Pepperdine University Selects Recruitment CRM from Higher Education Company TargetX

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Pepperdine University has a well-deserved reputation for personal attention to its students that leads to successful graduates and loyal alumni. As a result, the California-based Christian university is always evaluating its practices in an effort to personalize the undergraduate recruitment process.

"Our current enterprise system is a robust platform that serves the institution well on many fronts, but we needed a marketing tool that would provide greater flexibility with our outreach efforts to our pool of prospective students," says Pepperdine's Michael Truschke. "We need to be responsive to the information our prospects provide to us and then have the ability to build relationships with those students based on targeted, personal communication."

As a result, Pepperdine's undergraduate enrollment office began searching for a Customer Relationship Management system that could combine the power of data-driven marketing with the effectiveness of electronic communication while working in tandem with their legacy ERP. The system they chose is the Recruitment CRM from technology and consulting company TargetX.

TargetX's Recruitment CRM is a groundbreaking system that helps colleges manage, integrate and automate the process of student recruitment from the first point of contact through enrollment. Among its strengths is built-in electronic communication, including the leading email broadcasting tool in higher education marketing.  It is also fully integrated with a powerful event manager and online application.

TargetX designed the system in 2008 on the proven Force.com platform of Salesforce.com, the worldwide leader in on-demand CRM and a pioneer in cloud computing. Building on its success with recruitment, TargetX recently announced that it was expanding into the advancement and student-retention areas with two new cloud-based CRM tools. The introduction of Advancement CRM and Retention CRM means colleges can now take advantage of shared systems across the campus, becoming more efficient and cost-effective in their efforts to build relationships with key audiences.

Pepperdine is focused on implementing TargetX's system to help its undergraduate school, Seaver College, recruit traditional-age students. Truschke is Dean of Admission and Enrollment Management for Seaver College and he's excited about the potential of a sophisticated, cloud-based CRM tool.

"TargetX will allow us to connect more effectively with prospective students and their families," he said. "We need to be able to provide timely, relevant communication to our prospects, and we are confident that TargetX's Recruitment CRM will help us improve in this area."

One of Pepperdine's goals in selecting a CRM solution was the ability to track student contact more efficiently. "Currently that process is not as streamlined as we would like it to be," Truschke said. "With the TargetX CRM, we will be able to record, track and make informed data-driven decisions about the effectiveness of our recruitment activities."

Not only will this give Truschke and his staff a key strategic advantage, it will also make their operation much more cost effective, he said. "We have to be very efficient with the funds we allocate to our recruitment efforts," he explained. "TargetX will give us the ability to track our recruitment activities and provide data that will help inform how we allocate both our human and fiscal resources."

About Pepperdine University

Pepperdine is a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values, where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service and leadership. With its renowned Malibu campus, facilities throughout California and in Washington, D.C., and international campuses in South America, Europe and Asia, the university enrolls approximately 8,000 in its undergraduate Seaver College and four graduate schools of law, business and management, education and psychology, and public policy.

To learn more, visit www.pepperdine.edu

About TargetX

TargetX is a unique higher education company that offers both technology tools and consulting services to help colleges build relationships with their most important constituencies, including prospective students, current students, alumni and potential donors. Founded in 1998 on the belief that colleges need to change the way they communicate with prospects and their families, TargetX has been a leader in managing change in higher education and embracing the concept of the experience in higher-ed marketing.

For more information, visit www.targetx.com

SOURCE TargetX