, because
the process is based on an iterative approach, changes during the development are flexible.
This means, after fully implementing the product a new suggestion enables the process to
be circulated repeatedly. Finally, the project terminates with a conclusion.
4.3 The Outputs of Design research
Even in the design research there is a variety of outputs that lead to a lack of consensus.
March and Smith (1995) suggest a widely accepted approach of four types of outputs.
Constructs: These are a set of definitions that arise from the conceptual analysis of the
problem/solution domain. It can be said to be the basic units that adequately define the
Chapter 4 Methodology
30
problem domain. These constructs are refined throughout the design process cycle and they
may possess a bigger construct set than that of an equivalent empirical process because a
conventional working design represents a large number of entities and their relationships.
For the output use cases has been used in this stage. However, for this dissertation only a
brief description of use cases were demonstrated with the support of a use case diagram.
A model is a stated expression of relationships among constructs as related to the goal of
the design process. It is made up of propositions and statements of how things are and how
they can be solved. Unlike natural science research theories that focus on fact, design
research focuses more on situated utility. For this output an activity diagram has been used
to model the propositions and statements.
A method is a systematic technique or a way that a task is performed. It involves the use of
constructs to produce a model of the solution statement. The design research method gives
an implicit expression of the problem/solution statement in the form of constructs. The
Force.com developer platform was used here and will be explained in detail later in the
development phase of the first prototype.
Instantiation: This is an articulated output of a design research according to March and
Smith (1995), and as the name implies, it is more or less a realisation of the constructs,
models and methods in operation as a working artifact in the environment. March and
Smith (1995) show that an instantiation may be developed even before an extensive
knowledge about the area is attained which in technical terms may refer to a complete
articulation of its underlying theories. This only puts more emphasis on the proactiveness
of design research. The Sheffield alumni platform which was developed on Force.com
platform is the output.
In addition to the widely accepted theorised outputs of design research mentioned above by
March and Smith (1995) another output as postulated by Purao (2002) was identified as
better theories. It is believed that the process of design research can lead to the
development of better theories or the development of new theories. The iterative nature of
the design research process can be responsible for this in the sense that the researchers will
observe from each iteration better ways of expressing the problem/solution as constructs. A
Chapter 4 Methodology
31
realisation of this output was the second prototype and the future work which was remained
in that prototype.
4.4 Research Design in the context of the dissertation
According to the nature of the methodology this project has an inductive and deductive
approach. The awareness of the problem is first triggered from the needs of an efficient
ARM system and emerging cloud computing technology. This was then reviewed by
literature that is related in this area. Subsequently, a suggestion was provided based on the
theoretical part that leads to the development phase which is the inductive part of the
methodology. From this suggestion, two prototypes were developed. Each prototype was
implemented according to their requirements, the product was evaluated by conducting
interviews, which is the deductive part. Finally, the finding of the achievements produced
by this dissertation was ready to be discussed.
Chapter 5 Prototype
32
Chapter 5: Prototype
This chapter describes two prototypes of this project. These two prototypes include the
whole life cycle of the design research methodology. The first prototype discovered a
critical foundation of identification on alumni information which leads to the development
of the second prototype. However, because of the limited time available for this research,
the second prototype could not be perfectly implemented although the attempt and the
possibility of having the potential of an attractive ARM system were gained.
5.1 First Prototype
The first prototype development was based on data from a series of practical analysis and
identification of needs which can be referred to as the requirements analysis. It was also
strongly based on issues that have been extracted from the research question and literature
review.
5.1.1 Requirements analysis
From the literature review, a new theory was formed that suggested the integration of a
cloud CRM with a social networking site for the purpose of reinstating lost alumni and
maintaining relationships more efficiently.
During the requirements analysis phase, it is important to highlight the key issues and
problems that this dissertation is expected to encapsulate. In order to adequately highlight
the problems, the current circumstance of the alumni relations will be evaluated.
Nowadays, the competition between higher education institutions has been increased so
immensely that the roles of alumni relationship management become more crucial. Petrus
and Azri (2005) pointed out that most European universities isolate their alumni
management; that some even might have a separate alumni relations office, and only 8% do
not have a well structured alumni management office or anyone in charge of alumni
relations. This implies that the universities have begun to see the importance of alumni
management and have started to use the alumni office to maintain their relationship in a
more professional way. The development of a solution to identify lost alumni has become
Chapter 5 Prototype
33
very essential in order to boost the current situation of alumni relationships in higher
institutions.
Technically, there are huge costs involved in managing an application in-house. Beside the
application, it also needs a lot of drivers, a data center with office space, complicated
configurations, bandwidth, servers, databases, and the list goes on. In addition, when a new
version of the software is released, the system will have to face new problems and
challenges. Therefore, cloud computing technology was chosen as an effective solution not
only for small and medium but also for huge scale universities to give less effort in their
adoption of a new Information Systems.
In order to establish a connection between the system and the social networking platform,
an intensive study of their API was required.
After analysing the data from the current situation, the requirements of the ARM system are
specifically addressed as follows:
Functional Requirements
● The proposed ARM platform needs to include some level of social network in order
to bridge alumni and their Alma mater, because social networking sites are widely
used and could be a valuable tool to attract lost alumni.
● A social networking page should be created in order to communicate with the
alumni effectively. Although it is certain that the university may have an alumni
web page, but it was assumed that most alumni generally would first go looking for
any such web presence on social networking sites. This is because it is a well
known fact that numerous organisations run and update their most recent news on
popular social networking sites.
● The ARM system should be directly connected with a social networking page. A
user interface that would populate the retrieved feeds was required to enable that the
alumni office administrator see messages on his screen without having to login first.
● A function to respond to the retrieved feeds on the social networking page was
essentially required.
● Users should be able to log into the system.
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Non-Functional Requirements
● Generally, a system which is based on a client server based model is partially
wasteful of physical resources and the proposed system should be scalable. This
means a cloud-based IT infrastructure had to be available.
● A real-time communication and synchronisation with the alumni data were required.
● The system should be available via mobile access anytime and anywhere.
● The security issues have to be known as the application runs by a cloud service
provider.
Uses Cases
A use case is a description that includes a business function performed by the user and the
system (Larman, 2005).
The given requirements above can be visualised as a use case diagram. This can be seen in
Diagram 1 which illustrates the interaction between the alumni, the system and the
university administrator in the cloud.
Diagram 1: Use case diagram of the first prototype in the ARM system
Alumni
1..*
1 University Administrator
Cloud Services
University Alumni Social Networking Page
ARM System
Input information
Output information
Process Information
1..* 1..*
1 1
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Use Case UC1 : Input information
Brief Description
The main purpose of this action is to bridge the social networking sites and the university
ARM application. Therefore, the cloud service can be regarded as a system which includes
those two separate platforms where the users see them as one single application. The
alumni is able to write information on the university social networking page and can see
any response to it by the university or alumni. On the other hand, the university
administrators could retrieve and respond from the university application to the social
networking sites directly from the ARM application. The system should retrieve the
information from the social networking site and should be able to process the information at
the university alumni application. This will increase not only the communication efficiency
but also the maintenance level and access capability.
Use Case UC2 : Output information
Brief Description
The business function for this use case is the logical opposite of the former UC1, because it
describes not only the response action to the alumni but also the expression of new output
information from the university ARM application to the university alumni social
networking page.
5.1.2 Design
Connecting the CRM application with a social networking page is the most important
criteria in the design of this prototype. This is necessary in order to increase the
communication efficiency and attract lost alumni. Thus, a user interface that can retrieve
the information from a social networking site and a function that could send an
acknowledgement needed to be designed. Technically the application was expected to run
on the cloud, the server and database had to be delivered from a cloud service provider.
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An activity diagram (Larman, 2005) is illustrated in order to show the activity flow
between the social networking page and the ARM system. Diagram 2 exhibits the sequence
of their activities.
Social Networking Site ARM System
Diagram 2: An activity diagram showing the communication
between the university ARM system and a social networking site
The diagram illustrates the process when an alumni writes a message on the university
social networking page which is connected with the ARM system. The alumni logs in from
the social networking site, which makes the alumni able to search for and look up the
university alumni page, he/she can then interact with the page, and make input for
submission which directs the information to the ARM system. On the other hand, if the
administrator is logged into the ARM system, then he can respond to the information
submitted by the alumni. This information will then be displayed on the social networking
Alumni search for university alumni page
Output information
Alumni login to the
social networking site
Input information
University administrator
login to the system
Get information
Process information
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site. In addition, the administrator may also update information on the social networking
page directly from the ARM system.
5.1.3 Development
An ARM application was implemented with the support of the Salesforce.com developer
platform (Salesforce.com, 2011b). Salesforce.com provides a free developer edition on the
Force.com platform which provides a platform as a service (PaaS) environment. This
platform allows the developers to create a CRM system in a cloud-based environment. This
enables the developer to deploy an application without having the underlying hardware and
software components in house. It also supports the development of the application with the
popular Java programming language so that other application could be developed from
scratch. In addition, the platform offers a pre-configured development environment where
applications can be implemented with a few simple mouse clicks. Thus, by using the
Force.com platform, the first prototype could easily be implemented without concerning
about the aspects of IT infrastructure. Moreover, during the implementation of the feature
to connect to the social networking page with the application, it is discovered that the
Force.com platform already has a provision for the rapid connection of apps to some certain
social networking sites. It is due to this fact that a huge amount of time and effort could be
saved so that the application could be directly applied for testing as well as evaluating. A
page on Facebook was created among many other social networking sites because it was
easier to test it with other participants. The following figures show how the ARM
application looks like and how it interacts with Facebook.
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Figure 5 shows the created Sheffield alumni page on Facebook. Alumni and university
administrators were able to post information on the wall.
Figure 5: Sheffield alumni test page
Figure 6 illustrates the integrated page of a social networking site in the ARM system. Page
feeds from Facebook could be received from this.
Figure 6: Social networking page in the ARM system
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Figure 7 shows how the admin responds to feeds received from Facebook.
Figure 7: A page for response income messages
―I am interested....dissertation‖ is the message that the application has received from
Facebook. ―A message to... ARM system‖ is the message that will appear on the Facebook
page when the administrator presses the Share button.
5.1.4 Evaluation
At this stage, it was necessary to get participants for the interview that was to be conducted.
Some alumni were chosen as possible candidates and were contacted via email. Six agreed
to participate in a face-to-face interview. Two of the six alumni are current masters students
and are therefore implicitly alumni of an undergraduate degree university. Four of them
recently graduated from a university and have recently started their careers in the private
sector. The last tester graduated from a university in the UK over ten years ago.
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Information about the Force.com platform, cloud computing and CRM strategies were
briefly explained to all the participants before demonstrating the application to give them a
better understanding about the project. The interview lasted for 60 - 90 minutes which was
longer than initially planned. All of them found the approach interesting and an enthusiastic
attitude was observed throughout the interview.
5.1.4.1 Findings
About 30 % of the alumni had lost contact with the university or were not well informed of
their previous alumni systems. It was therefore evident that the next crucial task, was to
have a better identification method of alumni rather than just connecting the platform with
the social networking page.
It was determined that with the current situation the university cannot retrieve the profile
information of the alumni until he shows his information in public. In addition, the
proposed system was not attractive enough to bind the alumni to system for long time. All
the participants agreed that the attempt of the proposed ARM system is useful and practical
but did not impress them enough to use the system immediately. This has brought about
concern because the proposed system did not attract alumni as planned since it did not offer
any direct benefits to them. Based on all the facts gathered, an efficient approach of getting
active alumni data and designing an attractive feature on the ARM system was required.
Moreover, a view from another aspect perspective was proposed in the second prototype;
those who use the alumni system directly as an end-user for example the university alumni
administrators. Since the proposed system would not profit the alumni directly, it was
considered relevant to interview those people who work with the system to get their
feedback. Finally, it was discovered that using the ARM system for finding friends was not
considered as attractive because the alumni already had most of their friends on their social
networking friend list but it was observed that there was an interest to find their professors
using the system.
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5.1.4.2 Discussion
The evaluation could be represented in the following order based on interpretations
retrieved from the interview script.
1. Current experience
None of the interviewees were active users of their current university alumni system. Four
of them said they receive an email or magazine from their Alma mater. Others pointed out
that they have not been able to maintain the contact to their university. Amongst the alumni
who claimed to receive information from their university, only half of them found these
useful but did not acknowledge it as an essential information source. Alumni 1 stated that ―I
sometimes receive magazines but have not carefully read them yet‖
2. Experience with the proposed application
All interviewees agreed that this approach seemed to be useful. Alumni 2 stated that ―I
think it is a very good idea using existing social networking websites‖. Alumni 1 stated he
would first look through a social networking site rather than going directly to the university
web page when searching for the alumni page. He explained that he thinks the information
on social networking sites are the most up-to-date information that the current organisation
provides. He also acknowledged that even though he has not searched for the university
social networking alumni page yet and he did not know if one even existed, he was sure to
search and find the university‘s page there when the need arise. Alumni 3 said ―I also
thought the university has a page or group on a social networking platform‖. From the
cloud computing perspective, although, the alumni are not directly involved with the
benefits it presents such as the low costs, scalability of hardware resources, they
complemented the method as a potentially profitable resource for the university. However,
when it came to the question of the attractiveness of the service or the frequent use of the
product as an information system, the majority showed a pessimistic attitude. Also, when
they were asked about the inclusion of a private social networking feature in the alumni
platform, it was obvious that the alumni preferred to interact with their friends on social
networking sites rather than on the alumni platform. They also argued that it is faster and
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more convenient to find friends on social networks than searching for them on an alumni
site.
3. Emerging requirements
There were a variety of different expectations for the ARM platform of the participants.
Those expectations could be summarised as follow;
● The platform would be considered attractive if the application can bind not only the
relationship with their old classmates but also with their lecturers. Alumni 3 said
that ―Having knowledge of what my former professor does would be very valuable
for me.‖
● If the system could provide the latest research or publication that the university is
currently involved in, this could be practically used. As many graduates still require
more knowledge after leaving the university, getting academic information will be
valuable. Alumni 4 stated ―I love academic works‖.
● The system could be used in a more professional way like LinkedIn, for processes
in organisations like recruitment. Alumni 5 stated that ―It could be used for head
hunting‖.
● If the application could provide useful information for alumni interested in visiting
the university as guest lecturers, Alumni 4 stated that ―I would be interested in
going back to university to teach....It would be great if the network could allow this‖.
● Even though most of them claimed that it could not be used as an alternative for a
private social networking site because of the dominance of the major site, one
participant said it still could be useful because some countries ban the regular social
networking sites. Therefore, it could be worth having it in their house. Alumni 6
stated that ―my classmates are from all across the world, some of them are not in
Facebook‖.
● A universal alumni platform was suggested, because it was annoying to have log
into two different alumni pages when the BSc and MSc degrees were obtained from
different universities. Alumni 1 stated that ―I studied in two different
universities...If I could use my former and latest university alumni platform together,
that would be useful‖.
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5.1.5 Conclusion
The first prototype was successfully implemented because the required tool already existed
at the Force.com platform. Hence, the next procedure was to interview the alumni. The
result was positive and all of them found the approach useful, although there were some
other challenges regarding the identification and attractiveness. As cloud computing is still
an emerging trend, many of the interviewees liked the idea of easy access, maintenance,
and cost reduction. Finally, considering the feedback and time, it seems to be realistic to
find a solution to retrieve up-to-date alumni data and to implement social networking to the
ARM system in the second prototype. Other proposed emerging requirements will remain
for future works.
5.2 Second Prototype
As expected from a design research methodology, new knowledge and propositions were
gathered from the first prototype design. The new knowledge from the findings and results
will be introduced in the second iteration which then becomes the second prototype. To
give a wider scope and to enhance the quality, a wider range of stakeholders were chosen in
the evaluation phase.
5.2.1 Requirements analysis
After analysing the findings and discussion from the first prototype, it was recognised that a
more efficient way for alumni identification and attraction was necessary. The suggestion
of the first prototype was analysed as follow.
● For an efficient method of identifying alumni active data, the Facebook API was
studied extensively, and it was discovered that user profile information could be
retrieved by implementing an opt-in feature that is provided by the API (Facebook,
2011).
● In consideration of the expectation of an attractive ARM system, an in-built social
networking feature to the ARM system was proposed to increase this attraction.
This feature will be able to follow another user, search for another user, receive and
send messages to other users. It was believed that the in-built feature could establish
a closer communication level between alumni and their professors.
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In representing the social networks, Facebook will be used henceforth for the rest of the
second prototype since the development was based on it. The following demonstrate the
requirements that had to be achieved in this prototype.
Functional requirements
● The system should be capable of getting user information of the alumni from
Facebook that will be directly synchronised with the ARM system. An opt-in
permissions dialog would have to be displayed before retrieving the data.
● The system should enable the searching of registered users.
● The user should be able to send and receive messages to and from other registered
users.
● A considerable level of security and privacy preferences have to be implemented in
order to allow or restrict information access for certain groups of people when users
are being followed.
Non-Functional requirements
● The legal statements have to be clarified since users‘ sensible and important data
will be received, after the opt-in phase.
● The social features in the system have to be easy to navigate.
● The opt-in function has to be easy to conform and clearly comprehensible by the
users.
● Information transfer between users should be in real time.
Use cases
The requirements mentioned above can be illustrated in a use case diagram as shown in
Diagram 3. This displays the interaction between the alumni and the system.
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Diagram 3: Use case diagram of the second prototype in the ARM system
Use Case UC1 : Opt-in for data retrieval
Brief Description
An alumni logs into Facebook to search for the university alumni page. He desires to join
the page, and then an opt-in dialog pops out to access his profile information. If the alumni
opts-in to share information, the system can store the given profile information.
Use Case UC2 : Follow other users
Brief Description
The alumni logs into the system to search for another alumni or professor. If the alumni
identifies a registered user, he or she should be able to follow the person by pressing the
‗Follow‘ button. After this action, the alumni should be able to see the posting information
1 Alumni
1
Cloud Service
University Alumni Social Networking Page
Opt-in for data retrieval
ARM System
Follow other user
Retrieve profile information
Search for users
Get messages
Send messages to other users
1 1
1
1..*
1..*
1..*
1..*
1
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of the selected person. It was assumed that a denial function of the chosen person is not
necessarily required as it was supposed to be a prototype.
Use Case UC3 : Search for other users
Brief Description
An alumni searches for a friend or professor. He or she then types the name on the search
bar and presses the search button. If the system finds users who matches with the entered
name it should deliver all registered users from the database.
Use Case UC4 : Get messages
Brief Description
The alumni follows or is being followed by other users. He or she should be able to receive
messages if the one of these users shares information on his profile wall. However, the
alumni will be able to receive a direct message from another person even though he or she
is not in the friends list. This should be done independently without having them in their
network.
Use Case UC5 : Send messages
Brief Description
The alumni wants to send messages to another user and he/she types information on his/her
profile wall under the precondition that the alumni follows or is being followed by other
users. In this case all users who are in his/her friend list will be able to get messages.
5.2.2 Design
For the second prototype, two aspects were designed. The first aspect dealt with the
performance of an opt-in function which was regarded as a first priority considering the
requirements analysis. A window should display the opt-in information on Facebook when
an alumni desires to join the university alumni page. However, a customised design of this
dialog would have been considered as highly difficult as this window would be
implemented on the Facebook API where the user interface is already pre-designed. The
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other design aspect was the in-built social networking features in the ARM system. A user
interface for this action might be also difficult to adjust because it will be implemented on
the Force.com platform. Therefore, only the internal process was demonstrated in the
activity diagram. This would provide a better understanding of the activity flow that will be
performed in this prototype.
Diagram 4 illustrates the activity flow on how the system retrieves the profile information
of an alumni. The alumni logs into Facebook to search for the university alumni page. The
page link is clicked to reveal the page, and then an opt-in window appears to access the
information. If the application is granted permission, the page will then become visible.
Facebook ARM System
Diagram 4: Activity diagram showing the process opt-in function
Join alumni page
Store user data
Alumni login
to Facebook
Press the page
Ask permission to retrieve profile information
Search for
university alumni
page
Deny
Allow
No
matches
Find
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Diagram 5 below illustrates the activity flow of the internal social networking features in
the ARM system. The alumni logs into the system with the intention to find former
professors or lost classmates and conducts a search in the system. The results of the search
are displayed and can thereby be added to their friends list if there are matches. The
mutually followed users are now able to see whatever information is shared by each other.
ARM System
Diagram 5: The activity flow of an in-built social networking feature in the ARM system
Search for user
Follow user
Get message Send message
Alumni login to system
Find
No
matches
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5.2.3 Development
A Facebook application, Sheffield Alumni Test App For Dissertation Purpose, was created
and an attempt to retrieve Facebook user information was conducted. The application could
not be fully implemented and there were many shortcomings in the application. Due to the
limited time, it was difficult to integrate the application with the university alumni page that
could retrieve profile information. However, the function of retrieving up-to-date user
profile information by the ARM system was achieved as was stated in the aim of the
dissertation.
Figure 8 below shows how it looks like when an application in Facebook access to the user
profile information.
Figure 8: An opt-in dialog for the ARM application in Facebook
For the other remaining part of the development, Salesforce.com‘s Chatter service was used
(Salesforce.com, 2011a). This service performs social networking features that enable to
search, follow, send and receive messages to other users. The Chatter service was provided
by default when the CRM application at the Force.com platform was created. Therefore, an
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immense amount of time was saved and the application was ready to be tested. The
following figures illustrate how professor and alumni could communicate in the ARM
system.
Figure 9: Search result of a professor in the ARM application
Figure 9 displays a situation when an alumni searches for a professor. The name of the
professor is typed in the search bar, and then the system would display the person if he
exists in the system. The alumni would then be able to follow this professor and see all
published information on his or her wall. Figure 10 shows a possible communication
scenario between the professor and alumni.
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Figure 10: Communication between alumni and professor in the ARM system
Alumni 2 has pressed the Follow button of Professor 2 in Figure 9. Now, the alumni can
see on his or her wall when Professor 2 updates information and can also respond to
comments. This is the social networking feature that was used by the support of the Chatter
service of Salesforce.com.
5.2.4 Evaluation
In the second prototype, five interviews were conducted. Like in the first iteration, an email
was sent to arrange a face-to-face meeting. The participants could be divided into three
groups; two of them were university administrators of the university Sheffield alumni office.
Two current lecturers of the University of Sheffield as well as an alumni who graduated
from two different universities and is now currently doing a post-doc also participated. The
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interview followed the same pattern which was used for the first prototype. However, the
questions for each group were derived from the context as their usages of the ARM system
were different. For example, each participant was asked about their current experience with
their university alumni system but the alumni office administrator was asked; ―what kind of
method do you use to contact your alumni ?‖. The lecturers were then asked; ―how do you
use an alumni system to contact your alumni ?‖.
5.2.4.1 Findings
The feedback for the second prototype was very positive even though it could not be fully
implemented. Especially, the university alumni office found the approach with retrieving
the profile information of social networking sites directly into their system very interesting.
They were the most critical interviewees, because they are the people who oversee the
system, therefore, the result could be described as successful. However, the realisation of a
cloud platform and in-built social networking features was not considered attractive. The
in-built social networking feature got more attention from the alumni and lecturers because
the new proposed system could bind their relationship more efficiently and confidentially.
It was discovered that lecturers really want to keep in touch with their former students as
they were curious to know what they were doing.
5.2.4.2 Discussion
The interview discussion can be divided in three different categories and their three main
themes which are described in the following.
Interview with lecturers
● Current experience: The lecturers said that they are not involved directly in the
university alumni system. Lecturer 1 stated that ―I use the service but not the
platform directly...If I want to send a questionnaire to the alumni, I will ask the
office to do that.‖
● Proposed ARM system: It was observed that there was a positive general review of
the system implementation attempt. Especially, the cloud computing utilisation
exercise demonstrated many potential benefits. Lecturer 1 stated: ―I think in the
near future the university will push many things into the cloud‖. However, legal
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problems and sensitive data still remained a big issue. The approach with the social
networking feature was also perceived as positive because they could easily reach
their old students.
● Emerging requirements: They showed a vast interest in communicating with their
former students and wanted to keep their relationship with them. Lecturer 2 stated:
―I am curious in what job area they are and would like to communicate with them in
a private platform‖. In addition, their expectations of the usage were more on the
improvement of the academic level. Lecturer 1 stated: ―It would be helpful if the
system allows to chose a certain sub group of alumni... to have an environment with
a virtual classroom...I can broadcast and people could discuss‖.
Interview with the university alumni administrators
● Current experience: The university alumni office has good experience and a high
satisfaction level with the current alumni system. The system comes with very
powerful tools and functionality to maintain their relationship with the alumni. They
have 14,000 registered alumni users who use their online alumni platform and
around 40 unique users use it every day. In addition, 170,000 people are registered
in their database, they have 135,000 addresses and 62,000 are email addresses
where information is sent every quarter to alumni.
● Proposed ARM system: The administrators were very interested in the application.
Particularly, the idea of pulling the profile information from social networking sites
as up-to-date contact details were very crucial from them. Administrator 1 stated
that ―the ability to taking update details from Facebook as another source of
information, that is potentially really useful‖. However, they were slightly skeptical
for the cloud computing approach as they deal with very sensitive data and as their
scale does not cover more than millions of users. In addition, a realisation of the in-
built social networking feature has been regarded as difficult. This is because
popular social networking sites are already dominating that introducing such
expensive software would not be worth it.
● Emerging requirements: Administrator 1 described the development of integrating
social networking site as a middle-ware could be interesting. That means creating a
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platform should be much easier whereby users are able to build their module or their
own web interface so that moving information backwards and forwards become
more common.
Interview with the alumni
● Current experience: The information he receives from the alumni office has been
regarded as positive but he is not familiar with the usage of the alumni platform.
● Proposed ARM system: He liked the idea of using an existing university social
networking site. He stated that ―I think it is good because normally people do not
tell the university when they change their information.‖ Furthermore, he showed
some interest in the in-built social networking feature as he could easily keep
communicating with his professors.
● Emerging requirements: As a graduate of two different universities, he desired a
unified system that could enable him get information from both universities in one
platform. In addition, he said he would be impressed if he could track his former
professor.
5.2.5. Conclusion
The second prototype could not be fully implemented but the function of retrieving
essential information of users‘ profiles and an in-built social networking in the ARM
system were available for testing. The result demonstrated a great potential of a very
efficient way to find and communicate with alumni as well as to maintain the relationship
to them by satisfying their desires. Much valuable feedback for future expectations that
showed a lot of potential in this ARM area was received from the participants.
Chapter 6 Data Collection
55
Chapter 6: Data Collection
An interview of participants was required to collect data for analysis of the current problem
domain which was conducted at the end of each prototype. The data collection from 11
interviewees included; 7 alumni, 2 lectures and 2 universities alumni administrators. All the
participants were UK residents and all alumni were graduates of universities in the UK. The
interview included flexible closed and open ended semi-structured questions. Bryman
(2008) stated that semi-structured interviews allow more flexibility because the initially
planned sequence of questioning can vary during schedule. This was aimed at collecting as
much information as possible from the proposed participants by observing these
participants. The interviews were conducted face-to-face after invitations were sent via
email. Most of the participants agreed to take the interview or they introduced someone else
who could help. For example, an email was sent to the head of the department of the alumni
office but he introduced their system administrator who was better acquainted with the
alumni system. Before the interview started an information sheet with a short instruction
was distributed and a consent form had to be signed and collected. The information sheet
and consent form used for the interview can be seen in the appendices 1 and 2. The
interview started with the introduction of the participants followed by a short demonstration
of the application and then a brief explanation of the project was made, which lasted about
15 minutes. The whole context was digitally recorded.
6.1 Data analysis of the interview
In order to analyse the information retrieved by those interviewees the recoded interview
was transcribed and coded. Coding is the method that helps to find the link between raw
data and the theoretical concepts (Seidel and Kelle, 1995). Therefore, similar codes were
combined together in order to find connections of those data and then they were interpreted.
This approach helps to identify, analyse and report patterns retrieved from the data which
then led to the findings and therefore were explained in terms of changes to the
requirements.
Chapter 6 Data Collection
56
6.2 Interview script
The interview script was designed to adequately capture data from a cross section of several
important groups of people that matter to the current situation of alumni relationship
management. It was made up of questions that broadly covers 3 domains; the present
situation of the alumni system, the impression and expectation of the proposed alumni
system, and the general emerging requirements of an ideal alumni system. The choice of
the invited participants was strongly based on the following 3 groups: alumni, lecturers, and
university administrators. The reason for the choice of participants in these groups was due
to the fact that these groups of individuals are the major stakeholders that are involved in
the operation of the system on a regular basis. The questions were created based on the
literature review and can be seen at the appendix 3 and a possible answer is given for each
question which referred to a specific part of the literature review.
Firstly, the questions from the domain of the present situation of the alumni system aims to
extract data related to the current experiences regarding the use of the alumni relationship
management system in the university. Data related to the time of adoption, reason for
adoption, issues and limitations of the system, level of satisfaction, methods and logistics of
the system, architecture of the system and others have been included in the interview script
because it represents a broad classification of data that is required for this study.
Secondly, the questions from the domain of the impression and expectation of the proposed
alumni system aims to extract data related to the level of contempt and satisfaction of the
proposed cloud ARM system as being a viable solution to the previous or old system. Data
related to the level of performance of the anticipated new features and the requirements of
the proposed system were collected also.
Thirdly, the questions from the domain of the general emerging requirements of an ideal
alumni system aims at collecting data related to the what will generally be required in the
future of an alumni relationship management system.
Chapter 7 Conclusion
57
Chapter 7: Conclusion
7.1 Summary of the project
This dissertation set out to investigate the problem of maintaining alumni by higher
institutions and propose a remedy for the problem by proposing the development of a cloud
ARM application. The cloud ARM application was suggested to adequately tackle the
research problem by leveraging on the remarkable features of CRM and the numerous
advantages of using cloud technology. It started out with an extensive study of existing
CRM strategies and highlighted the very significant ones that can be used in the application.
An extensive study of the cloud computing technology followed suit just before the process
of development began.
Design research which is a widely common research technique in information systems was
involved in the study because of the need for the development of the application. A number
of prototypes were required to be developed in order to draw understanding from the
developmental process. This study made use of just 2 prototypes due to time constraints.
The developmental requirements and specifications were drawn up, and then the analysis
for the design was carried out effectively. It was discovered that the application can be
integrated with social networking sites and direct communication could be established
between the ARM application and the social networking sites. Also, user information
retrieved by an opt-in dialog was a crucial solution for maintaining their relationship. All of
these proved to be attractive for alumni, with the inclusive ability that they could find and
communicate with their professors within the system.
In conclusion, the retrieval of current and accurate information was a key achievement of
the system alongside the alumni - professor relationship and it proved to be an attractive
platform for alumni relationship management from participant reviews.
Chapter 7 Conclusion
58
7.2 Reviewing objectives
The following describes the whole summary of the research achievements by recalling the
objectives defined at the beginning.
1. To examine the theoretical aspects of CRM that includes the overall understanding,
benefits, challenges and its use in higher education
This was covered in the literature review where the definition, evolution, adoption,
strategies, benefits and challenges of CRM as well as the use in higher education
were exhaustively examined.
2. To examine the theoretical aspects of cloud computing technology that includes the
overall understanding, benefits, challenges and its usage in combination with a
CRM system as well as the use in higher education.
This was covered in the literature review where the definition, concept, benefits and
challenges of cloud computing were discussed for an overall understanding.
Furthermore, the study of cloud computing with CRM and that of cloud computing
in higher education has also provided knowledge in that field which fulfilled the
requirements of the objective.
3. To identify a suitable strategy that can find lost alumni.
A suitable strategy that combined the alumni system with social networking sites
in a cloud environment was developed and evaluated.
4. To implement and evaluate an ARM system that performs CRM function in the
cloud computing environment.
The ARM system was implemented on the Force.com platform with two prototypes.
5. To recommend a solution of how ARM can be efficiently applied to managing the
relationship with alumni in higher educational institutions.
An artifact was created that could recommend a solution which even received a
good reputation at the university alumni office.
Chapter 7 Conclusion
59
7.3 Difficulties
First of all, there were numerous scholarly articles in terms of business related CRM
concepts, but literature on CRM in higher education and cloud computing was relatively
rare. Especially, studies about cloud CRM application related in higher education for
alumni cloud not be found.
Secondly, the second prototype which could have provided more valuable knowledge could
not be fully implemented because of the limited time.
Thirdly, all of the alumni except one were recent graduates of one or more universities.
They might show a low interest for the alumni system due to the integration with their new
environment.
Fourthly, the task of connecting the ARM system with a social networking site could only
be performed with Facebook because of the limited time; whilst LinkedIn which focuses
more on a certain group rather than the users as a whole could have been more suitable
because it could have brought other valuable information from another perspective.
Finally, a quantitative method with questionnaire was planned that could have contributed
to a much improved quality of the work but because the artifact had to be demonstrated for
understanding, a video demonstration of the application was created. However, considering
that the time for distribution and interpretation was too dense, the approach had to be
terminated. The video demonstration is attached in the hard cover version of this
dissertation.
7.4 Future work
This study area has shown a huge potential and would continuously play an important role
for universities. To contribute in a more efficient way overcoming the difficulties and
limitation of the remaining part of the project would be the first task that the project could
perform. Other future works could be considered from the emerging requirement retrieved
by those participant interviews above. To conclude, three high level suggestions could
summarise the future work of what an alumni management system should always consider
in its future implementation.
Chapter 7 Conclusion
60
● It should ensure to make a closer relation between alumni and lecturers.
● The most critical part that it has to include is always the up-to-date data of the
alumni.
● Security issues have to be diminished as much as possible because of the sensitive
nature in this area.
Word counts: 16,473
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Appendices
XVIII
Appendix 1
Appendices
XIX
Appendix 2
Appendices
XX
Appendix 3
Interview (University Administrator)
Current experience
● Can you please brief me about the current alumni CRM platform?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.1
● When did you begin to adopt the alumni system?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.3
● How did you begin to adopt the alumni system?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.3
● Why did you adopt an alumni system?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.3
● What are the benefits and challenges of this system?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.5 and 2.2.6
● For how long have you been using the ARM system?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.2
● What kind of CRM strategies are being used?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.4
● What methods do you use to contact your alumni?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.4
● Do you use a client server model or cloud computing?
Possible answer : Section 3.3
● Are there many higher institutions who use a CRM solution?
Possible answer : Section 2.3
Appendices
XXI
Proposed ARM system
● What do you think about the idea of the suggested ARM system?
Possible answer : Section 3.6
● Would you like to adopt this product? Can you explain the reason?
Possible answer : Section 3.8
● What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages?
Possible answer : Section 3.4 and Section 3.5
● What is your opinion about cloud computing?
Possible answer : Section 3.2
● What do you think of the idea of using social networking features in the CRM
application?
Possible answer : Section 3.6
● Do you think it can be more profitable when the sever is in the cloud?
Possible answer : Section 3.4
Emerging Requirements
● What would you expect from an ARM system ?
Possible answer : Section 3.8
Interview (University Lecturer)
Current experience
● Can you tell us what you know about the current alumni CRM platform?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.1
● How do you use the alumni platform?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.3
Appendices
XXII
● Since when did you begin to use the ARM system?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.2
● What is your opinion about the benefits and challenges?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.5 and Section 2.2.6
● How do you use the ARM system to contact your alumni?
Possible answer : Section 2.3
Proposed ARM system
● What do you think about the idea of the suggested ARM system?
Possible answer : Section 3.6
● Would you like to use this product? Can you explain the reason?
Possible answer : Section 3.8
● What do you think are the advantage and disadvantages?
Possible answer : Section 3.4 and Section 3.5
● What do you know about cloud computing?
Possible answer : Section 3.2
● What do you think about the cloud computing concept?
Possible answer : Section 3.3
● What is your opinion of using social networking features in the CRM application?
Possible answer : Section 3.6
● Do you think it can be more profitable when the sever is in the cloud?
Possible answer : Section 3.4
Emerging Requirements
● What would you expect from a ARM system ?
Possible answer : Section 3.8
Appendices
XXIII
Interview (Alumni)
Current experience
● Can you explain your experience about the current alumni CRM platform?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.1
● How do you use the alumni platform?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.3
● Since when did you begin to use the ARM system?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.2
● What is your opinion about the benefits and challenges?
Possible answer : Section 2.2.4 and Section 2.2.5
● How do you manage your relationship with friends?
Possible answer : Section 3.6
Proposed ARM system
● What do you think about the idea of the suggested ARM system?
Possible answer : Section 3.6
● Would you like to use this product? Can you explain the reason?
Possible answer : Section 3.8
● What do you think are the advantage and disadvantages?
Possible answer : Section 3.4 and Section 3.5
● What do you know about cloud computing?
Possible answer : Section 3.2
● What do you think about the cloud computing concept?
Possible answer : Section 3.3
● What is your opinion of using social networking features of in the CRM application?
Possible answer : Section 3.6
Appendices
XXIV
Emerging Requirements
● What would you expect from a ARM system ?
Possible answer : Section 3.8