Higher education institutions are challenged with the intricate task of managing a diverse student body with varying needs and requirements. While their task is difficult, it is important, and ensuring every student receives the education and assistance they deserve is vital to the success of any school. That is why academic appointments are such a necessity. They give students one-to-one interaction with university officials to discuss things like academic and financial plans to ensure they benefit from their higher education experience. However, many educational institutions rely on outdated, underperforming appointment systems, making accessing appointment resources difficult. It is pivotal that students feel it is easy to book and manage their appointments, or they simply won’t bother to attend.
Higher education students tend to be extremely busy and stressed, and if the appointment process is not simple for them, many won’t bother with it. According to Economics Observatory, "Student satisfaction with their higher education institution has recently fallen to an all-time low. Only 27% of students think their courses are good value for their money." Some of this was out of higher education institutions’ control, as the pandemic disrupted university life in a major way; still, fixing appointment scheduling processes is important to keep students happy and that is where appointment scheduling software like QLESS can make a significant impact.
Online appointment scheduling software gives enterprises a tool for managing their appointments while making scheduling simple for students. These systems are designed for the modern student, with mobile accessibility and a suite of features that align with their habits. These systems make managing staff calendars, handling administrative tasks, and communicating with the student body straightforward and efficient. Let’s look at what online appointment scheduling software is and why it benefits higher education institutions.
Online appointment scheduling software is a system that can be accessed through the internet to schedule appointments. Unlike phone call scheduling, these systems allow users to schedule outside business hours. They simply visit a website, click a “schedule appointment” tab, and select the available time that works for them. The appointment is then uploaded through calendar sync into the staff calendar, ensuring staff are informed about who has an appointment and when. Students can select different appointment types and communicate with staff using the online scheduling software.
The QLESS scheduling tool is booking software that also includes a range of other features designed to ensure an end-to-end positive experience for students and an increase in efficiency for staff. It creates convenience for students while also improving efficiency for staff and creates an appointment calendar that can also integrate with walk-ins. The QLESS software also includes queue management features that allow customers to enter into virtual queues, where they are moved through a digital lineup after checking into their appointment virtually eliminating the need for them to be physically present at the office until their appointment begins, maximizing convenience. An online appointment scheduling software is designed to reduce the difficulty of scheduling and overseeing appointments. Both staff and customers can update appointments and communicate with each other through bi-directional chat features on the platform improving communication and eliminating the need for back-and-forth emails which also increases the flexibility of a higher education institution’s appointment calendar.
Overall, an online appointment scheduling system for higher education is designed to help schools and students navigate the appointment process more successfully. Scheduling appointments should be friction-free, as should managing an appointment calendar. With advanced appointment scheduling software, there are no bottlenecks caused by outdated and rigid appointment systems.
The number of students at U.S. higher education institutions has reached an astonishing level. According to Statista, "In 1965, just under six million people were enrolled in college or university in the United States. In 2021, that number was more than 20 million people." The average school in the United States has thousands of students and faces the monumental task of ensuring they are all happy with their experience, up-to-date with their payments, and academically on course to graduate. While administrative staff does their best, managing the unique needs of such a substantial student body is not easy without the right solutions. This is why an online booking system is so important, it gives schools the tools they need to ensure students are happy, receive the help they deserve, and access school resources whenever needed. There are many benefits an effective appointment scheduling tool provides. Let’s dive into what exactly online appointment scheduling software can do to positively impact higher education institutions.
As we’ve mentioned, student satisfaction is at an all-time low. Higher education institutions know that if students are unhappy, that poses a problem for them, students can transfer, and many often do. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, "Roughly one-third of all college students transfer institutions before receiving their degree." A portion of this is students transferring from community colleges to universities, but there are also many transfers due to students being unhappy with their institution. Many schools alienate students by making accessing school resources and meeting with advisors hard which leads to an unhappy student population.
Implementing an appointment scheduler like QLESS designed to make students' lives as easy as possible will go a long way toward boosting student satisfaction. Your students are busy juggling higher education's academic, financial, and social responsibilities. Making them use outdated appointment systems that lead to scheduling conflicts and an inability to book appointments outside of business hours wastes their time.
The QLESS system is incredibly efficient, students simply visit the university website and schedule through their computers or appointment-scheduling apps on their phones. They pick the appointment type they want, the staff they need to meet with, and the available appointment slots that work for them, they are then all set with an appointment blocked off. The whole process can be done within minutes and doesn’t require any outside assistance.
Online appointment scheduling software aligns with consumers’ preferences for booking appointments online. According to Zippia, "67% of people prefer online booking." The QLESS key features make this process easy and efficient for students, and the queue management software ensures the pre-appointment wait can be done outside waiting rooms. Combined, this creates a student experience that is ultimately much more positive, leading to increased student satisfaction.
One problem that many schools have is a lack of appointment attendance from students. Nothing is more frustrating for a financial or academic advisement office than when a student books an appointment, staff blocks off their schedules, and the student neglects to show up. This wastes staff’s time and resources, as that appointment slot could’ve gone to a different student, and the student that didn’t show up is now not receiving the help they needed. To combat this issue, many institutions have implemented email reminders that send to students on the day of their appointments. These automated reminders often include appointment details for students and are sent to their school email accounts. This is certainly better than not doing any reminders, but it is not a solution geared toward the modern student. What if a student doesn’t check their school email that day? It can be very easy to forget appointments, and if staff want to boost attendance, they need to ensure they are contacting students in a way they are likely to see.
With the QLESS bi-directional communication features, higher education institutions can schedule appointment reminders sent to students via SMS. Students are far likelier to check their phones than email, and SMS appointment reminders are dramatically more impactful. According to Klara, "Text appointment reminders reduce appointment no-shows by 38%, ensuring staff less frequently allocate their time and resources for appointments that don’t show up." The QLESS appointment reminders can require students to verify that they intend to attend the appointment with a response making it more likely that students will arrive for their scheduled appointments. Ultimately, it is critical that higher education institutions optimize their appointment calendar. With many schools trying to administrate a massive student body, any appointment no-show is an opportunity lost, QLESS helps ensure that fewer appointment slots go unfilled.
The pandemic changed a lot for the average college in the United States and Canada. Schools were forced to migrate much of their resources online and adjust to a world where human-to-human contact posed a risk. While almost every school across the country has mostly resumed a full in-class calendar, one of the most substantial changes that will last from this period is a move toward increased virtual appointments. Virtual consulting appointments became the norm during the pandemic, and many financial and advisement offices maintain them today. Virtual appointments are convenient for students because they don’t need to come onto campus or wait in a waiting room, they simply open Zoom or Teams and can discuss whatever they need with university staff. The impact of implementing virtual appointments has been markedly positive. According to EAB, "Students schedule more appointments, are more likely to attend their appointments, and appointments are shorter and more efficient when done virtually."
It stands to reason that this will continue to be the preferred way of meeting for a significant portion of your student body, so schools need the infrastructure to handle not just their in-person appointments but their virtual ones which is what the virtual services feature of QLESS helps provide.
QLESS allows students to schedule in-person and virtual meeting types at the initial phase of their appointment booking process, if they choose the virtual appointment, they continue to select the time and type of appointment they want to have and are sent a meeting link to check in when it is time for their appointment. When the student's appointment is ready to begin, they click on a link from QLESS, which is integrated with both Zoom and Teams, they are then taken to a virtual meeting with their counselor.
With these virtual features, it is easy for students to book the virtual appointments that have become a common preference, and it is easy for staff to manage a mixed virtual and in-person calendar. This leads to an appointment system that can handle the demands the modern higher education institution faces.
One issue that can lead to a deeply negative customer experience is when scheduling conflicts and mistakes arise, whether these are due to double bookings, appointments that are improperly added to appointment calendars, or mistakenly canceled appointments, this is a serious frustration for students. This can become way too common when higher education institutions rely on manual processes like phone-based appointment scheduling or outdated online appointment scheduling software. With a modern system like QLESS, scheduling conflicts and mistakes made due to human error are eliminated.
QLESS’s appointment scheduling features automatically manage an appointment calendar for higher education institutions. They don’t need to do anything to schedule student appointments or oversee the calendar. When an appointment is booked, it is automatically uploaded to the appointment calendar, and that time slot is booked off for a specific staff member ensuring there are no inadvertent double bookings. The calendar can be edited, but it has fail-safes to ensure no accidental scheduling conflicts or double bookings are done by staff. The customer experience ultimately comes down to how you can make students feel about their appointment experiences. If students take their valuable time to come to schedule an appointment but find out they have been double booked or mistakenly rescheduled, that isn’t likely to leave them feeling happy. With QLESS, human error is eliminated from the equation. The AI features of QLESS handle the appointment calendar, ensuring there aren’t mistakes or oversights that can accidentally disrupt schools’ appointment processes.
Administrators at higher education institutions face a difficult task, considering they oversee the academic progress of student bodies that can have tens of thousands of students, they are often overtaxed and overextended, particularly when they aren’t given resources designed to make their jobs easier. Happiness greatly impacts productivity, with research from the University of Oxford showing that happy workers are 13% more productive. Empowering staff with a tool like QLESS that makes managing schedules easier will improve the happiness and effectiveness of higher education administrators.
QLESS provides smart calendar management features designed to improve workflow visibility and create more flexible appointment management, when customers schedule their appointments, it is uploaded to the smart calendar, which is color-coded and organized for staff to see the schedule clearly. Staff can segment the calendar to see their entire appointment layout for the day, including the name of the customer that booked the appointment and the appointment type they have signed up for.
The digital nature of the smart calendar enables heightened flexibility in business operations. If customers don’t attend their appointment or never confirm their automatic reminders, the QLESS calendar can be moved around and edited; at same time, staff can move appointments out, put new ones in their time slot, and have automated notifications that update customers on changes. Instead of no-shows and rigid appointment systems causing delays, the flexible nature of the QLESS software allows teams to move on from them very quickly. Having a flexible and cohesively organized calendar will enable staff to better organize their schedules and have a clearer sense of the work that needs to be done that day. It organizes their calendar for them, making their lives easier and ensuring they can handle the rigors of overseeing a large student body.
Communication is a vital component of customer service, but for many academic offices, it often goes neglected. The quality of communication students receive throughout the appointment process is very limited; typically, they will receive a confirmation email when they book their appointment and not much else along the way. This is because it can be incredibly difficult to communicate with a large group of students without the right tools, but that doesn’t mean higher education institutions should give up, considering 76% of customers are frustrated by lack of personalization, according to McKinsey.
The QLESS online appointment scheduling software offers a scalable communication system, ensuring students receive the level of dialogue that they desire, using bi-directional communication features, students and staff can message back and forth. If students are late for an appointment, they can message the office they are meeting with. If staff needs updates on students' academics before an advisement meeting, they can simply ask. Unlike email correspondences, with the QLESS communication features, messages are sent directly to the student’s mobile device. This aligns with what customers typically want from the businesses they use. According to a QLESS survey of 250 US adults, "55.6% of respondents prefer to receive communications and appointment reminders from businesses via text messages."
The QLESS communication features improve transparency and foster better customer and staff connections, and with the queue management features on the software, customers can check wait times in advance, with highly accurate forecasts that factor in the time of day and current customer volume. In a separate QLESS survey, "57.2% of respondents indicated that they are likelier to patronize a business if they have early insights into wait times." Communication and transparency are two things customers value highly, and with the QLESS online appointment scheduling software, higher education institutes can offer students that open dialogue around appointments that they desire.
The more informed your higher education institution is about the success of its appointment processes, the better equipped they are to make high-impact changes that improve them. Like in every other business, having unbiased, accurate data is an impactful tool that gives businesses the means to implement positive changes. According to Deloitte, "Companies with leaders that make data-driven decisions are 77% likelier to succeed." but many educational institutions struggle to collect insights that could’ve been impactful ways to improve their operations. That is why the business intelligence features of QLESS’ online appointment system are so impactful, because when implementing these advanced features, schools have a solution that collects information on their appointment and queuing processes and presents it in easy-to-understand graphs and charts that can be segmented according to different criteria.
The QLESS data shows KPIs like the number of customers served in a day, appointment no-show rate, median wait time, employee utilization, and more. Combined, it paints a very accurate picture of the customer experience at your academic offices.
Segmenting this information is very helpful, as the data can be altered based on the time of day, the academic office, or the employees that handled the appointment. Armed with this data, enterprises can spot weak points in their appointment processes, such as specific offices or times of the day with longer waits or higher rates of missed appointments. They can then implement the necessary changes to ensure these problems don’t persist and use the data to measure their success in addressing the problem.
Higher education institutions looking to modernize and streamline their important processes should not overlook the crucial benefits of online appointment scheduling software. The average U.S. institution has a student population ranging from 5,000 to 50,000, and administrators must use every tool at their disposal to ensure students are on-track academically and financially to graduate. With an improved appointment scheduling system, schools can enhance their ability to give students the help they need and improve their experience.
With the QLESS higher education scheduling software, schools can use key features to transform their appointment experience. Students benefit from enhanced convenience, with around-the-clock accessibility, as well as improved communication, a more seamless virtual appointment process, and academic queue management features. Administrators benefit from higher appointment attendance, increased workflow visibility, and easier appointment management.
Online appointment scheduling software is a high-impact solution that gives staff and students a digital tool to improve the end-to-end appointment experience. Higher education can be demanding and stressful for employees and students. With QLESS, schools can ensure their appointment scheduling is smooth, efficient, and stress-free.
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University students attend higher education institutions with the hopes of expanding their minds and preparing for their future. Unfortunately, all too often they got lost in a system that doesn't cater to individual student experience. Instead of feeling that the administration exists for the students, attendees quickly realize that they must conform to the needs of administrators in order to be successful. Scheduling appointments, registering for classes, even asking advisors for help all become nightmarish experiences filled with long lines, tired and impatient staff, and inadequate information.
Oftentimes, students will enter university fresh-faced, excited, and ready for success. Over time, however, ineffective university resources begin to take their toll. When simple tasks like registering for classes or dealing with financial aid eat up so much of their time, their desire to continue with their education slowly decreases. Students struggle to gain support from on-campus systems, which explains why consistently negative experiences with campus resources are one of the main sources of attrition; unfortunately, universities struggle to increase student satisfaction with limited resources. While student experience often ranks as a top priority for administrators, improving on-campus systems seems like an insurmountable task. A large student population means long lines--there doesn't seem to be a way around the problem. Fortunately, online appointment booking tools and an effective scheduling application both provide a modern solution to a large problem in higher education.
By using an electronic scheduling application like the one from QLESS, academic institutions solve the problem of impatient students before it starts. Instead of expecting students to show up, wait in a line, and hope for the best, scheduling applications allow students to book an appointment ahead of time, eliminating the need for physical queues. In an age of ever-evolving technology, an electronic solution like a scheduling application can simultaneously push academic institutions into the modern age and improve the student experience.
Perhaps the most instantaneous result of an effective scheduling application is the elimination of physical lines, without an electronic tool, students often run into long lines at every on-campus location. While long queues are frustrating at any juncture, they're particularly irritating during key points in the year. When students struggle to register for class, change programs, or ask advice about their courses due to long lines, attrition begins to develop. Instead of forcing long queues that lead to general frustration and discontent, a scheduling application assigns students a specific time with which they can complete their necessary necessary business. When each student knows the time and date they can sign up for new courses, registering for classes becomes a breeze. Even signing up to see an advisor becomes a stress-free task--each person is assigned an appointment time, eliminating the pressure on both the student and the administrator. By bypassing lines and allowing individuals to address their issues at a specified time, students no longer waste their time waiting for help. They gain more time to study, hang out with friends, or even just relax, all of which will contribute to higher student satisfaction.
While a scheduling application gives students more free time, it also tailors the university experience to a new generation. Current and incoming university students have grown up with technology. They're well-versed in mobile applications, and they actually prefer to handle most of their business electronically. Academic institutions, like any business, attract the most customers when they know their audience and tailor their services accordingly, for a mobile generation, mobile scheduling applications should be the norm.
The QLESS scheduling application not only provides a mobile platform for students to access information from anywhere, it also sends text alerts to inform students of their appointment times. By creating a smartphone-friendly design, this scheduling application speaks to a main tenet of a new generation--consistent and reliable mobile communication. It ensures that students have simplified access to important academic information, and it lessens the possibility that they'll forget their appointment time and fail to show up.
While human error always stands as a distinct possibility, electronic scheduling applications allow students to feel comfortable an at-ease in their academic environments. By using technology they are already experts in, academic institutions create easy communication and connections between administrators and students. Students who feel comfortable in their academic environment are more likely to complete their university education, rather than cave to the pressures of campus life.
When students are constantly filtered into long lines and told to wait their turn, the personal element of higher education disappears. Students want to feel like their individual needs have significance, especially in an institution with the social weight of a college or university, many students accrue heavy debt in order to gain their degree. For instance, the desire to feel like their individual experience matters isn't misplaced. Difficulty gaining access to basic information and meeting essential needs for the future of their education is understandably frustrating.
Although electronic scheduling applications simply increase the organization and staff productivity on college campuses, they also allow each student to feel like they're receiving personalized attention. A specific appointment time communicates that each individual is important enough to receive focused attention, in which only their specific questions and needs matter. Simple as it may sound, a scheduling application can make all the difference in creating what feels like an individualized learning environment, despite the fact that each student receives the same time and attention to discuss their needs.
If students have a problem with campus systems, they want to make their opinions known; unfortunately, when it's difficult to even get a meeting in the first place, students don't feel that their concerns are being heard. Even if every individual problem can't be addressed immediately, allowing students to provide feedback on their experience can greatly improve student satisfaction with on-campus life. University processes may not change immediately, but allowing students to feel heard and appreciated subtly communicates that their opinion matters.
A scheduling application allows students the opportunity to address their concerns, without eating up the essential time of administrators. Instead of sitting in an office and listing off every complaint, students can fill out electronic surveys, effectively and quickly communicating the elements of the campus system that don't work for them. Feedback provides a two-fold opportunity for growth within the university. First, administrators hear student concerns quickly and easily, allowing them to adjust future processes to fix the most common problems. Second, students get their frustrations off their chest, lessening their irritation and providing hope that things will change in the future. A scheduling application allows universities to listen and react to the needs of their students, without decreasing the productivity of their staff. Students have a hand in the improvement of their education, and it doesn't come at a cost to either students or administrators.
Academic institutions are designed to push students towards graduation; unfortunately, the decision to leave university altogether is a common one. While each individual leaves their academic institution for their own reasons, dissatisfaction with campus resources often appears as one of the major sources behind drop-outs. Although it sounds like a no-brainer, it's worth stating that students who are satisfied with their college experience are far more likely to stay in school and eventually graduate.
An effective scheduling application increases student satisfaction with on-campus services. Students express their concerns, gain personalized attention, and generally improve their ability to function within a university setting. With a scheduling application, graduation seems like an achievable goal, rather than a faraway possibility. When students believe that they can graduate, they're much more likely to work towards that goal. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the work in front of them, students see a clear path towards reaching their degree. Sometimes a little hope and a plan is all it takes. Happy students who believe they can graduate are more likely to graduate. A scheduling application brings that goal to the forefront of their minds, encouraging students to stay in school and earn their degrees.
Using a QLESS scheduling application can change the life of university students everywhere. By eliminating physical lines and cutting down waiting times, scheduling applications allow students to feel like they're experiencing the personalized education they deserve; in addition, the mobile platform results in easy use for a tech-savvy generation and an opportunity for instantaneous feedback on campus services. Happy students are much more likely to stay in school, and to spread positivity about their academic institution, both online and in their personal life. If you want to increase your graduation rates, you need to learn more about QLESS systems today. If you think our system might be the right fit for you, contact us now. We'll answer all your questions about QLESS solutions. For more on improving campus operations and retention rates, read about how we've created college campuses without lines.
A well-developed workflow management system simplifies business processes at colleges and universities tremendously. As a business, these institutions provide education and degrees to their customers, also known as their students. Although colleges and universities stand as one of the most essential business organizations in young adult life, technological systems on-campus are often not on par with the fast-paced, technology-driven environment of the day. As incoming students reflect more expertise in current technology, so should their places of education. A workflow management system can change life at your university, both for your students and for your administrators.
In a school environment, multiple departments and individuals work together to contribute to the larger education machine. While some units identify prospective students, review applications, and send out offers of admissions, other divisions focus on registering current students for classes, organizing appointments with advisors, and assisting students with on-campus problems. Each of these individual systems work together to contribute to the overall goal of the organization--educating students and pushing them towards graduation, hence the need for workflow management.
A workflow management system simplifies all these processes. It's a software that automates some elements of your workflow management, taking the pressure off of your staff members and increasing the happiness of your students. By creating a streamlined network for all your most essential campus processes, a workflow management system allows each student to feel valued and supported, and each staff member to increase their productivity and efficiency.
A workflow management system creates an at-ease campus environment; not only that, it also brings your institution into the future. Easy-to-navigate education processes attract students, allowing your campus to continue running like the well-oiled machine that it is. Keeping your campus in the dark ages of technology not only hurts your students, it hurts your entire business. A high-tech workflow management system is a necessity your school can no longer do without.
Whether fair or unfair, students expect a lot of of their colleges and universities. An individualized learning experience is the standard, but most students would settle for consistent help from their on-campus systems. Unfortunately, high enrollment rates, a limited amount of resources, an overworked staff, and a surplus of tasks to complete often leave students feeling confused and overlooked. The more difficulty students experience navigating their education process, the more impatient they become. If enough time passes, the decision to leave school altogether becomes an easy one.
They're not getting the help they need to prepare for their future, why would they stay?
Consistently negative experiences with student services are one of the primary sources of attrition among college students. When students don't get the help or services they need, they drop out of classes, refrain from attending courses, or even leave the school altogether. As an organization that seeks to prepare young adults for their future, the current attrition rates are unacceptable.
Thankfully, a workflow management system presents a wonderful solution. By simplifying student access to on-campus services, a workflow management system decreases frustration and confusion among the student body. With a system like the one from QLESS, you can decrease attrition rates by as much as 50%. A workflow management system improves student satisfaction and increases retention rates by allowing each student to feel like their needs are being met.
While a workflow management system improves the lives of your students, it also leads to increased productivity of your staff. A higher education environment already deals with a lack of resources, but a larger problem presents itself in an ineffective use of the resources that do exist. Oftentimes, staff stretch themselves far too thin trying to meet the needs of all students, despite the lack of time or effective organization systems to do so. Advisors overbook themselves attempting to sort out class schedules, and the Registrar and Admissions offices are overrun with impatient students. While it's undeniably unfair to the students, it's equally as frustrating for the staff.
Workflow management systems streamline campus processes and effectively allocate your staff resources. By eliminating the need for physical lines and relying on technology-based systems for organization, workflow management systems allow your administrators to gain a clear view of the tasks they need to be completed. Instead of surprise assignments and a frustrating amount of work for staff members, each administrator focuses on their assigned tasks, increasing their overall productivity. Not only does it result in increased happiness for your employees, it also ensures that all your resources are used effectively, lowering operational costs and saving money in the long run.
In our technologically advanced world, physical lines and in-person wait times just aren't practical anymore. Many of the problems that develop in university settings stem from a general lack of organization. Without a workflow management system, students are forced to go to an office, wait in line, and generally waste their time in an attempt to progress in their college experience. At the same time, administrators have little control over the time and attention needed to help each individual student. With a finite amount of resources and an infinite amount of potential questions, administrators are unable to prioritize and organize accordingly. With that lack of organization, both staff and students waste their time, and neither leaves feeling happy.
A workflow management system sorts through the chaos in your offices and eliminates the inconveniences of poor organization. Instead of arriving at an unspecified time in a physical office, students are assigned an appointment time with which they can ask all their questions. Interactive virtual queuing simplifies the process if your student does need unexpected help, and mobile reminders ensure that each student arrives at their specified appointment time. Most importantly, all these processes are completed inside the system, without assistance from your staff, allowing them to save their abilities to actually help students and bypass the errors that often accompany in-person scheduling.
An effective workflow management system changes your on-campus life immediately. Improved allocation of resources, clear processes for students, and increased organization all lead to instantaneous changes in your business systems. However, workflow management systems also provide information on what needs to change in the future. As a completely automated process, workflow management systems collect valuable information on your student and staff patterns. Student wait times, staff efficiency, student needs--all these and more can be found within your workflow management system.
With QLESS systems specifically, we provide a real-time dashboard that consolidates data from multiple offices. At a glance, you have a general idea of what's happening in all areas of your campus. In addition, surveys within the system provide even more information about student satisfaction and necessary changes. Improving your business is a constantly evolving process, workflow management systems provide valuable insights to ensure that you can provide the best resources to your students for years to come.
We don't need to tell you that colleges and universities need students to stay afloat. Enrollment and retention present a major challenge for higher education institutions. That explains why many student administrators list student retention and student experience as their top priorities. While students may drop out when dissatisfied with their education, the ripple effect extends much farther than a single loss. Unhappy students spread information online and within their communities about the ineffectiveness of the school, giving other individuals the message that your institution isn't worth attending. While an individual drop-out can already present a hefty loss, consistent dropouts can negatively affect your application and enrollment rates over time.
An effective workflow management system leads to increased student happiness and higher retention rates over time, but it also allows your students to talk positively about your institution. Not only are you saving money on attrition, you're also building a strong reputation that will draw more students to your school over time. Reputation matters, both for the present and for the future. Workflow management systems support your ability to meet your student's needs, building a strong reputation as an institution that cares. With a reputation like that, who wouldn't want to apply?
Workflow management systems are a necessity in the modern age. It increases the happiness of your students and staff, leading to higher productivity and increased retention rates. In addition, it organizes your office with little effort from your staff and provides valuable insights into how you can improve your processes in the future. If you're ready to build a strong reputation, meet your students' needs, and save money for your business, you need to take the QLESS approach. Learn more about how our electronic queuing system can enhance your education systems today. Please contact us for more information about our system.
Waiting rooms have been an essential aspect of hospitals, doctor's offices, and other healthcare facilities. But it doesn’t take much thought to realize the idea is counterintuitive. Crowding individuals with ailments in congested areas while they wait for assistance is not ideal. This was only further emphasized as a person-to-person airborne pandemic struck the world. Patient queue management software can be the solution to remedy this.This experience caused many healthcare professionals to have to re-evaluate their waiting procedures. There were concerns about pandemic transmission in waiting rooms and the overall healthcare experience. Amid virus anxiety, would patients sit with others even with a mask on?For a while, there were no true means of eliminating the waiting room. But in recent years, to address these concerns, many healthcare providers have been implementing patient queue software like QLESS. This software aims to help reduce patients’ anxiety and create a waiting room experience that meets customers' expectations. The healthcare industry is crowded, and consumers abandon providers that can't meet their needs. According to Medical Economics, 69% of patients would switch providers for better services. Patient queue management software is an impactful solution that can de-congest waiting rooms and provide a safer, more patient-friendly experience. In a time where consumers easily switch businesses, the patient experience is vital. Below, we will break down what patient queue management is, how a virtual queue management system creates safer spaces, and why this is so important for patients and healthcare organizations.
Before we go any further, it is important to fully understand what patient queue management software is. The idea is relatively straightforward, and it has changed the healthcare sector. Why not have a virtual waiting room to manage customer flow instead of a physical one? Patients can access this virtual waiting room from their phones, computers, or on-site kiosks.With key features that enable customers to track the actual wait times for appointments, monitor the progress of the line they’re in, and communicate with staff, patients have a drastically changed experience when using healthcare services. Some organizations still hesitate to embrace and implement digital technology into the patient experience. But data indicates that customers already rely on digital technology and expect organizations to accommodate that reliance. According to a poll from Healthfully, 80% of consumers want the ability to use technology to manage their healthcare experience. Furthermore, the average consumer uses tech constantly throughout their daily lives. The average U.S. adult spends more than seven hours a day on screens, according to Exploding Topics. Healthcare organizations should prioritize implementing helpful tech solutions like patient queue management to avoid customer alienation. Patient queue management software has substantial benefits that enterprises should not overlook. With features that allow customers to enter virtual queues from their phones, patients can remotely wait in the virtual waiting room and monitor their queue times. Implementing virtual queues doesn't mean healthcare organizations need to eliminate waiting rooms. It simply gives patients the ability to choose.
The million-dollar question that healthcare organizations might have is whether or not waiting rooms are such a bad thing. Waiting rooms were the only option for healthcare services before technology advanced enough to make them less necessary. So how bad could it be? By implementing software to eliminate waiting rooms, might healthcare organizations solve a problem that doesn’t exist? The answer to this question is a firm no. Waiting rooms pose a genuine risk to older patients' well-being. A 2012 study of elderly residents of long-term care facilities published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed that a visit to an emergency department is associated with more than a threefold increased risk of acute infection. While this vindicates the need for patient queue software, it is also common sense. Requiring sick and injured people to share a room for extended periods increases patient risk. The pandemic highlighted that the prior waiting room model is untenable during an airborne virus outbreak among those visiting emergency rooms and doctors' offices. Healthcare providers adapted by spacing chairs, having customers wait outside, and mandating masks. While they may have curbed the virus from spreading, they reduced operational efficiency and didn't enhance patient satisfaction. It is not insignificant that waiting rooms also have extremely long patient wait times. The longer customers are cramped in a waiting area, even if socially distanced, the more at-risk they are. Similarly, the more unhappy they will be. This is why it is incredibly important for enterprises to be very conscious of the state of their waiting rooms.
We’ve established that waiting rooms might inadvertently put customers at risk, but what do your patients think of them? Customer satisfaction is vital in healthcare, as it's still a business, and unhappy customers can easily switch providers. The waiting room is a defining step in the patient's journey before receiving service. So it is worth asking if increasing patient satisfaction in the waiting room experience is necessary or if customers are okay with the current status quo. Data shows that consumers distrust crowded waiting rooms and dislike the experience they provide. A QLESS survey of 250 U.S. adults showed that 59.4% of consumers associate congested waiting areas with unsafe conditions. If customers feel unsafe in the waiting room, chances are they will not enjoy their overall experience. A contributing factor in this situation is that the average waiting room is just not a pleasant place to be. Typical healthcare waiting rooms present sterile environments with white walls, fluorescent lighting, outdated magazines, and a T.V. This is hardly a positive environment, and according to Fierce Healthcare, unpleasant waiting rooms are a bigger issue for customers than long wait times. Rather than investing in more comfortable chairs or a higher-definition television, enterprises should focus on the real problem. Customers just don’t like waiting rooms either way. Patients prefer waiting from home or nearby cafes to congested waiting areas. Giving the consumer the option to skip the waiting room altogether is the best solution to a longstanding problem.
The healthcare industry is about more than just improving patients’ well-being, although that is the primary objective. The modern consumer isn’t satisfied with just receiving excellent quality of care. The experience for patients along the way is not nearly as important. Healthcare organizations that want to survive in this new age of experience-centric care will do well to improve their waiting room. According to Forbes, 60% of Americans have had a negative healthcare experience in the past year, and 52% of those people will tell others about their negative experiences. Curating a positive waiting experience without risk and discomfort is important in building a patient-friendly healthcare organization. This will help create loyal customers and position healthcare companies to succeed.
It is clear that there is a need for change in the waiting room experience. Customers don’t feel safe, and there is an established correlation between emergency waiting room visits and further infections. The problem has only gotten worse in recent years. A 2022 study by Yale showed that emergency room crowds had reached crisis levels and posed significant patient safety risks. The same is true across Canada. The crowding is due to an overstressed system, not necessarily management failure. De-congesting the waiting room is incredibly important for both safety and satisfaction. Let’s explore how patient queue management software can lead to less crowded waiting rooms while providing efficient patient flow.
The primary feature that QLESS offers that is designed to help de-crowd the waiting room is its remote check-in software. In a typical waiting room without a patient queue management solution, individuals have to check-in in person. They arrive at the front desk, inform staff they’ve arrived, fill in a form, and take a seat, waiting to hear their name called. This requires physical presence throughout the waiting process. Remote check-in software lets customers wait for their appointment without physically arriving until it begins. How this works is that customers will receive a link when they register for an appointment. They can access this link via mobile devices, computers, or an on-site kiosk. When their appointment is scheduled, they can tap the link and check in. Once they’ve checked into their appointment, the patient is automatically placed in a virtual queue. The queue displays the number of customers ahead and the projected wait time based on data tracking and machine learning, accounting for the line's size and wait times at different parts of the day. Customers can be queued based on appointment type or healthcare professional they're meeting. They can track their progress through an app or website and know when to be there. This means lines can move smoothly without customers needing to be in the waiting room until the end. This also lines up with what customers prefer. In a QLESS survey of 250 consumers, 57.2% of respondents indicated they are likelier to patronize a business if they have early insights into wait times. QLESS virtual queuing system's remote check-in feature eliminates the need for customers to enter waiting rooms until their appointment begins. They can choose whether they are comfortable in that environment and wait on their own terms.
Long wait times in healthcare have been a persistent issue and seem unavoidable due to the nature of the industry. Demand often exceeds the ability of facilities to provide efficient service due to the need for proper care and attention for each patient. This is why patients wait an average of over 18 minutes at physicians’ offices, according to PartnerMD, and 145 minutes at the average emergency room, according to Autoinsurance.org. Patient queue management software can’t entirely solve the issue of long waits that are endemic to the healthcare industry. However, it can provide organizations with a tool to increase staff productivity, manage customer flow, and improve overall efficiency, positively impacting wait times.
There are two key ways this software helps with this. Firstly, the patient queue management system completely automates the queue process, so enterprises don’t need to oversee it themselves. The software has configurable policies, like no walk-ins or a maximum 5-minute late policy for appointments. Then, the lineup can be completely automated, with the artificial intelligence-based system drastically more efficient and organized than a standard physical queue. QLESS’s patient queue management software also has smart calendar features that give staff a better sense of their day. The entire appointment calendar is displayed for them, showing the customer, appointment type, and more. The calendar is color-coded and organized and can be segmented, so employees have a heightened understanding of their daily workflow, increasing overall efficiency. By reducing wait times, healthcare organizations can reduce the time people need to spend waiting for appointments. The remote check-in features allow customers to wait from wherever they please, but inevitably there will still be some customers that prefer to wait for appointments in waiting rooms. With automated queue management and smart calendar features, the QLESS patient queue management system ensures waiting times are trimmed, resulting in less crowded waiting areas.
Communication in the healthcare process is incredibly important. Customers strongly desire communication from end-to-end in the healthcare process, and having better communication can lead to safer waiting rooms. With better communication, enterprises can create safer waiting rooms in several ways. Having customers that indicate they might be contagious wait remotely will reduce infection risk, and enabling customers to message staff if they are running slightly behind but still keep their appointment will lead to fewer delays. While this type of communication could lead to a safer, less crowded waiting area, many enterprises are ill-equipped to offer this level of communication. Customers expect communication, particularly through digital methods. According to Forbes, 80% of consumers surveyed said they prefer to use digital communications with their healthcare providers, and 43% said they want to engage digitally with their healthcare providers before, after, and during their visits. But many enterprises lack the digital infrastructure to provide this level of communication that customers are hoping for, even if it can make customers happier and lead to safer waiting rooms. The QLESS patient queue management system empowers healthcare organizations with bi-directional communication features that improve the connection between customers and staff. With the QLESS features, organizations can drive a more communicative approach to healthcare. They can individually message customers and receive responses, schedule messages to entire groups of customers, and create automated messages triggered at different parts of the patient journey. Better communication means less confusion, as late customers or no-shows often trigger chain reactions that lead to extended delays. With better communication, there are fewer bottlenecks, which means lines move faster and waiting rooms are less crowded. This also improves the patient experience, as enterprises can answer patients' questions digitally during busy times when they might not have the time to respond face-to-face.
One of the most significant ways healthcare organizations have pivoted away from the standard waiting room model is by leaning into virtual healthcare. The pandemic made face-to-face appointments a near-impossibility at many practices, and to combat this, many organizations pivoted to virtual healthcare options like telehealth. Providing medical care virtually remains important even after the peak days of the pandemic. According to McKinsey, virtual healthcare remains hugely impactful, with 46% of consumers using telehealth now compared to 11% in 2019.Telehealth leads to less congested, safer waiting rooms for obvious reasons. With the option to schedule remote healthcare appointments, customers don’t need to visit healthcare offices at all. If customers have a mild but contagious illness, healthcare organizations can schedule virtual appointments to ensure they don’t spread their illness. Ultimately, the fewer in-person visits, the less crowded waiting rooms will be. But many organizations might buckle under the weight of managing an entire virtual calendar without the proper digital solution.
QLESS has virtual service features that enable healthcare organizations to provide a positive patient experience remotely. QLESS is integrated with Zoom and Microsoft Teams, two popular video meeting platforms, and enables organizations to put customers in mixed queues that accommodate in-person and remote patients. How this works for remote patients is they would schedule an appointment online and select a virtual appointment. They will then receive a QLESS link and be placed into a virtual queue when they check in for their appointment. They will then be able to monitor their wait time, see who is in front of them, and receive a Zoom or Teams link when their appointment is ready to begin. Virtual appointments are a crucial part of the post-pandemic world. The QLESS patient queue management platform enables enterprises to integrate remote patients into their virtual queues and digital calendar, creating a smooth appointment process and easier virtual appointment management.
The waiting room is a longstanding problem in the healthcare industry that most organizations have neglected to address. The concept of making ill or injured patients wait for long periods in a congested room is one that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, although there haven’t been other options for organizations until recently. Now that QLESS for healthcare and other patient queue management systems exist, the need for waiting rooms has been drastically reduced. These digital solutions enable enterprises to create a virtual queue where customers don’t have to be physically present to wait in line or in the waiting room. The customer can check in, monitor their status in line, and communicate updates with staff, all from their phones or computers. This means they can wait outside the office, from their home, at a nearby park, or wherever else they’d prefer. Customers can still wait in waiting rooms if they want to, but QLESS allows them to wait remotely, helping to drastically reduce congestion in healthcare offices. Reducing risk in the waiting experience should be an important objective for all healthcare organizations, and it resonates with customers. Consumers strongly dislike the typical waiting room process that has been the norm in healthcare for ages. With QLESS’s queue software, healthcare businesses can meet the needs of the experience-oriented patient while creating a safer, more positive waiting process.
