Universities have a unique opportunity that other organizations do not. For several years, they can understand their students, their interests, and preferences. This engagement can result in lifelong relationship with the right digital tools.
2. BROWN UNIVERSITY’S DIGITAL EXPERIENCE PROJECT
KEY STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Process
Streamlined & Agile
Contributor Experience
Product
Integrated & Personalized
Multi-Channel
User Experience
People
Greater Community
Synergies &
Resource Efficiencies
The Digital Experience Project Steering Committee has identified three areas for digital transformation:
3. Currently, contributors have to sign into 12+ different web services
to create and distribute their digital messages across campus.
In order to improve the end user experience, it is essential to
streamline the contributor’s experience by offering strategic value,
process efficiency, and actionable insight. This will encourage
content consistency across contributors and channels while
retaining diversity and depth.
EMPOWER CONTRIBUTORS TO BULD A PLATFORM TOGETHER
4. CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS ARE LOOKING FOR…
More Meetings & Emails
More User Manuals
More “Red Tape”
“One Size Fits All”
Less Agility for Innovation
Communication synchronous with everyday
workflows and processes
Intuitive technology built for diverse
technical skill sets that doesn’t require extensive
training/documentation for the basic user
“Gate and levee” system that preserves data
governance while preventing redundancies and
streamlining the review/approval process
Consistent diversity in design, content,
architecture, and analytics based on different
idiosyncratic target audience needs
Encouraged experimentation that builds upon
itself and existing infrastructure
5. “ONE STOP SHOP” CONTENT CREATION
Brown
Content
Contributor
Dashboard
Content
Repositories
Digital
Distribution
Channels
Actionable
Analytics &
Insights
Collaboration &
Educational
Resources
6. KEY DECISION POINT: CUSTOM VS. TURNKEY CONTRIBUTOR DASHBOARD SOLUTIONS
This unified interface can be achieved through a custom build leveraging existing
infrastructure or a turnkey solution (e.g., Adobe Experience Manager, Salesforce Marketing
Cloud, etc.)
“BUILD” “BUY”
Efficiency of leveraging existing
technology investments.
Agility to customize and pivot as
institutional needs evolve.
Broader open source developer
community (depending on the
underlying technology chosen).
More precarious integration points
requiring potentially higher
maintenance costs.
Greater initial lift in budget, resources,
and training to migrate existing data.
Tighter integration points but may be
limited outside the supported packaging.
Single point of contact potentially makes
for easier issue remediation (depending
on the underlying technology chosen).
Vendor provides development resources
for ongoing maintenance. Reliance on a
single or small group of vendors to make
updates and fix bugs may be limiting.
7. Brown Content Contributor Dashboard
Brown Image
Gallery
(Widen DAM)
Events @
Brown
(Bedework)
Social Media
Accounts
Google
Analytics
Post Scheduler
(Platform?)
Tracking
Codes
(Google Tag
Manager)
Brown
Account
(Shibboleth)
BrownSites
(Drupal CMS)
Content
Repositories
Processors
Distribu6on
Channels
UNIFYING THE EXISTING DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM
CRM
(Blackbaud)
BrownBlogs
(WordPress CMS)
Content Hub &
Personalization
Engine
(Acquia Lift)
Digital
Signage
(Visix)
Email
(Platform?)
Widen API Bedework API /
Drupal Views Module
Drupal
Workbench Access
Module
Integra6on point
would need to be
inves6gated
Integra6on point
would need to be
inves6gated
Could poten6ally be built on a
Drupal mul6site infrastructure.
Hootsuite
API
Google Tag
Manager Drupal
Module
Display Ads /
SEM
(AdWords)
Here’s a preliminary prototype of how to leverage existing infrastructure:
(Note: Further investigation on each of these integration points would need to be performed to test technical feasibility and interoperability with Brown’s
specific configurations)
Integra6on point
would need to be
inves6gated
8. This modular but integrated ecosystem
provides a platform in which individual groups
can build their idiosyncratic solutions. Think of
this similar to an institutional “operating
system” for diverse “apps” that both
contributors and users can choose to use if it
meets their needs.
This prevents stakeholders from “reinventing
the wheel” or cannibalizing on each other,
making for more efficient digital investments
without slowing down the inertia of innovation.
ECOSYSTEM UNIFICATION ALLOWS FOR AGILE INNOVATION
9. By streamlining the contributor workflow, the content strategy
would be able to evolve to build stronger relationships across
multiple channels and touch points based on an individual
community needs.
Unlike other personalization strategies, Brown University can
embrace an approach that aligns with its institutional ethos by
encouraging interdisciplinary thought and curiosity, rather than
only tailoring to existing interests that eventually leads to
“echo chambers”.
ENGAGE THE COMMUNITY WITH CONSISTENT MESSAGING &
PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCES
10. Phase I Phase II Phase III Phase IV
PREPARING CONTENT FOR PERSONALIZATION
Bring Structure to
Content &
Establish Data
Governance
Create Context
through a Single
User Identifier
Segment by Target
Group Aggregates
Segment by
Individual Aggregates
Example: Unite the student
account across Admissions,
Student Affairs, and Alumni/
Development databases to
capture the entire journey.
Example: Ensuring that “The
Rock”, “Rockefeller Library”,
and “John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Library” are identified as the
same entity across different
systems.
Example: Content targeting
Freshman biology
students.
Example: Content targeting
a Biology student who is
involved with intramural
sports and engages with the
Brown community mostly
on Instagram
11. One of the largest challenges of implementing an institution-wise
digital strategy for institutions of higher education is the
decentralization of culture, diversity of competing needs across
different stakeholders, and limited time/resources.
To successful navigate these hurdles, it’s essential to build best-in-
class product teams that are agile yet stay connected to the
broader constituency. Move too far on one end of the spectrum
and you risk “design by committee” and lethargy of scale; move too
far to the other end, and the product can become disconnected
from the underlying organizational needs.
REMAINING AGILE YET COLLABORATIVE
IN A DECENTRALIZED HIGHER ED CULTURE
12. A FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL STAFFING
The digital ecosystem is evolving so quickly that it’s essential to build a cross-functional staffing
model that can respond rapidly while remaining grounded in a larger strategic vision. Two
distinct groups could be formed to best meet both growth and scaling needs.
Community Support Team Innovation Team
Strategic Mandate: To onboard groups to the existing
system, assisting with stakeholder
training, and evangelizing potential
digital synergies across the
community.
To devising digital solutions (at the
intersection of content, technology, and
data analytics) to meet the University
community’s highest priority needs.
Focused on: Community & Education –
This team would ensure the University
community is comfortable with digital
and help mitigate the ramifications of
potential culture changes when
adopting digital practices.
Forward Momentum & Experimentation –
With a finger on the pulse on what is most
relevant in the broader digital landscape,
this team would align the execution of
digital strategy to those trends.
Grounded in A shared digital vision that can solve both the present and future
needs of the University community.
Steering Committee
Helps to best understand constituent groups, prioritize projects,
and procure resourcing.
