BMCC Contact Center Reinforces Students’ Connection to the College

Across the United States, many colleges and universities are turning to student call centers as solutions to strengthen their outreach, recruiting, and retention metrics.

Some choose to create a call center by seeking out third-party solutions, but Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) continues to manage its contact center, which is staffed with a dedicated team of full- and part-time individuals, including students. BMCC’s Contact Center can be reached at (212) 220-8000. The phone number is featured on the footer of the BMCC website.

Katty Cherubin, Associate Director of BMCC’s Enrollment Services Contact Center, says the Center has taken innovative and strategic approaches to creating a team that is responsive to the needs of the students and the college.

“We are answering all calls for students who have questions about almost everything,” Cherubin says. “It is important for our team to have knowledge about the operations of the college so they can make decisions that will help students in their experience. My staff members are knowledgeable and they have good relationships with many, if not all departments at BMCC. The relationships that we create are essential to providing quality service to anyone who calls us.”

Quality customer service 

Having personnel who are dedicated to helping students is the surest way to offer a top-notch experience, Cherubin says. “We train our staff to understand the nuances of customer service (answering and directing calls carefully) and always seek to meet students’ satisfaction.”

As part of the training, the Contact Center is constantly reviewing and building lists of frequently asked questions with carefully crafted answers to help staff rapidly deliver information to students.

“This really helps with streamlining our operations by reducing confusion from the get-go,” Cherubin says. “It’s very effective.”

Training has been so effective that recently, BMCC’s Contact Center was nationally recognized by BenchmarkPortal, an industry leader in contact center benchmarking, certification, training and consulting. BMCC’s Contact Center participated in an audit, administered by BenchmarkPortal, and was recognized for overall excellence that “surpassed all criteria to be fully certified as a quality call center providing a balance between efficient and effective service.”

As a part of this process, a BenchmarkPortal’s Call Center BenchmarkPortal Report survey was completed, which utilizes the Purdue Center for Customer-Driven Quality database. The Call Center BenchmarkPortal Report measures the center against 21 specific key performance indicators (KPIs), including the rate of answering inbound calls, average time callers are on hold and inbound call transfers, among others. BenchmarkPortal weights the averages and plots their results to the Performance Matrix™ report.

BMCC was recognized for delivering high service at a low cost, which indicates that it performs efficiently and effectively in comparison with other industry peers — a recognition that Cherubin is very proud of.

Expanding connections for BMCC

Kristin Waters, Director of Enrollment Services, says Cherubin and her team continue to seek innovative ways of developing goals and strategies for the Contact Center.

“The Contact Center does more than just answer incoming calls from prospective students,” Waters says. “The center really has become a connection for other divisions and offices across the college. Since Katty came on board, she has been able to keep operations flexible so the center can adjust to new mechanisms for operation.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the Contact Center, like all units across the college, to adjust and figure out ways to continue providing quality service. Vice President of Enrollment Management Diane Walleser says the Contact Center has faced this challenge head-on.

“Working virtually has been an adjustment for us all, but I love that our team has a positive approach when it comes to facing challenges,” says Kayla Benjamin, Contact Center Associate. “We were able to quickly adjust to a new system of operation, all while maintaining our quality of service.”

Sandra Nachfoerg, Contact Center Associate, is grateful to Cherubin’s ability to move quickly on establishing a work schedule to enable to work remotely and stay in the United States.

“Many students and employees in our team were scared of the health risks of COVID-19 but also about being one of these people to lose their jobs,” Nachfoerg said. “Ms. Cherubin took this fear from us and ensured us that we will get through this hard time together as a team.”

“Part of what has made Katty and her team successful, is how they have been able to come together, strategize and find solutions in order to operate as an essential part of the college,” Walleser says. “The Contact Center has enabled us, as a college, to continue maintaining our service standards in a manner that is cost-effective for the college and still providing the staff an opportunity to learn about BMCC and its students in a holistic manner.”

“We have to keep up on all content as it changes,” Cherubin says. “Whether it’s admissions, financial aid or registration, we need to know all of it so we can be effective. And now that we are a virtual Contact Center, my team is operating from different locations and still aiming to provide quality service.”

Budget cuts and staff turnover have only encouraged Cherubin to find innovative ways to keep the Contact Center available.

“My staff has fluctuated from 20, to 40 to 32,” she says. “And my staff includes workstudy students and part-time staff. They are really a strong team that has been able to make it work on a shoe-string budget.”

“We don’t have a CRM [Customer Relationship Management] software that is made for a call center,” Cherubin said, and as a solution, she has worked with BMCC’s Information Technology team to create a SharePoint form specifically for the Contact Center.

In addition, Cherubin credits her talented staff for using social media to expand their reach to the community at a time when budgets are tight. “My team came up with the idea of using Tumblr in 2015, and it continues to be an effective way of providing accurate information to callers.”

Their success has afforded other units across BMCC to seek the Contact Center’s assistance in connecting with students, including the Leadership Academy, Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and Panther GPS (Getting Prepared to Start) program.

“Our partner offices ask us to help out and we’re happy to do so,” Cherubin says. “We work closely to tailor scripts and FAQs in order to successfully collaborate with them. The outreach is very methodical.”

Cherubin says sometimes the college community may not be aware of what the Contact Center does, but she and her team know how vital they are to BMCC.

“We know that what we do for the college is important,” Cherubin says. “Answering calls is just a small part of what we do. Our efforts reflect who we are as a college, and I want our Contact Center to be the best it can for BMCC.”