International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

Doi: 10.14355/ijc.2015.04.003

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The Reinvention of the Constituent

Relationship Management (CRM) System in
Higher Education in Africa
Mboungou Mouyabi SEKE
Business Intelligence Services, Wits CRM Office
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
Private bag 3, 2050 South Africa
Jordan.Seke@wits.ac.za
Abstract
The focus of the progressively important topic brought by
Information Technology (IT) today on Constituent
Relationship Management (CRM) as it is called in academia
constitutes the aim of this paper. The author intends to draw
particularity on one current and one recent research paper to
strengthen the subject of reinvention of CRM from higher
education perspective in the African region. Reasons as to
why universities are unenthusiastic to adopt new
technological trends in this particular portion of the globe
which is the African region; this paper discusses factors over
adoption of CRM with particular emphasis on its reinvention
in higher education.
Keywords
Adoption; Constituent Relationship
Education and Reinvention

Management;

Higher

Introduction
As the 21st century competitive landscape is pigeonholed with hyper-competition and fast-paced
technological change, the supportive role of
technology in the educationindustrybecomes more
prevalent as more and more educational institutions
invest in leading-edge technologies to better position
themselves amongst best ranked universities around
the globe and to ensure long-run competitive
advantage and above-average return.
It is without any doubt that the notion of effective
customer information management as a productivity
issue is being replaced by the need for effective
customer management as a competitive advantage.
Today, systems are going far beyond productivityrelated features such as Web-based or online student
registration to the development of customer
informationas a strategic advantage. The concepts of
students, alumni, faculty members, and staff members

of the education industry as customersor

constituents become a competitive imperative with
profound impact on how higher education
institutionsin general and universities in particular
attract, retain, and serve customers of all types.
The
development
of
Customer
Relationship
Management (CRM) is due to the fact that the costs of
developing new customers are obviously higher than
those of keeping existing customers, Hsu et Al. (2012).
CRM is becoming an imperative strategy for virtually
every sector of most business entities. Organisations
are moving closer to their customers, putting in more
effort in seeking new ways to create value for them
and transforming customer relationships into one of
solution-finding and partnering instead of the
traditional buying and selling. Consequently,
businesses have become fixated on CRM. It has
become a central orientation point in academia and the
business environment with organisations increasingly
focusing on managing customer relationships as a
strategy to achieve market leadership and profits.El
Sawy, O.A. and Bowles, G. (1997).
Educational institutions worldwide are experiencing
fundamental shifts onhow they operate and interact
with their customers: students, alumni, donors,
faculty and staff members.Several advocates have
written on the topic and defined the concept CRM. For
instance,
Winer(2001)
holds
that
Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) involves the
deployment of strategies, processes, and technologies
to strengthen a firms relationships with customers
throughout their life cycle from marketing and sales,
to post-sale service and Gartner underscores:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software
addresses customer life-cycle management business
processes and provides functionality to enterprises in

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sales, marketing and customer service (including call

and contact centres) through collaborative, operational
and analytical components.
While CRM is a widespread concept in the corporate
world, it is a relatively new phenomenon in the higher
education sector (Grant and Anderson, 2002).
Educational institutions also realized the importance
of their operations and interactions with their
customers who include students, alumni, donors, and
facultyand staff members (Katz 2002). In addition, its
usage has been very limited in higher education in the
African region.For some advocates, the best institute
in the world will be unsuccessful if the focus on
customers is lost. With the rising service expectations,
universities have to realign their strategies to serve
students across their entire student life-cycle. First and
foremost is the treatment of individual students,
alumni, parents, friends, as well as every contact
because they all count.
The last few years have seen an explosion of interest in
CRM by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and
universities across the region. Driven by vendor claims
of managing the student lifecycle or facilitating
purposeful connections, what higher education
administrator would not be interested in software
magic, given that we are in anera of declining high
school graduates, increasing competition, and the need
to do more with less. On the other hand, many
advocates argue the fact that higher education CRM
investments are based upon the (wrong) premise and
mostly default to the automation of marketing
messagesas if talking more is the key to building better
relationships.
In this paper, I investigate the factors affecting the
adoption of CRM technology or system in the higher
education sector in Africa as well as its reinvention in
the academic world as many of todays most operative
CRM processes and strategies are so fruitful because of
the fundamental technologies that enable and support
them.Iintendto address the following research
questions: (1) what factors influence adoption
decisions of CRM in a fully functional higher
educational institution? (2) What can be applied to
reinvent CRM in an operational institution?
This paper starts with a theoretical background of
CRM, followed by a literature review of CRM, its
implications for universities and others institutions of
higher education as well as its reinvention as the CRM
focus are currently fluctuating from improving
internal operations to concentrating more on

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International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

customers.This paper endswith a discussion of

contribution of this research. The findings will help to
change the structural context in particular ways of the
specific needs of higher education in Africa in the light
of CRMs reinvention.
Theoretical Backgroundofcrm
Known worldwide as Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), in the academic world, it is now
called Constituent Relationship Managementbecause
higher education institutions and universities are not
commercial entities like many vendors that deal with
customers in order to gain their trust in purchasing
their product. Rather, they deal with constituents due
to the particularity of their relationship. Even though
this approach is questionable and debatable, for the
purpose of this paper, I will utilise the definition as
understood in the academic world.
Deck (2003) defined CRM as an approach to customer
service (customer service) that concentrates on
customers needs and behaviour for sustaining
customers and the organisation. The CRM approach is
to try to make, build, and develop a friendly
relationship between customers, organisations, firms
benefits and shareholder value. For Grant and
Anderson, (2002), CRM is both a business strategy and
a set of discrete software tools and technologies. These
two have the goal of reducing costs, increasing
revenue, identifying new opportunities and channels
for expansion, and improving customer value,
satisfaction, profitability, and retention.
Knox et al. (2003) define CRM as a strategic approach
designed to improve shareholder value through
developing an appropriate relationship with key
customers and customer segments by uniting
information technology and relationship marketing
strategies to deliver a profitable long-term relationship.
According to Dewhurst et al (1999), IT can facilitate and
enhance customer relationships in various ways. It
enables product customisation which is the essence of
the
customer
centric
orientationthrough
the
deployment of sophisticated CRM systems. Yong (2003)
says that companies that have big volume of customer
data can perform customer management more easily
and efficiently using data warehousing, data mining,
and other IT. Greenberg, (2003) looks at CRM as a
business philosophy and strategy, supported by a
system and technology, designed to improve human
interactions in a business environment.
According to Reynolds (2002), CRM Technology is not

International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

a piece of software on its own but rather operates

through integration within a companys IT
Infrastructure. It enables a business to develop, archive
and share customer information throughout a business
so as offer:

the customer specific need identification;

personalized view of the business to customers;

most profitable business customer identification;

efficient and standardized care delivery; and

most risky customer identification

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customers needs which are: people, processes and

technology. These key components are the composites
of CRM which processes in three other ways identified
by Mishra et al. (2009) as Operational, Analytical and
Collaborative CRM as shown in Figure 1. CRM
solution for higher education also combines people,
processes and technology within the organisation and
it increases productivity and efficiency of schools as
well as helps to movetheorganisation forward.

Literature Review
Previous studies on the relationship between ICT and
HEIs institutions have led to diverse results whichare
sometimes contradictory. Even though the literature
exudesattempts to establish the links, the results
produced are mostly inconclusive (Rangriz, 2011).
CRM has been emerging in the business or corporate
world for more than two decades. Beginning in the late
1980s, CRM technology was nothing more than an
electronic database to communicate in a straight line
with customers. In the new era of reward programme
brought by hospitality and airlines companies, CRM
turned into a tool that could be used to increase loyalty.
CRM is viewed as a comprehensive strategy and
process of acquiring, retaining and partnering with
selective customers to create superior value for the
company and the customer (Parvatiyar and Sheth
2000).CRM is a new technology that combines the
potential of market-thinking tosucceedby providing
firms benefits that strengthen customer relationships
with organisations in the long-term. In fact, the idea of
Customer Relationship Management approach to
business (business approach) has become a necessity
in recent years. One of the goals is to restore the global
market to the private market. The concept is relatively
simple compared with the firm and customer market
which is widespread.
From variousavailableapproaches,Mishra et al. (2009)
underscore the distinction between the three areas of
CRM that become generally accepted and
understandCRM as a customer-oriented management
approach where information systems provide
information to support operational, analytical and
collaborative CRM processes and thus contribute to
customer profitability and retention.
Jones (2005) underlines the fact that there are three key
components involved in the building of CRM to satisfy

FIG. 1 THREE AREAS OF CRM (Source: www.proactivatunja.com)

Among several process models of the CRM solution

globally, I chose the IDIC process model which is
developed further in this paper. The reason underlying
this, is because improving the IDIC model with
comprehensive and coherent guidance can effectively
be the key ingredient in the context of the African
universities; using its CRM strategy to obtain
constituent satisfaction and loyalty by instituting and
improving long-term relationship.
As shown in Figure 2, CRM consists of three critical
elements which are people, processes and technology,
which should all be integrated through strategy by top
management in order to attain its primary goal of
achieving constituents satisfaction.
Use of Crm in Higher Education
After years of languishing on the side-lines, the
recession has pushed the uptake of Constituent
Relationship
Management
(CRM)
solutions
dramatically forward in higher education. On the one
hand, higher education CRM provides a clear and
complete picture of each individualuser (student) and
all the activities the user performs within the
institution. On the otherhand, CRM allows students to
carry out interactions with the university as a separate
entity by providing a clear understanding of its statute
within the organisation. Fayerman (2002) postulates
that, for students, this includes information on

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International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

enrolment, registration, financial aid, student accounts

and accommodation.
Students are categorized as primary beneficiaries of
education and therefore should be viewed as
customers, arguesYeo (2008). The emphasis on
continuous improvement is critical to the sustainability
of high quality services which an educational
institution provides to students. Perceived from the
perspective of CRM, byNail et al. (2007), the concept of
student life-cycle can be displayed in the stages
through which the student passes when considering
and using the services of the educational institution in
order to form a student life cycle, a process without an
end.

Significant
changes
in
the
expectation
of
studentscontribute to the relevance of relationship
management strategy underlines Conant, (2002).The
stages through which students pass during their life
cycle are described as follow in the context of this
paper:

Prospective student: a student who could be a

potential candidate for the institution; but s/he
is in the process of gathering information
andforming an opinion about the institution;

Admitted student: a student who decided to

apply for admission to the institution and has
been offered a place (admitted) by the said
institution;

FIG. 2 CRM KEY COMPONENTS (Source: http://www.elinext.com)

Prospect

Admitted

Donor
Student
Life Cycle

Enrolled

Alumni
Graduate
FIG. 3 STUDENT LIFE CYCLE

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Enrolled student: the stage where the student

becomes a part of the institution after fulfilling
the prescribed requirements such as payment
of the applicable fees and submission of
required documentation;

underdevelopment of its marketplace in Africa. For

higher education in Africa, a decision to adopt CRM
System or solution is influenced by many factors
including cultural. However, it is more of technical
and cost-related considerations.

Graduate: a student who has received an

academic degree or diploma

Alumni: at this stage, students are satisfied

with their academic experiencecreating longterm loyalty to their school.

Donor: means any graduatemaking a donation

to the University

i make reference to my previous paper on Cloud

computing adoption in HEIs in Africa under reviewto
accentuate the focus on two factors as mentioned
earlier in this section. On the one hand, cost
considerations which may be introduced by additional
vendor relationship management or possibly
additional measures that are unique to the Constituent
Relationship Management; and on the other hand,
integration with other IT or Information Systems (IS)
in current use on campus. A dominant anxiety is the
transitioning of IS or IT applications solution on
campus today to the Constituent Relationship
Management and how much of the customizability
that will be lost in that process.

In reality, the student life-cycle is a very complex

environment and the use of different words to describe
the different stages of the life-cycle differs from one
author to another.
While it might seem counterintuitive to view students
as customers for some institutions worldwide and
constituent for others, changes in the higher education
sector necessitate this shift in thinking, argue Nair et al.
(2007). CRM provides universities with the capacity to
effectively manage their students during their entire
life-cycle. Relationship management strategy helps
converging IT resources to students' requests, which
often alleviates the inadequacies in the use of ICT such
as the lack of response to the academic and business
needs, inefficient use of IT resources, and the inability
to effectively and quickly apply new technologies.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is
a diverse set of technological tools and resources used
to communicate, and create, disseminate, store, and
manage information (Blurton, C. 2002).ICT to the
authors view, is a very broad concept which includes
computers, the internet, automation of processes,
controls and information production using computers,
communication and broadcasting technology and
telephones and its use in academia today is
noteworthy as it enhances self-service facilities from
where students can complete applications online.
Advantages of CRM in the educational advancement
are increased efficiency of campaigns and
intermediation, increased average amount of
donations, increased constituent satisfaction, reduced
costs of campaigns and increased alumni participation.
Concerns over Adoption of Crm in Higher
Education
Most worries about CRM for higher education revolve
around
its
relative
newness
and
the

In addition to this, SEKE (2013), posits thatanxieties

regarding privacy, data integrity, intellectual property
management, regulation issuesand audit trajectories
are significant barriers to the adoption of CRM
solutions in higher education institutions in Africa.
It should also be noted thatthe process of adopting
new innovations has been studied for over three
decades now, and one of the most popular adoption
models is described by Rogers in his book, Diffusion of
Innovations (Sherry & Gibson, 2002).The authorbelieves
strongly that Rogers diffusion of innovations theory is
the most suitable for considering the adoption of
technology in higher education and educational
backgroundsin Africa.
Innovation in Higher education in Africa requires a
true understanding of universities needs, which best
manifest themselves as measures of how well an
institution is able to get various jobs (and steps) done.
Essentially, until customers needs become metrics
within a customer feedback loop, the probability of
impactful sustaining or breakthrough innovations will
be low, (Boysen, 2013).
For Rogers (2003), adoption is a decision of full use of
an innovation as the best course of action available
and rejection is a decision not to adopt an innovation.
Rogers defines diffusion as the process in which an
innovation is communicated thorough certain channels
over time among the members of a social
system.Rogers (2003) carried on and defined the
adopter categories as the classifications of members

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of a social system on the basis of innovativeness. This

cataloguing includes innovators, early adopters, early
majority, late majority, and laggards as shown in
figure 4.

FIG.4. ADOPTER CATEGORIZATION ON THE BASIS OF

INNOVATIVENESS (Source: Diffusion of Innovations, fifth edition by
Everett M. Rogers. 2003)

Correspondingly, Rogers (2003) noted that incomplete

adoption and non-adoption do not form this adopter
classification. Only adopters of successful innovations
produce this curve over time.
Reinvention of Crm in Higher Education
It is a good thing for innovation that the age of
monolithic corporate labs is over, underscores
Chesbrough (2011). With knowledge concentrated in
few large companies around the globe for HEIs to
consider, mankind had to rely on centralised internal
research to generate innovation. But useful knowledge
is much more widely distributed today, making it
infeasible and unwise to hoard vital knowledge in
such silos (Chesbrough, 2011).
If CRM has any hope of becoming relevant and
valuable again, it needs reinvention, argue several
advocates. And by reinvent, I do not mean another
analyst abbreviation or vendor slogan, but an entirely
new approach and philosophy around constituents,
procedures in place in higher education framework
and relevancy in a particular environment. In order to
reinvent CRM, African universities are just duplicating
a basic method that has already previously been
created or optimized by others in America and Europe
to validate the process without an end which is the
student life-cycle. The CRM reinvention captures the
evolving dynamic between the connection and
transformative technologies to keep alive the
relationship with constituents.
At the same time, CRM is an important tool or set of
technology those higher education institutions and
universities in Africa should consider adopting in
order to bond with graduates or many other

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International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

constituents. Although reinventing CRM may be an

ironic clich, it remains unclear when CRM itself was
fully adopted by HEIs worldwide and in Africa in
particular.
For the purpose of this paper, reinvention of CRM is
defined as the improvement of constituent service and
support with the successful implementation of CRM
processes and technology that enhance constituent
engagement and interactions through all channels in
higher education. CRM with respect to student deals
with helping institutionsunderstand the constituents
current needs, what they have done in the past, and
what they plan to do in the future to meet their own
goals.
Reinvention of CRM depends on underlying
technologies that enable and support the engagement.
CRM became, and still is, the catalyst for several
companies besides universities to better manage
customers interactions. This is not to say that
technology is the end-all in CRM (Bailor, 2004). We
still need engaged people, relevant processes, and
quality data; but whenproperly implemented argued
Bailor, technology can take that powerful threesome
even beyond.
Reinventing CRM? I joinBoysen (2013) to say it is time.
But it is noteworthy to recognize or draw the line here
to ask ourselves this question: where do Higher
Education and CRM intersect to create an enduring
and profitable constituent relationship? Reinventing
CRM in higher education in Africa requires a
commitment from management as well as the
universitys community to empower users through the
use of technology to make better decisions at the time
of the constituent interaction that substitute and
unlock opportunities.
Advocates around the globe realise that higher
educationand CRM arenotenvogueit is even bigger
than we think. Those who fail to understand this
reality will not be part of tomorrows universities
because student life-cycle is changing the face of
CRMbyproviding a new approach. Africa is not left
behind in this endeavour. There are, however,
roadblocks, collisions and black holes that can be
encountered along the journey of reinvention.
To create more win-win customer relationships in the
business side of CRM, argue many business experts,
many companies are looking at technologies for
strategic, process, organisational, technical and
individual behavioural change that focus on the

International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

customers history, attitudes, needs and current

situation. In the higher education world,I argue that
understanding the constituent to this depth and
placing the information at the fingertips of higher
educations community will facilitate them to execute
delivery, create satisfaction, and keep a long-term
relationship with graduates.
Reinventing CRM in Higher Education is all about
integrated technologies to help institutions to provide
faster constituent service through an enabled network
which can direct all constituent queries and issues
through appropriate channels to the right faculty for
speedy resolution. In practice, reinvention is the
identification of the right technology to transform a
traditional approach of CRM to a web and integrated
approach enabled and monitored by automation and
business rules.
Automation here refers to using technologies
including computer processing to make decisions and
implement programmed decision processes instructed
and monitored by business rules, (Mishra et al. (2009).
Findings and Discussion
There are some important observations that have been
noted, and these are discussed from my perspective. In
addition, short conclusions are provided to accentuate
on the findings and create a supportive background
for my argument.
Whether outcomes are positive or negative, they are

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likely to change the structural context in some way,

and according to Gefen and Ridings as underlined by
Mishra et al. (2009), a CRM system consists of multiple
modules including: operational CRM, which supports
a variety of customer-oriented business processes in
marketing, sales and service operations and an
analytic CRM which analyses customer data and
transaction patterns to improve customer relationships.
Operational and analytic CRM modules provide the
major functions of a CRM system, they wrote.
This focus makes me emphasize on the IDIC model as
mentioned earlier in this paper to support the findings
and argument in light of CRM reinvention. As shown
in figure 5, IDIC stands for Identify, Differentiate,
Interact and Customize. This model is chosen because
of the complexity of higher education sector.
Customize and Differentiate are based on analysis of
constituent, and Interact and Identify are the
interactions with the constituentas suggested by
Berfenfeldt (2010).
To justify the selection of the IDIC Model, I make
reference to Berfenfeldt (2010) thesis to illustrate the
adaption and enhancement of elements of the IDIC
Model as shown in figure 6as well as the fact that
Higher Education Institutions operate in a very
dynamic and competitive environment, and their
future success, as I argue, is grounded on the ability to
differentiate themselves from competitors and build
up a significant relationship not only with current
students, but also with prospective ones.

Identify

Differentiate

Interact

Customise
FIG. 5 IDIC PROCESSES

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International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

the successofan institution with its graduates,

academic ability, and noteworthy position on the
national as well as regional scope, professional
accomplishments and qualifications. In the single case
of an institution with its internal resources,
differentiation is to be considered in the alumni
relations office or unit if this exists. This is so because,
truly, several universities in the region do not have an
alumni office. In addition, they do not bother to keep
the long-term relationship with constituents.
FIG. 6 IDIC MODEL (Source: Jens Berfenfeldt, 2010, p.19)

If customer is to be replaced by constituent as

academia like to call their customers who are mainly
students with an endless life-cycle, universities on the
African Continent recruit (identify) mostly the best
students in order to increase the gap between peers
competitors, stand better chances to be ranked among
the best worldwide and also to lead the African
Continent.
IDIC Model Justification
The case study method is a preferred strategy when
how and why questions are being posed, and
aresearcher has little control over events, quote Mishra
et al (2009), who went further to say thatthe case
study method is an ideal methodology when a holistic,
in-depth investigation is required. Although the
question why is asked here, my personal experience
makes me believe in the industry to justify this
selection by linking the four processes of IDIC and
CRM in Higher Education.
Identification
Peppers and Rogers as underscored by Berfenfeldt
(2010), believed that a CRM strategy should be based
on the IDIC view, and as it stands, the model
contained four sections that include identification (the
entry point) which comprises gathering and
organizing information of the constituent. A quick
look at the way African universities operate today
makes me conclude that HEIs in Africa have not been
able to collect the appropriate information to target
their constituents. This model has been selected to be
used in the process of engaging CRM strategic for
African universities.
Differentiate
Differentiation is believed to be the most appropriate
section in a higher education framework as it indicates

24

It is very important for the authors here to lay

emphases on differentiation. As for higher education
institutions and the African continent, image is
potentially both enhancing and constraining. A poor
image of rank limits an institutions aptitude to attract
students from the continent as well as other parts of
the world.
This IDIC model has the ability to create an attractive
force to bring on board very talented students both
nation- and continent-wide. This section has been
selected to be used as a catalyst for developing a CRM
strategy for many African universities.
Customisation
The goal of CRM is to be able to deal with each
customer/constituent on a one-to-one basis. Today,
due to the impact of infrastructure resource and
financial crisis in the region, few African universities
can really customise constituents needs. On the other
hand, technological limitations constitute roadblocks
to this implementation to other universities beyond the
African continent.
On a very good extent, as CRM can be reinvented, this
IDIC model can add more value to a fully functional
institutionwhich, although with limitations, can
customise the service offered by thealumni relations
office. This will helpimproveitscurrent relationship
with alumni members, anddevelop a strong
relationship with potential alumni who at the end
could become donors to empower the university
strategies by creating a difference and attracting more
constituents.
Interaction
It is noteworthy for any organisation using customerstrategy to interact with its customers. But once an
institution has a clear understanding of their
constituents and what their worth to them, they
should be in a very good position to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of dealing with those

International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

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constituents, underlines Jens (2010). By using this IDIC

model, the author believes that this will enhance and
retain good interactions between institutions and their
constituents.

it will be perceived. The reason being thatindividuals

are talking to each other (and not to the organisation),
so the company has to find a way of finding out what
is being said in these conversations.

Adoption decisions of CRM

As with all developmental interventions, there can be

winners and losers. Thus, reinvention of CRM is
required at this time on in every industry, but the pilot
implementation is highly needed in the African region
to provide collaborative CRM opportunities for the
few without necessarily altering patterns of inequality
that affect the many. Information Technology is
enhancing self-service facilities wherefrom students
can complete online applications as well as interacting
with the respective institutions through social media.

While CRM as a terminology was new to some user

groups, most of them were using the technology in one
way or another,say Nair et al. (2007). The African
context defined itself through different factors. Higher
education sector role lies in opening up relatively
remote communities to wider influences and making
visible the riches and attractions located in and around
the continent.
That said, the local and global decisions of universities
worldwide should not be regarded as being in conflict
even when it comes to valuable inputs because HEIs
differ in the nature and level of their regional
engagement, and adoption decisions of any
technological kind cannot be implemented overnight
as it has to comply with procedures, standards and
self-assigned mission of cultural reinforcement of the
institution by bringing a potential transformation to
the continent as well.
At the decision stage in the innovation-decision
process, the individual chooses to adopt or reject the
innovation. Thesame apples to an institution. While
adoption refers to full use of an innovation as the best
course of action available, rejection means not to
adopt an innovation, argues Rogers (2003). Referring
to the adoption classification diagram, I believe
strongly that reinvention of CRM in higher education
in Africa is at the early adoption stage or Africans are
early adopters.

I think the problem facing higher education

institutions today is that the communication paradigm
has changed but universities are not moving along
with the changes as quickly as possible due to major
constraints highlightedearlierin this paper regarding
the African region. Despite the fact that many leaders
from those universities play an important role in the
continentas well as worldwide through their
professionalism and objective voice,there is still more
to be done in the region to empower higher education
sector.
On the second part of the definition of CRM quoted
from Grand and Anderson (2002), it is believed
strongly that reinvention is targeted on the set of
discrete software tools and technologies to review the
process of its efficiency in the higher education sector.
Conclusion

Reinvention of CRM

The lesson about reinvention is that CRM processes

are themselves being innovated, so it is unrealistic to
put higher education institutionsof the region in the
innovators category because tomorrows universities
and HEIs in the continent will need to follow a
different, open approach to adoption if they are to
connect with their graduates. It is strongly believed
that the titleholder of the forthcoming best institutions
in the African continent will not be big name
universities only there will be those that reinvent
their interactions with current students, combine with
their graduates or alumni through very well- designed
channels under a CRM solution or technology adopted.

To get around the failure of relationship between

organisations of all kinds and customers, organisations
have to indulge in organisedsnooping. This call of
emergency may sound bad or good depending on how

Granting there is consciousness that CRM in higher

education in Africa is not only about students but
includes alumni and benefactorsand the many
constituents who touch the institution somewhere

Compared to innovators as shown in figure 4,early

adopters are more limited with the boundaries of the
social system, thus is Africa. Rogers (2003) argued that
since early adopters are more likely to hold leadership
roles in the social system, other members come to them
to get advice or information about the innovation.
Thus, as role models, the attitudes of African
universities toward innovations are more important.
Finally, early adopters put their stamp of approval on
a new idea by adopting it, wrote Rogers (2003).

25

www.seipub.org/ijc

down the line, resistance to reinventingthe process by

incorporating enquirer data with student data suggests
that many stakeholders in the continent have not yet
recognised the strategic value of enquiries
management in the lifecycle of a student.
My overall view regarding the reinvention of CRM in
higher education institutions in Africa is that it is
extremely important for African universities today to
start with adoption of CRM solution first, then
customise it in a very well-developed constituent
touch-points through technology as it stands to be the
only catalyst of reinvention.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It would not have been possible to write this paper

again this time without the help and support of kind
people around me, to only some of whom it is possible
to give particular mention here.
Sincere gratitude is hereby extended to the following
who never ceased in helping until this paper is
structured:
To Professor Jonathan Klaaren, for his encouragement,
support and inspiration
To Tessa Murray, CRM Manager at Wits University for
her approval; to Dr. Herbert Kawaza and Dr. Avitus
Agbor for the remarkable patience they exuded in
perusing and deciphering my hardly legible
manuscript.
To my wife Yohali Carine, my kids Julien Leandre and
Celline Leandra Seke for their support and pure
hospitality.
Above all, utmost appreciation to the Almighty God
for the divine intervention in this research endeavour
this time in my professional path.

International Journal on Communications (IJC) Volume 4, 2015

boysen-says-its-time-7000011550/.
Chesbrough, H. (2011) Reinvention. Retrieved July 07, 2013
from:
http://www.technologyreview.com/notebook/425899/rein
vention/.
Conant, R. (2002). Relationship Management in Higher
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MBOUNGOU MOUYABI SEKE is an independent Partner

& Consultant on a personal and private basis. He holds a
Baccalaureate in Mechanical Engineering awarded in 2000
from the Technical College Poaty Bernard of Pointe Noire in
the Republic of Congo. He also received a Technician Patent
in Mechanical Engineering from Thomas Sankara Technical
Institute. He received an Engineering degree in Biomedical
Maintenance from the Tertiary Institute of Applied
Techniques of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo
in 2004 and his dissertation was titled The Establishment of
Maintenance Policy in Hospitals of Developing Countries:
Case of the Central Hospital of the Army Pierre Mobengo of
Brazzaville.
In 2008, he took Higher Diploma courses in Computer
Science at the University of the Witwatersrand, in
Johannesburg, South Africa. He was awarded with a
postgraduate certificate in Information Technology Project
Management in 2012 from the University of Johannesburg,
South Africa. In 2013, he was awarded a Certificate in
Computer auditing from the University of the
Witwatersrand. Before joining the Wits School of Law in July
2008, he worked as PC Engineer & Database Manager. He is
currently a Constituent Relationship Management Officer
within the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg
and visiting associate to the Wits Law School where he
served as a Senior Local Area Network Administrator.
He has presented papers at conferences and his recent
publications include:
Elearning and M-learning, Africas search for a suitable
concept in the era of cloud computing; Published in the
volume of International Journal of Social and Human
Sciences 6 2012 &
Virtual Desktops in Institutions of Higher education using
VMware view; Published in the second volume of the
International Journal of Communication (IJC) Issue 1, March
2013.
His research interests focuses on Africa and include Cloud
computing, Virtualization, ELearning, Big data, MLearning,
Digital Clash of Civilization in the continent.

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