Scaling Engagement Campus-Wide: The Case for Unified Communication Platforms in Higher Ed

It takes more than one department to build meaningful student and alumni relationships. From admissions and marketing to IT, student success services, and advancement, each team contributes to making students feel valued and supported throughout their academic journey and driving institutional success. 

Despite these shared goals, most universities and colleges lack a unified approach to student engagement. As a result, higher education professionals rely on an ever-growing disconnected tech stack and scattered data, which leads to siloed communication efforts across departments, inconsistent messaging, and disjointed student experiences. 

In a time already marked by declining enrollment numbers and financial constraints,  institutions can’t afford to fall short of students’ expectations for real-time, personalized interactions. Fortunately, unified communication platforms can help address cross-campus engagement challenges and improve student outcomes by providing a centralized hub for proactive, data-driven decision-making. 

The Cross-Departmental Student Data Problem

Today’s higher education institutions manage large volumes of student data in silos, hindering efficient collaboration between departments and their ability to deliver timely support. Fragmented data prevents institutions from having a complete and accurate overview of a student’s academic journey, which can result in duplicated efforts, misaligned communication, and high attrition rates. 

Picture this: the financial aid department and student success team are both talking to the same student, but while one stores their financial data in a CRM, the other keeps their career counseling records in a separate Student Information System (SIS). 

More often than not, neither team is aware of the other’s data, which makes it harder to offer coordinated, personalized guidance. However, when shared, this information can make the difference between a highly engaged student and one whose financial struggles or career concerns eventually lead them to drop out. 

Apart from that, managing multiple systems drains valuable IT resources that could have been allocated for higher-value tasks while increasing security and privacy risks. Both come at a cost that American higher education institutions are increasingly ill-equipped to manage amid ongoing funding cuts and political uncertainty. 

What Are Unified Communication Platforms and How They Help Higher Ed Institutions Do More with Less

According to the 2025 EDUCAUSE Top 10, the most high-stakes challenge higher education leaders in the US face right now is building competent yet caring institutions that can restore the public’s trust in this sector.

To mitigate this issue, institutions need people-centric technology strategies that can align tools, systems, and communication with the actual needs of students, staff, and campus communities.

The good news is that unified communication platforms fit right into those strategies. By centralizing student engagement initiatives and data across departments, these platforms empower cross-functional teams to deliver secure, targeted communication from recruitment through retention and advancement. 

Using a unified communication platform instead of multiple isolated tools has several benefits including:

• A cohesive student experience driven by cross-departmental collaboration and real-time data sharing 
• Higher enrollment yield and retention levels across different student segments
• Stronger alumni engagement and more targeted donor outreach for long-term institutional success
• Reduced strain on IT teams and simplified compliance requirements 
• Increased operational agility and a more data-driven institutional culture

There are different kinds of unified communication platforms, from AI-powered solutions for omni-channel messaging to cloud-based systems that focus on the learning experience. Conversation Intelligence Platforms also fall under this category, allowing higher education professionals across departments to use the same engagement system when personalizing the student experience. 

Driving Empathetic Student Communication with AI-Powered Conversation Intelligence 

While 72% of higher education institutions plan to use AI in the next two years to automate administrative processes and boost staff productivity, there’s far less clarity and confidence when it comes to integrating this technology into student and community interactions. 

That’s where Conversation Intelligence Platforms like Mongoose come in to help by allowing higher education professionals to leverage AI to personalize outreach and drive more empathetic conversations at scale. Mongoose is designed to complement traditional CRM tools by supporting real-time, two-way student engagement across departments. 

Think of Mongoose as a communications command center that allows admissions, student success, and advancement teams to:

Communicate Smarter

• Unify student, alumni, and donor conversations across channels like Text, Live Chat, and WhatsApp 
• Capture lead contact information via AI chatbot and continue the conversation on their preferred channel 
• Facilitate information sharing across departments and create a single source of data truth by connecting individual campus systems such as Slate, Ellucian, and Salesforce 

Optimize Processes

• Scale meaningful conversations across campus with smart messaging by personalizing responses based on topic and sentiment analysis and previous interactions
• Save time by automating FAQ responses with powerful AI assistants while allowing live agents to seamlessly intervene when needed
• Manage compliance with FERPA, TCPA, GDPR, and A2P standards and protect students’ data privacy with opt-out tracking 

Measure Results

• Track engagement metrics across different audiences (students, alumni, donors) to understand interaction patterns and refine communication strategies in real time 
• Use data-driven insights to identify at-risk students and offer personalized guidance before situations escalate 

Transform The Student Journey with Mongoose

Unified communication platforms can help higher education institutions stay competitive by breaking down communication silos and fostering a more collaborative, data-driven approach. 

Mongoose’s Conversation Intelligence Platform empowers your institution to deliver a seamless, personalized student experience across admissions, student success, and advancement, where every conversation matters.

Watch our recent Empathy & AI webinar to learn more about how Conversation Intelligence empowers higher education institutions to centralize cross-departmental communication efforts and drive more impactful student interactions. 

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