Self-service technology can be used in the corporate world for a variety of functions, from allowing employees to update their payroll forms to allowing customers to submit help tickets. In addition to corporate employees, there are other organizations who can utilize this technology, including local and state organizations, schools and universities, non-profits, and all types of businesses.

The truth is that a self-service portal (SSP) can do a lot for your business regardless of its nature, and the companies that help you set one of these up will help make sure that it is useful to your organization from that point forward.

SSPs and Post-Graduate Level ROI

ROI at a post-graduate level is somewhat tongue-in-cheek here, because this example of applying to graduate school (or extrapolated to any kind of inquiry or business application) is made a little simpler with SSPs, because these self-help portals can help you do things such as submit or update your application, update your contact information, upload all types of documents, and handle all correspondence with your references.

What used to take months can now be done in days or weeks with the right self-service portal, and the amount of paperwork saved is just one way to enjoy a much better ROI when a university or any organization chooses to utilize SSPs.

What Can SSPs Do for Your Organization?

SSPs are used in both university and non-university facilities and help students and customers do a lot of things that previously took much longer to do. It also gives these people a feeling of control because they can get the information they need quickly and at any time of the day or night.

Some of the many tasks that SSPs can offer students include the ability to:

• Learn answers to basic questions through forms, FAQs, etc.
• Get help with resetting their passwords
• Get access to a knowledge base that can instantly answer a lot of their specific questions
• Contact their administrators and professors to get help with a particular issue

How Popular Are SSPs?

Self-service portals are used in more places than you think. But when you consider what they are, you’ll realize that there are many of them around. These include:

• Gas stations that allow you to pump your own gas
• Tabletop ordering stations in restaurants
• ATMs at banks and financial institutions
• Airport kiosks that allow you to print your own boarding pass
• Hotels that allow you to check in or out of your room on your own

Essentially, SSPs are ways to get a certain task accomplished without the use of a live human, and more people than you realize prefer this type of technology over having to deal with personnel who may or may not know what they’re doing.

At the university level, SSPs can be utilized not just by the students, but also by parents, faculty, staff, and vendors. They provide for a much more efficient way for everyone to communicate with one another, mainly because it is so much faster.

And in the business or university world, “faster” means more cost-effective and much simpler. It is also better for the management of these facilities because it is easier for them to manage and operate their respective businesses and easier for them to determine more efficient ways to conduct their business.

What Makes SSPs Such Smart Technology?

When SSPs are utilized, it is easier for everyone involved, from upper-level management to temporary workers and everyone in between. SSPs are simply a better way of communicating and getting things done, and when you’re working with a large or even a small university and their graduate program, these things are important.

Just what does utilizing SSPs mean for your particular school or business? Its many benefits include:

• Faster submissions of requests and details, not to mention requested information or documents
• Consistent data that guarantees historical and statistical accuracy
• Easier auditing and tracking as the information goes from one department or area of the organization to another
• Ease of providing feedback to anyone throughout the process
• Saved time and therefore money
• Systems that tend to be very user-friendly

At GroupLink, you get your choice of three different subscriptions or payment plans, and they are individualized according to your needs. The SSPs they offer will increase productivity, simplify your incident reports, and of course, improve user satisfaction. They even have a plan just for schools, which can be used by district and local administrations, teachers, family members, and even members of the community.

Conclusion

If you’re curious about how self-service portals can simplify your own school or business, contact GroupLink because they have great solutions for eWorkflow, ITSM, and WFH capabilities. While it may sound like a simple solution, you’ll be surprised by how much more efficiently your business will run after putting SSPs in place. A little effort, in other words, goes a long way in saving you both money and time, not to mention improving your overall customer satisfaction rate. When you choose Workflow Process and Incident Tracking, GroupLink Self-Service Portal, or GroupLink for SafestSchools, you choose a platform with excellent ROI.