The secret to increasing enrollment rates: A faster, fully digital admissions process
The secret to increasing enrollment rates: A faster, fully digital admissions process
In the digital era, applicants expect fast and personalized experiences at every interaction. A prospective student, used to the immediacy of the internet, won’t adapt to a slow, manual, call-center-dependent process. Yet, many universities still rely on slow, fragmented admissions workflows, offering little personalization from the very first contact.
Universidad Siglo 21 faced the same challenge. While their processes were functional, they had become a bottleneck. This friction meant that many interested prospects dropped off before completing their application.
The challenge they presented us was not just a matter of upgrading technology—it was an opportunity to completely rethink the future student’s experience. The goal: transform a fragmented process into a modern, smooth, efficient, and above all, student-centered admissions journey.
Modernizing admissions process without stopping operations
When implementing this kind of innovation, the process needs to be reimagined without disrupting day-to-day operations. In our project with Siglo 21, we had to consider the role of the call center, which handled the student prospecting process manually. The key was not just introducing new software—it was standardizing and simplifying the entire admissions process, which up to that point depended heavily on manual management.
The project was rolled out in several key phases, following a comprehensive roadmap:
Phase 1: Modernizing the academic offer
We built a well-structured system that allowed the university to schedule and manage academic programs, curricula, and enrollment periods dynamically.
Phase 2: Admissions
We improved the call center’s admissions system, moving from a manual process to a more robust one that could generate tickets and track the student prospecting process more efficiently.
Phase 3: Digital transformation
This was where the real leap happened. Two critical components completely changed the game:
- A new academic equivalency system: We developed a tool that allowed students to request credit transfers on their own and receive an automatic simulation showing how many subjects they could validate before deciding to enroll.
- Admissions e-commerce: We created a self-service platform where applicants could complete the entire admissions process—from start to payment—online.
Real impact on student enrollment and efficiency
The transformation delivered tangible benefits, showing the power of a well-designed process paired with the right technology.
- Higher student enrollment: The faster process, combined with the equivalency simulation, had a direct impact on conversion rates. In fact, the lead-to-student conversion rate increased by 7 to 12 points—a figure the university itself highlighted in an AWS blog. This focus on applicant experience led the university to grow from 26,000 new students in 2021 to 35,000.
- Better data quality: By standardizing data entry points, the integrity of student academic records improved significantly. This simplified their entire academic journey, reducing errors and long-term issues.
- A more self-service and robust process: Self-service admissions freed the call center from operational tasks, allowing it to focus on more strategic interactions—like following up with applicants who started (but didn’t finish) processes such as equivalency simulations. This shift turned the call center from a process handler into a true driver of conversions.
The key: understanding the business process beyond the code
The success of this project lay in sitting down with the client to fully understand their business processes. In this case, we didn’t just develop software—we co-designed a more efficient admissions process focused on the user experience.
Built with a microservices architecture and modern technologies like Docker and React, this solution didn’t just transform Siglo 21’s admissions model—it created a blueprint that can be adapted to other educational institutions, proving the value of process standardization and innovation.
Ready to transform your business process?
We believe in co-creation—sitting with all stakeholders to identify areas for improvement, simplify workflows, and design solutions that truly impact growth and efficiency.
If you’re evaluating your options and want to share them with us to get our perspective, let’s set up a chat ☕—the coffee is on us!
