Get hip to the favorite e-technology of your students: live chat

by Joe Dysart

What's New

September 2006

Anyone who's watched a young person juggle 16 instant message conversations while noshing pizza, watching American Idol and fighting with a sibling knows live text chat is her generation's e-techology.

Joe Dysart

One software maker hip to the trend, Live Person, has responded with Timpani Contact Center, a powerful live chat package that talks to college students in their preferred medium … and then some.

Besides enabling universities to offer live text chat rooms on their web sites, Timpani enables institutions to instantly recognize a student online, and fetch the appropriate records associated with that student -- enabling university personnel to hit-the-ground running with answers and insight.

The software also enables staff to dig deeper if necessary, displaying all previous chats with the student -- as well as records of phone, e-mail and fax communications.

The result? Problems are solved faster. Students feel like the university really cares. And university personnel look like heroes.

There is a savings potential too. LivePerson estimates live chat communications cost an average $1.20 per incident, while
e-mail exchanges cost $2.40 and phone calls, $6.80.

With the very same software, a prospective student's visit to a university site can be tracked, providing recruiters a complete picture of the pages visited, and an opportunity to reach out to an online prospect with chat that pops up with a click.

Joe Dysart is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Thousand Oaks, California. Reach him on the web or by e-mail at joe@joedysart.com.