Damon Kelly (Enlighten Designs)
Enlighten Designs has deployed a web content management system to overhaul the digital capabilities of the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), in a move impacting more than 20,000 students.
The Hamilton-headquartered specialists joined forces with Progress, a provider of application development and digital technologies, while also leveraging Microsoft solutions.
Specifically, Enlighten Designs rolled out Progress Sitefinity, an offering designed to enable Wintec to improve student acquisition and retention of students cross 60 countries.
Working with Progress partner, Enlighten Designs, the institute selected Progress Sitefinity as the platform for their new website.
“Progress was selected because of its usability and out-of-the-box functionality,” said Damon Kelly, CEO of Enlighten Designs.
“For the first time, marketers wouldn’t have to depend on IT to make simple updates and they could focus on content, not managing a complex CMS.”
Through integration with Microsoft Dynamics in the back-office, Kelly said the solution enabled Wintec to “transform” its website into a “central communication hub” for a global audience.
Alongside the ability to introduce additional multilingual versions of the website, the polytechnic can also engage with students and parents more easily through a platform which can be accessed from any device across the world.
“Today, the quality and speed of interaction between students, parents and educational organisations can significantly influence the choice of one educational institution over another,” added Bradley Vines, IT director of Wintec.
“We needed a solution that could centralise our siloed channels while enabling us to respond to the needs and expectations of our student population.”
Vines said the Sitefinity solution allows Wintec to “quickly respond” to inquiries, while making “significant” content and layout changes in addition to launching marketing campaigns and SEO practices.
“Progress Sitefinity gave us flexibility that we never imagined,” he added. “For the first time, our marketing team feels empowered to optimise the customer journey, without any IT help.
“This immediately turned into a great competitive advantage for us and was felt by our potential and current students.”
Delving deeper, Wintec is also planning to leverage additional functionality offered through the platform, including content personalisation, testing and user experience.
“More than 2,700 customers globally rely on Progress Sitefinity to deliver exceptional online experiences for their audiences across all types of devices and platforms,” added John Ainsworth, senior vice president of core products at Progress.
“Sitefinity offers a unique combination of powerful functionality and best-in-class usability which results in more productive marketing and IT teams and happier customers.
“Wintec is a great example of how an educational institution can leverage the latest technology to stand out from the competition and win and retain students through a centralised and compelling user journey.”
