The enrollment process at each college is slightly different.  These differences primarily revolve around definitions of events in the enrollment process such as ‘matriculation’ and which events in the enrollment process are important to track, such as ‘student completed FAFSA’.  Different enrollment departments track different events in the enrollment cycle, and define similar events in different ways.  For this reason, the ability to customize a CRM can be very important to how effective that system is in tracking the efficiency of an enrollment department.  EDU Interactive has found that out of the box CRM solutions can prove problematic because they do not lend themselves to simple modification.  Salesforce, on the other hand, can be customized by non technical people via very simple processes.  Adding custom fields, building reports and tracking new variables is as easy as point and click.  Though we do not advocate one system over another, Salesforce.com has proven to us that it molds easily to suit the differing needs of various enrollment departments.

SugarCRM API Integration

EDU Interactive completed another successful integration of Lead Genisys with Sugar CRM for a valued client this week. In real-time Lead Gensiys delivers new leads directly into Sugar and sends an email alert, notifying the assigned user that a new leads has been received. Lead Genisys also handles the complex reporting requirements that the Sugar CRM Open Source Edition does not include. Sugar Open Source is at the forefront of integration with its open source, standards-based architecture which enables applications to be seamlessly integrated with each other. The Sugar SOAP API makes tasks like inserting and relating records, and assigning records to users at the time of inserting them a breeze.

About SugarCRM

According to the Info Tech Research Group SugarCRM is becoming a disruptive force in the small enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) market. Its commercial open source model, CRM appliance option, low price, and strong set of CRM features are impacting more traditional methods of CRM delivery and the perception of CRM value among small enterprises. Despite its small size compared to other vendors, SugarCRM scored highest in the Product Index of its evaluation, due to its broad features and extremely flexible deployment options.

Talisma iServices API Integration

EDU Interactive completed another successful integration of Lead Genisys with Talisma CRM for a valued client this week. In real-time Lead Gensiys creates, sources and assigns new leads in Talisma. Remarketing efforts seamlessly update existing lead records. Lead Genisys also automatically pulls complex reports from Talisma and processes the data to drive business decisions.

Talisma CampusCRM

Talisma CRM is a Client Relationship Management software product which encompasses enrollment management, student retention, student services, education finance, alumni relations and more.

Campus Management

Talisma CRM was aquired by Campus Management Corp in November 2008 as part of an agreement with nGenera Corporation that included the asset aquisition of its subsidiary, Talisma Corporation.

Technical Details

The integration utilized the Talisma iServices Web Service using the SOAP protocol. SOAP is a simple XML-based protocol which allows communication between applications running on different operating systems, with different technologies and programming languages.

Who offers an API?
Many of the larger, more reputable online companies offer API integration to some or all of their services. A few companies that have mature APIs are Google, Yahoo, Salesforce, Digg, Flickr, Basecamp, etc. With the internet’s growing number of disparate systems, programs and languages, APIs are rapidly growing in popularity and use.

What is a real-world API usage example?
My most recent usage was the Google adWords API. Let me take a step back, Google adWords is the platform for Paid Search Marketing on Google and their Search Network. I interfaced programmatically with our clients’ data (via the API) to pull custom reports and send that information each day in an easy to read, easy to understand HTML email. Without API access, I would have had to login, navigate to the right report, copy/paste the pertinent data, manually construct the email and send it out for each of my clients.

How about another real-world example?
At EDU interactive we deliver our clients’ high-quality web leads in real-time through 3rd-party APIs. Instead of forcing our clients to use an overly simplified home-grown solution or sending emails/cumbersome spreadsheets to deliver the data, we seamlessly deliver the leads directly into each customer’s CRM solution. CRM – Customer Relationship Management – is a broad term used to describe a system or software used to track a lead/prospect through the various points of contact and conversion milestones. If a new customer does not already have a CRM or similar solution in place, we can suggest one of many commercial solutions that makes sense considering their requirements and budget, while providing the necessary API access.