Campus IT Can Be a Path to One-Stop Service Centers

Ray Lefebvre, VP of IT and CIO at Bridgewater State University, was recently featured in EdScoop where he focuses on one-stop service centers becoming the norm and how campus IT departments can consolidate in order to optimize the on-campus experience and ultimately increase student retention. 

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By Ray Lefebvre, VP of IT and CIO at Bridgewater State University
July 2, 2018

One-stop service centers are emerging more frequently as a means of increasing student retention at colleges and universities nationwide. At Bridgewater State University, we are paving the way for one-stop service by rolling out this concept for IT support to begin with — and then using the lessons we learn to inform our work in creating an institutional, campus-wide one-stop center.

One-stop service centers make it easier for students to get the assistance they need without spending an inordinate amount of time bouncing between administrative buildings on campus. Every time a student has to traverse the campus to talk with a different administrative department to resolve an issue, the institution risks losing that student.

True one-stop service centers generally include administrative functions such as financial aid, registration and student accounts and are all physically located in one office with a walkup counter, oodles of technology and a dedicated director.

These centers don’t simply co-locate administrative back-office functions and personnel; rather, an entire new department is created. Each one-stop customer service consultant is cross-trained on these various functions, with access to back-office support as needed and guided by a dedicated management team.

To explore the potential for implementing one stop at Bridgewater State, a consultant determined that we already had 14 of the 15 core technologies necessary.

Read More on EdScoop.com