Impact

The database installed at the Technologie-Transfer-Zentrum (technology transfer centre) at the University of Magdeburg is accessed more than 200.000 times per day from over 100 countries. This is the double amount of access compared to the previous year to be traced back to the reduction of the inhibition threshold on establishing contacts.

Despite that, the cost of administration was reduced since time-consuming telephone calls disappeared, votes were able to be simplified and duplication was avoided. Also, content with intense explanation can be conveyed quickly. If an advisor is not able to answer the appropriate question he will pass the question on a different advisor in the network. In this case, transferring the chat history for the chosen customer advisor to know what has already been talked about. The customer then doesn’t need to reexpress his/her concerns at the different institutions as he/she is used to so far.

Such a support network allows organising the administration closer to the people and less complicated.

User-friendly and up to date, contacts and reference persons are available on mouse click and access to current research results is ensured. Thus, expert knowledge is retrievable publicly as well as for companies and potential users. Furthermore, trainees and graduates are placed, huge devices and equipments are offered und topics for the diploma thesis are deployed.

By answering the questions simply and uncomplicatedly, the satisfaction of customers and support service providers was increased. Research projects could be accelerated which resulted in supporting the economy and research of the federal state Saxony-Anhalt.

Track record of sharing

Most of the contacts (85%) are coming from Germany. This results in access statistics, also. And so do concerns using the online support. There are especially foreign students using this service to gather information about studying, student grants and work experiences.

During the short test period by now, we also got requests from Bruxelles, the USA and Austria. Here, it deals with the service itself and the possibilities associated with it, but also with papers from German scientists, or with research cooperations.

Lessons learnt

As a first result, the implementation of the communication platform and the 24-hour hotline for companies prove an increase in productivity and flexibility concerning the employees, as well as an increase in customer satisfaction. By this means, the number of communicational processes has increased and the supervisors report on noticeably more requests.