Jenzabar - Best Postsecondary Enterprise Solution

Company: Jenzabar, Boston, MA
Entry Submitted By: fama PR
Company Description: Created out of a passion for education and a vision for technology, we believe all lives are worthy and capable of greatness and are blessed with masterpieces within. Our mission is to explore, build, and invest in innovative and disruptive technologies and services to empower and transform higher education for all to achieve greatness personally, at home, at work, and in the world.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Categories - Education
Nomination Sub Category: Postsecondary Enterprise Solution

Nomination Title: Jenzabar's Chatbot

The Jenzabar Chatbot was launched in October 2020.

Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), Jenzabar Chatbot is an always-on, digital engagement channel that works with higher education student information systems (SIS). It provides a resource to answer student questions and reduce stress as colleges transitioned to remote learning models. The chatbot allows students to find the information they need from whatever device they are using without waiting in a queue.

Jenzabar Chatbot provides real-time answers to frequently asked questions, which frees staff to deliver personalized support for students with more complex needs. When relying solely on human interaction, institutions can only serve a finite number of people at one time. Jenzabar Chatbot helps many people simultaneously during high-activity periods. For example, by integrating with schools’ SIS, Jenzabar Chatbot can answer frequently asked questions about course assignments, room locations, and add/drop concerns. Or, when the Free Application for Federal Student Aid filing deadline approaches, students receive immediate answers from the Chatbot rather than calling the financial aid office, leaving a voicemail, and waiting for a response.

Leveraging AI, Jenzabar Chatbot learns from past conversations and improves its ability to provide appropriate responses. Students enjoy the freedom to ask a wide range of questions from which courses to take to which restaurants are near campus. Furthermore, the chatbot allows students to ask questions they might feel less comfortable asking another person.

Jenzabar Chatbot provides an instant feedback feature that allows administrators to measure student satisfaction and understand what students are thinking, feeling, and concerned about so they can identify trends and respond to unanticipated student needs. Additionally, Jenzabar Chatbot has a flagging feature that helps institutions prioritize student safety and remain compliant with the Clery Act, a law aimed to provide transparency into campus crime policies and statistics. If a student’s feedback indicates self-harm or a threat towards others, the conversation is immediately flagged and provides a confidential notification through the appropriate channels.

Further, institutions have access to information from prospective students that provides them with a better understanding of the application status. By gathering data from the questions students ask Jenzabar Chatbot, schools can tailor marketing efforts to improve enrollment.

The chatbot has helped institutions improve how they support students. In some cases, institutions using Jenzabar Chatbot have changed their support hours to accommodate students based on the activity and types of questions asked through the chatbot.

Jenzabar Chatbot is easy to set up, with some institutions implementing the chatbot within only a few weeks—others may take longer due to the campus’s internal policies and procedures. Generally, it only takes about 24 hours for an instance of Jenzabar Chatbot to get up and running.

According to University Business, schools are using chatbots to answer questions related to student life and the pandemic. It’s a more personal touch than having a student go to a website and permits administrators who are in Zoom meetings all day to focus on other concerns.

Reaching students through email is challenging. Across higher education, emails have less than an 18% open rate, and only 3% of recipients click through to visit a website or take some sort of action.