Critical Analysis of Croydon College E-Business Initiatives and Online Presence - Case Study Example

Critical Review of Croydon College e-business initiatives and online presence Executive Summary Croydon College emerges as one among several providers of Further and Higher Education programmes to have used digital technologies to complement its traditional marketing methods in recent years in an effort to envelop its online presence in Croydon identity. Yet there remain some issues that need to be addressed by the administration to fully exploit and maximize the website and achieve this goal. Among the issues raised in this paper is to recommend to the college an overhaul or redesign of its current website, integration of Web 2.0 tools and e-commerce functionalities or online services such as online enrollment and payment. Review of the college’s marketing strategies showed that Croydon in the past concentrated on conventional and the traditional media such as print, radio and television to communicate its image as an institution with strong record of making students build successful careers, and making them responsible citizens of the land who contribute to society. In this regard, the college successfully achieve its goals. Then in later years, the school adopts digital technologies or information communications technology (ICT) and made its online presence as part of its marketing mix: a) to reach out to wider audience, b) to communicate its brand message, and 3) to make the site accessible to everyone, especially its target market of 15-21 year olds. Yet, there remain some more things that the college need to fulfil to fully realize the potential benefits of profitability and cost-effectiveness using the digital medium. And that is what this research is about to explore. Critical Review of Croydon College e-business initiatives and online presence Terms of Reference This paper is prepared in connection to the request of Croydon College administration to conduct a strategic analysis of its recent online presence as part of its e-marketing initiatives in recent years, to identify where it succeeds and where it failed. The strategic analysis includes not only a review of the current website, its competitors, and its impact to the audience, but also to provide recommendations what needs to be done in order to exploit emerging opportunities in the said sector. Procedures In preparing the strategic analysis of Croydon’s website as part of its e-marketing initiatives, a survey of theoretical concepts and literatures from various sources was first conducted. Second, questions were prepared and then emailed to the administration, I.T. and marketing department of the College to find out directly their goals, plan of action and strategies. Third, a survey of competitor colleges was done to list the strengths and weaknesses of these colleges against Croydon’s. Findings 1. Introduction The use of the web is just one of the most important undertakings pushed through by Croydon to communicate its 100-year-record of helping students build a successful career in their chosen endeavor, contribute to society and lead successfully enriched lives.   As one of the largest providers of Further and Higher Education programmes in the country, Croydon prides its more than 1,000 staff delivering programmes to over 17,000 students within the London Borough of Croydon, in the south east of the UK. The college has an impressive curriculum portfolio in the Further and Higher Education programmes as well as range of services to local business. The school has a diverse and multi-cultural student body composed of African, Caribbean and Asian influences and links with many other ethnic communities, cultural and religious backgrounds. The school principal and chief executive Mariane Cavalli in her welcome remarks to the visitors of the website said that information on the web includes videos, online versions of the college publications and interactive features such as opportunities to provide feedback and request information. The website of Croydon provides an overview of the college's facilities and services, locations and details the types of learning support available. But having a website is not enough. Secondly, it does not follow too that having a web presence means that an organization is already successfully expending into e-Business. Thirdly, having a website does not mean that the firm already has successfully delivered its brand message. A place in the World Wide Web, according to Rappa, must be built with the same attention to detail and architectural sophistication as the physical part of the business. The design of a site can make or break the success of the organization’s foray into the online realm: whether customers would return or not at all after seeing the website (Rappa, 2007). 2. Current E-business portfolio analysis. The Croydon College online presence had too many information and goals from too many departments. Such problem led to cluttered homepage. The website’s information architecture did not provide a more organized, classified content. Some contents of the website which could have been combined under one category were each given a link, compounding the already too broad and cluttered website. These missed points can be accounted to the fact that Croydon web seems to have attempted to assist too broad an audience it can carry. In fact, this has become one of the most difficult challenges that the website must address considering that it currently has a comprehensive curriculum portfolio with a range of programmes across all Further and Higher Education levels leading to nationally-recognised qualifications. These include: G.C.S.E.s, A/A.S. levels National Diplomas/Certificates/Awards A.S.V.C.E.s/A.V.C.E.s G.N.V.Q.s and N.V.Q.s Higher National Diplomas/Certificates Degrees and Masters Degrees Subjects offered include: Art and Design, Business and Finance, Caring, Construction, Engineering, Fashion, Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy, Hospitality and Catering, I.T., Leisure and Tourism, Performing Arts, Public Services and a wide range of professional qualifications. Range of services to local business. The College is also house to multi-cultural educational community with students and staff from a wide range of cultural and religious backgrounds. And given this, the website may offer features such as student blogs or social networking features to make an impression among new and existing students about how sound a decision it is to have enrollled at Croydon. While the website did have an intranet for students, faculty and other concerned, it is noticeable that there is little effort done to make sure that users of the intranet would find the service useful and effective, or at least user-friendly. Like the website, the intranet of the College was cluttered and never attempt to go beyond what it ought to deliver. To look further into the online presence of Croydon, presented below is a SWOT analysis of the site: a. Internal Factor Evaluation Table i. Strengths 1. Effective use of online presence for its bundled marketing effort. The college recently underwent a redesign. Yet even before and to the new site redesign, it retains the marketing collaterals and brochures which are well-executed from a marketing standpoint. The website is able to complement the image and corporate identity of the college through refreshed visual image and customer support. 2. Strong corporate identity recognition. There is strong corporate identity recognition among Croydon’s prospective students and the academe through its website. The website makes an assertive and almost imperative effort to make sure that prospective student and the academe including students would get really proud and confident about the college they are enrolled with and to the employees and teachers, to the school they are lending their services with. ii. Weaknesses 1. Lack of electronic course enrolllment, online payment of fees, and online learning, etc. While the college does offer intranet for students, there is little or not much effort in sight that it would offer online enrollment and transactions. Other colleges and universities are already offering online enrollment and have proven successful in this regard. The benefits and advantages of going online have yet to come to the full attention of the college. 2. Lack of dedicated staff for the e-business front office to back office components. The college boasts its more than 17,000 staff who attends to the densely-populated college, yet online, there seems to be lack of it. Without dedicated staff to attend and provide support there would be challenges to meeting expectations and demands of the online medium: delivery of service fast and efficient. 3. Some website links are not available [FAQ]. There must also be consideration to ensuring user experience standards and usability. A website with wrung out links or unavailable links may turn off users and prospective students. First impression lasts and should be good. 4. Cluttered homepage. The website appear that it attempt to assist too broad an audience than it could handle. Instead, the college should only focus on prospective students because existing students have already known what the college has to offer and has been providing them. The existing students may be more interested this time to how they would be able to maximize the use of their school’s website through the intranet. b. External Factor Evaluation Table i. Opportunities 1. Academic programs and campus life should be made to sound appealing to new students. Through engaging contents and intelligent informational design, the website can be made to be appealing to new students. New students should feel proud of their school that may soon be tapped by the college to encourage new or prospective students to enroll at the college because of their experience. 2. Web 2.0 and social networking. Recently, social networking sites such as Friendster.com and Myspace.com has found audience among college students. The community feel of these sites and the way users are able to view profiles, share things they have on the web such as photos, music and favourite links are what made these websites popular. E-Marketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said that social networking sites have become “such a mainstay of social life” in campuses. Croydon may take advantage of this and make this in sync with its commitment to enriching diversity and equality among the multi-racial and multi-background college. 3. Use e-business components such as online enrollment, online payment, and e-learning. By adding e-business portfolio such as online enrollment, e-payment and e-learning, the college could maximize and reap the benefits in profitability in the long run. ii. Threats 1. Competition from other educational institution. The competition is tough with other colleges who are offering the same level of course portfolio online yet with the much-desired online capabilities such as online enrollment, e-payment and e-learning. Croydon College may have a student intranet which may be used for purposes other than communicating with the academe, fellow students and getting information related to his studies, but this capability is already present in other colleges and universities. 2. Cost of getting well-designed, well-executed website. The cost is always an issue and must be balanced with how much should the college benefit or reap the cost of investment. The cost may be intimidating for an organization which is already earning or chalking up profits from its more traditional and conventional method of getting new enrollees and students, yet the cost of pushing through with having a well-executed website with good design, information architecture and functionality will pay off in the long run. 3. Brief competitor analysis. Croydon College and Greenwich Community College may be similar and different in terms of e-marketing initiatives. The two may be similar in the course portfolio offered and the way they make their business on the traditional, conventional level. Yet online, Greenwich Community has far wider edge over Croydon as it is able to offer online enrollment to students, both to existing and prospective. The same has some online features on its website that immediately respond to user or audience needs such as convenience of asking question then getting impressive answer. The Croydon College may have in its line up of offering e-learning but it is not as edgy or comprehensive as the ones offered by Greenwich. In terms of design and visual clarity, Croydon may have a better look and feel but there are still a lot of issues that it need to address such as cluttered homepage and poor information design that do not fit well into the main goals and objective set by Croydon such as enveloping the identity from offline to online medium. Croydon site’s navigational links are spread out and are poorly categorised. Some links or features that need to be highlighted are improperly located near the footer of the site such as the links to the intranet. 4. Identify emerging E-business opportunities and impact on the organisation. An online presence is an important complement to a branding campaign. And company that value design usually lead the pack. According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), effective communication is important to business and how companies would communicate to their markets and constituencies is becoming the primary means of differentiation today. “This has increased the pressure more than ever within companies to establish environments and attitudes that support the success of creative endeavors, internally and externally” (AIGA, 2007). Such is the case of Croydon College. It is a challenge how it would effectively use its website to communicate its branding message that it has a good track record of over 100 years of producing students who made good careers, contributes to society and have an enriched lives prove successful. Proofs that would show the college succeed in this regard should have been measured through the turnout of inquiries and increase in enrollment. However, there remains much more that the College need to implement to fully realize the promise of its online presence. For one, good design is not cheap. There is always the issue of return on investments or ROI. Outsourcing may be a good option and better way to start off to get a redesign. If the college feel its in-house web design department could not deliver its requirements and meet the standard it sets, then outsourcing or getting outside the college would be the best solution. If outsourcing in this case means getting and selecting the best in the sector of web and graphics design even spending much for this endeavour, the college must pay attention to this and may consider this a very interesting proposition. 5. Potential Barriers and Challenges towards adoption. In the midst of the opportunities promised by having a website, there remain issues that may block opportunities and prospect for the continued growth of companies pursuing the trend. In going online, the real barriers seem to come from the following: 1) high costs of getting good design firms; 2) expensive e-commerce infrastructure for requirements such as online enrollment and payment; 3) user’s resistance to technology or the so-called technology blues; 4) unavailable technology; 5) staff skills limitations and inexperience; and 6) inexperience of organizations [Mitchell, 2003, 9]. Mitchell [2003, 9] pointed out that doing e-business has risks associated in it such as: 1) instability of vendor and technological immaturity; and, 2) invasion of privacy and other legal obstacles. In view of outsourcing, the college must consider the risks. Among the risks considered is quality over cost. Since outsourcing is cheap, there is no assurance that the requirements will be met successfully. There is also the risk of not meeting deadlines. Outsourcing firms, which may have more clients than their staff portfolio could handle, may risk not delivering on time and reach targets. 6. Business Strategy and process alignment. The Croydon College online presence must undergo a redesign, implementing heavy branding, good information design, interactivity and refreshed visual identity to be appealing, easy-to-use and useful to a wider target group of people, particularly prospective students. This would come at the core of the college’s aim to establish its presence and communicate its message of equality and diversity and good track record of over 100 years. While showing its impressive legacy as an institution which already helped students reached their dreams and build careers, live enriched lives and contributing to the society, the website must also be able to communicate and reach out to the new generation students so there would be need also to implement Web 2.0 such as blogs, and social networking features. Aligned with this strategy, the website will set the stage through an engaging visual identity, user interface and systematic content management system to make information and web services easily accessible to the target crowd. The focus of the website must also be addressed. It is a fact and clearly identified in the preceding pages that the new website attempts to assist its wide-reaching audience, multi-cultural and multi-background actually. But the prospective students must be the center or focus of the proposed redesign website of Croydon. When there is focus, the Croydon would not find it hard to communicate consistently and coherently its message and identity. At the same vein, it would be able to show and impart the unique quality of the school, its creative vibe and energy. Good information design and architecture would rid the present website with the dilemma of cluttering the site with contents and links that would have been better organized through fewer categories to avoid jargon and complex acronyms. With good, compelling and light editorial copy, the website would be able to achieve its objective of making an impression that campus life in Croydon sounds appealing—perfect environment for youth students. The student testimonials now present at the site would be retained and would be better supplemented by blogs or social networking features that would students to show their profiles and share things they have in school such as campus life photos, school songs or music, etc. Under the redesign, the college may also opt to integrate e-commerce features like online enrollment and online payment schemes. This way, the college would be rid of tons of papers or other materials that would have been required if the enrolllment is done manually. Online transaction features are very helpful among students, especially foreign students who may be in the country to work and attend school at the same time. E-commerce features would afford them with the convenience and accessibility. A good and well-designed website would pay off and rid the college with the need to answer tons of inquiries just because these people failed to locate the information they need. This in fact is one good metrics to measure how the website has successfully impacted on its market. Another means to measure success is the number of prospective students who would enroll after the redesign of the project and promotion through print, radio and television is undertaken. Recommendations and Conclusions Communicating the branding campaign of the Croydon College through its web presence is imperative and would prove effective in the long run. In some aspect of its e-marketing initiatives, it still has to push through with the full integration of e-commerce functionalities and new trends in the web such as Web 2.0 and social networking features. While there are risks involved, the school should be ready to take the risks. Outsourcing against in-house design would have to be weighed carefully if it would be the most cost-effective solution to its problem. This study showed that quality design is not cheap and thus recommend that Croydon College opt for a reputable and award-winning design firm who specializes in branding and communication strategies to make the redesign for the College. Review of the two recent designs of the college’s website should it has problem internally on a creative and marketing standpoint. Pushing through with this recommendation, the college must consider that there are high risks of mistake unless planning is undertaken (Mitchell 2002). This principle would better be applied in this study with the adoption of e-commerce functionalities such as online payment and online enrollment. Adoption of e-commerce, for instance, take couple of years to test and then to implement. Second, this system must be viewed as a business principle rather than just merely the implementation of technology. Third, how users would access the technology must be considered. Fourth and important, proper training and skill sets are required when technology is involved (Mitchell 2002, pp.75–76). Read More