
Temple University
Case Study
The student lifecycle is interconnected. Therefore, universities need to consistently be in a position of readiness and put students at the center of decision-making. At Temple University, Ken Kaiser has leveraged AI technology since 2017 where he serves as the Vice President and CFO.
Kaiser noticed that the Bursar and HR offices needed help responding to the overwhelming volume of calls and emails received.
The Bursar’s office received a significant number of general questions related to topics such as payment deadlines and financial
aid questions. “When you’re dealing with students, every answer is life and death,” Kaiser said. When they receive information,
they want todouble- and triple-check it.” From the HR side, university employees and retirees took up hours of valuable time per
week asking questions related to payment cycles, insurance and reimbursement. These questions ultimately prevented Temple’s HR
staff from getting to the core of their jobs.
Temple wanted its employees to provide a consistent message to all inbound inquiries while providing great service. In
order to reach their objectives, Kaiser needed a tool that could help his staff be proactive, rather than reactive in their
outreach.
Prior to onboarding with Ivy.ai, Kaiser expected a long, technical implementation process. When the team told him that
it actually was as straightforward as installing a few lines of code on the website, he was skeptical at first, but he
was pleasantly surprised to learn it really was that easy. “Whenever a vendor says 'trust me, it's simple, just a few
lines of code' it's never that simple, but with Ivy.ai it was,” Kaiser said.
One of the key factors in choosing Ivy.ai was that the point person in the HR staff or Bursar’s office could complete
implementation without burdening IT. This empowered his employees to embrace the upgraded technology and take a project
management lead they could be proud of.
Kaiser believes the enrollment cliff will most impact the Northeast due to an increasing number of families in the region
opting out of having children. In order to compete in today’s market, institutions will need to differentiate themselves
with superb customer service. For this reason, Temple is proud to be a long-term user of Ivy.ai’s chatbot.
As the largest university in one of the nation’s most iconic cities, Temple educates diverse future leaders from across Philadelphia, the country and the world who share a common drive to learn, prepare for their careers and make a real impact.