Automated Speaker 0:00 which means a 90% satisfaction with the mobile ID, which is truly, truly incredible. That meant, they went out of their way to give feedback to say we'd like this. Welcome to focus, a podcast dedicated to the business of Higher Education. I'm your host, Heather Richmond. And we will be exploring the challenges and opportunities facing today's higher learning institutions. In this episode, I was joined by Joe Harding, an innovative leader in campus operations, to discuss the ins and outs of mobile ID for Apple and Android, including what it takes to have a successful launch. Heather 0:37 Well, Hi, Joe. I know we've been talking about having you on as guests for a while now. So I'm super excited that you're finally on the show. Joe 0:45 Well, thank you, Heather, and I'm thrilled to be here with you today. You may not know this, but I'm actually a fan. I was I was really impressed with your hosting skills, which I think were on full display. During COVID. When we had to do contact virtually. Heather 0:59 Yes. Joe 1:00 I think the way that you manage to keep the energy high and try and make it fun and creative with your virtual dance parties, and bringing in those guests and things like that. Super, super creative. And I actually think it was at that virtual contact. That was the first time that we officially presented on the project that we're going to be talking about today. And it's pretty cool, because here we are two years later, and we're still talking about it. Heather 1:23 Still talking about it. It's a cool project that that a lot of great things for you guys as well as the industry as a whole. But also Joe, this, us being on air together. This is not your first rodeo is it? Joe 1:34 Right... No, actually, I actually got my undergrad degree from NAU in broadcast production. And I went on to do a career in radio. So I was one of those wacky morning show guys. And I also went on to host a political local Colin Talk radio show. So yeah, I have a little bit of a background in broadcast and radio. Heather 1:25 That's awesome. No wonder you were so quick to say yes. When I asked you to be on a podcast. Very cool. Well, it sounds like again, speaking of your career and your success that you've had thus far, it sounds like we have another congratulations in order. Joe 1:59 Yeah, yeah, it's it's true. And it's it's a little bit bittersweet for me because I've been at NAU, so I like I mentioned I got my undergrad from NAU. Heather 2:22 Right. Joe 2:22 I even spent some time teaching here. And I've worked most of my professional career at Northern Arizona University. So by the time this airs, I will be an official member of the Wildcat family at the University of Arizona, but I will always be a lumberjack at heart. Heather 2:40 That's super cool. It sounds like we have some more work to do together. Awesome. Well, you know, again, I really appreciate you coming to talk to us today about that project that you did at NAU specifically on really implementing mobile ID it was new, it was fresh. And I know there's just a lot that everybody can learn about you is really being that trendsetter. Joe 3:04 Yeah, yeah. And you know what, I'm super excited to share the experience. Because, really, we piloted this program, as you know, in partnership with TouchNet, and a number of other external vendors. Anytime you pilot something new, you're going to learn a lot of lessons along the way. Heather 3:22 Right. Joe 3:22 So I am happy to share those experiences. I think there's a lot that can be gleaned that other universities could learn from us and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls that we you know, encountered along the way. But also realize just the tremendous success that this project was for us here at NAU. So yeah, I am excited to talk about and we've been talking about it for so long doing so many presentations, and it's a topic that just never gets old. Heather 3:51 That is so true. So let's get to start back at the beginning. So at the very beginning, somebody had the crazy idea maybe was you, Hey, we should do this mobile ID thing. So let's just talk about, you know, why was it important to to get mobile IDs on campus? And really, how does it really kick off that project? Joe 4:08 Yeah, so I'm gonna I'm gonna take it all the way back to 2018. When we first partnered with TouchNet, and brought TouchNet on campus, I think that that was pivotal. Because as we were implementing a new system for our Octillery services, and working very closely with with the team at TouchNet and getting that implemented, I made it very clear at that time that we at Northern Arizona University are very interested in pushing the envelope. So as you know, there are three major institutions in the state, there's ASU and U of A, and then there's NAU. And I think the way that NAU really distinguishes itself from its other, you know, maybe better known institutions is that we really embrace innovation here. So we were like, the second in the nation to introduce those robot mobile food delivery services. Heather 4:58 Yeah. Joe 4:59 So It was it was great, because I think touching that heard what I was saying. And they approached us with the opportunity to pilot mobile ID to be the first TouchNet school to do that. So, yeah, it was a little bit of a process to get leadership on board and everything like that. But it didn't hurt that this opportunity was presented in the middle of a global pandemic. Heather 5:25 Right. Joe 5:26 And, so there was definitely, there was definitely some momentum in terms of bringing new and creative ideas to the tables to help reduce public face to face exposures, to increase conveniences, and things of that nature. So that was really the genesis of it was just being presented with that opportunity. I think we were well positioned because we had a lot of the infrastructure already in place. And we had a we had a good working relationship, not just with TouchNet, but with HIV and with some of the other vendors who are involved in the project. Heather 6:03 Yeah, I say that's one of the biggest takeaways, really, from our all of our experiences, the pandemic is it really, you know, made us but encouraged us to all think differently. And so, like you said, perfect time to kick off a new initiative to say, hey, we're thinking differently, let's make this happen. And, we were super excited to have the partnership with you, as we all learn together in that, and so that's why it's so important for us to chat today about the lessons learned and how to get there for some other schools who were like, okay, now that we're thinking differently, how do we move some of these things forward? So that's great. Joe 6:37 Absolutely. Heather 6:38 So let's talk about how you really kicked off the project then. So you said, hey, we're doing this and then you have to buy in. Now what? Joe 6:46 Yeah, so I will, I will say, as part of the as part of the process and other universities, I'm sure going to be faced with similar questions from leadership. How do we pay for this? Heather 6:56 Right. Joe 6:57 And, so we had to do budgeting, and we had to look at because it is a disruptive model, as all new exciting innovations are. Heather 7:04 Right. Joe 7:05 This one certainly was. And so we had to kind of restructure a little bit of how we do our current office operations. That was that was part of it, putting that that budgetary piece in place. And then there was an aspect and I think we'll probably touch more on this, as we are talking, with communications, and bringing stakeholders to the table. So all of that was really essential in building the political capital necessary to move the project forward. But once we got the green light, and once we had our official project kickoff, really, one of the first things that we did was a mobile readiness assessment. Heather 7:40 Okay. Joe 7:41 And we got that from from TouchNet. So TouchNet that provided us with the initial foundational documentation that was necessary for us to go through our campus, identify what we had in place, and how well positioned we were to introduce this new technology. As you know, Apple was also an integral partner in this project. Heather 8:03 Right. Joe 8:03 And, Apple also had their own readiness documents that they brought to the table. But I will say that the real key to success for us in getting this launched and really off to a good start was doing our own internal discovery process. Heather 8:20 Okay. Joe 8:20 So, we had project managers, business analysts, communication specialists, IT people we identified, the right team cannot emphasize that enough. Getting the right people on your team is absolutely crucial. Heather 8:36 Yeah. Joe 8:36 So one of the key members was Christopher and you all got to meet Christopher Augustine at virtual Comtek, and also presented, co presented with me at Comtek, wonderful business analyst. He did a fantastic job of identifying all those use cases. Heather 8:55 Yeah. Joe 8:56 So when you do a project like this, and you think about where does my ID card being used on campus, you know, the obvious ones that come to mind are campus dining. Heather 9:04 Right. Joe 9:04 Door access. But as he started, you know, going through the process, and doing interviews, and really doing the boots on the ground kind of uncovering of all of those different use cases, you identify 30 unique places where the Jacks card wouldn't use, and over 1000 touch points of places where the Jacks card could be engaged. And so that uncovering all of that upfront was absolutely key. That is key, because normally that happens at the end or in the middle like oh, wait, what about this one? Yeah, that's not the time you want to. Unknown Speaker 9:34 No. Joe 9:40 Those are what we would call surprises. Heather 9:42 Yeah. Joe 9:43 Or some people might call them landmines. Oops, we forgot about this. Heather 9:47 Right. Joe 9:48 And, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that there were zero of those here. We did encounter one or two, for example, you know, as we were communicating with all of the different stakeholders on campus, it came to light that there were a couple of use cases, Campus Rec, for example. Well, we take people's ID cards, and we hold them if they want to borrow a basketball, or a racquetball racquet or things like that. So how are we going to? What are we going to do? Heather 10:14 Okay. Joe 10:14 You can't hold somebody's phone. There were teachers, instructors, who also the physical ID was also really important in terms of how they proctored exams. Heather 10:25 Okay. Joe 10:25 And so those were all challenges that we had to overcome, there was some with our transit services. But what we found is that where there's a will, there's a way. Heather 10:32 Right. Joe 10:33 And so we just, we just worked with them. And we found suitable alternatives. In some cases, the mobile ID proved to be even a better solution than what the physical ID was able to provide. Heather 10:45 That's really awesome. And it's so important, like you said, to make sure you have the right people, and you're looking at all the different use cases and processes. Because, you know, we talk a lot of times about getting the technology even though it seems really difficult and hard getting the approvals and buying and budget. But at the end of the day, getting the technology is the easy part. The hard part is the people part, right? It is changing processes, changing mindset, changing how we do things. And so thinking about that all upfront, I mean, that's just really smart business. Joe 11:17 Yeah. And you know, I mentioned this before, we had a dedicated communication specialists involved in this project from the very beginning. Heather 11:26 Yes. Joe 11:27 This person was instrumental and an expert in what's called ADKAR, which is, which is a philosophy of change management and ADKAR, A D K A R stands for awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement. And we've been preaching it at the university, but I had never seen it implemented as skillfully as what this individual did, when they went around campus and paraded me in front of people and had their presentations, and then also lined up all of the different marketing pieces. One other thing that I want to mention to you that you know, as we're talking about people, and really getting buy in from people, another key member of this team on our side was Patty and Patty. She oversees our NAU Go App. Heather 12:14 Okay. Joe 12:14 But what she's really passionate about is user experience. Heather 12:18 Okay. Joe 12:19 And so she put this process through its pieces, she did focus group testing was students, she brought the students in, and she had these cameras that would track their eye movements. And she would ask them to speak out loud what they were doing. And she made tweaks and refinements to ensure that when the mobile ID was rolled out. Heather 12:37 Wow. Joe 12:37 That the students would have the easiest and most simple time provisioning it all by themselves. And as I mentioned, in my presentation, with the number of day one provisions that we saw, I think it was resoundingly just successful, all of her efforts really, really paid off. Heather 12:56 Oh, yummy UX and UI is so important, right? Because it's all about that experience. And the whole reason that you're, doing something new and bringing mobile, to the you know, to the campus is to have that better user experience, and to be able to have that upfront is, is great. And of course, you had my heart because I'm a Marketing girl. But I have any communications and marketing at the beginning. We talk about that all the time, how important it is, it's not at the end and go make this pretty. It's at the beginning, and how what is our plan? And how do we, you know, strategically think about the communications and get people excited. So that day one, you see the kind of results that you guys saw, and you had huge results, day one when you launched. Joe 13:37 Yeah, and it wasn't just it wasn't just all of the legwork in communicating bringing stakeholders to the table. It was also coordinating with TouchNet, coordinating with Apple coordinating with HID coordinating with all of our internal NAU communications channels, making sure everybody was on point with their messaging, and then making sure that when it was time for us to launch, that excitement was generated, social media campaigns were launched. And we were basically shouting it from the rooftops. So yeah, you're absolutely right marketing and communications, you cannot underestimate the value of what that means for a project like this. Heather 14:16 That is awesome. And I'm so glad we're recording this. I'm taking that little sound bite. Well, very cool. So we think about the whole plan there and bring that all together. Obviously there is still the technology side. So let's talk a little bit about, you know, that transition of what was the, you know, technology development that was required from the university side and obviously working with the different vendors. Joe 14:40 Yeah, so I've mentioned so far business analyst and uncovering the use cases. I've mentioned our communications person. I've mentioned our UI UX specialists, they were all key members. Now I'm going to mention a fourth key member of the team that really helped make things possible. And that was that was Robert Thorpe. And he was a IT specialist, he works for me, he works. He's embedded in the auxiliaries, he's embedded with the Jacks cart program. And he knows better than anyone else, all of the different downstream systems that have to interface with our Jack's card in order to make it work. Heather 15:16 Right. Joe 15:17 So having somebody intimately involved in it with intimate knowledge of the ID Card program, was another key member of our team. And so in terms of what was involved, so I also, as you may know, I have a background in IT, I have been a systems analyst, Systems Administrator, that most of my career working in IT. So having that background was really helpful for me in terms of helping to understand and working with Robert. Heather 15:46 Right. Joe 15:47 But to go through all of the different things. So one of them was to look at our downstream systems. And what was really important to us again, as we go back to that end user experience was making sure that the card worked everywhere that the physical card workedd, it was not just Apple requirement, but we wanted to make sure that the end user experience was as seamless as possible. And so that meant creating real time integrations with our door access system. For example, if somebody gets a provisions themselves a new car through the TouchNet system, we work with TouchNet developers TouchNet provided us what's called an API. And what that does is it gives us real time, data integration information that we can then shift downstream. So our door access system is aware, as soon as our TouchNet system is aware, hey, somebody's provision a new card, you're their new ID number. Same thing for downstream systems like our campus rec center. So if somebody has a Campus Rec membership, we want to make sure that if they provision themselves a card, that the minute they provision, that card, it as close to real time as possible, is going to open those turnstiles for them. Heather 17:00 Right. Joe 17:00 And they can walk right through the rec center. So we had to work with our partners at InnaSoft Fusion. And I'll mention here too, that there are some challenges. Heather 17:09 Okay. Joe 17:09 And this is food for thought for anyone who's considering this project. But on our campus, and I think on most campuses, when you have the physical card, there's typically you have one card number associated with one person, it's a one to one relationship, it's keeps things nice and simple. Heather 17:25 Right. Joe 17:26 But as you know, with a mobile ID a particularly with Apple, you can have it on your watch, or you can have it on your phone, that means two potential numbers. And that for us, meant that we had to write special integrations. And again, this is where Roberts work was absolutely invaluable. Coming up with creative solutions to ensure that both numbers would be read at our library, at our bookstore, at our campus rec center. And with our Anthology system. Heather 17:57 Right. Joe 17:57 And so those are just some of the technical challenges that had to be overcome. And again, creating, utilizing SDKs. And API's as much as possible, was absolutely key. One more thing I'll mention, because we now introduced a second platform for ID. So it can be a physical or it can be a mobile. Heather 18:20 Right. Joe 18:20 We want it to empower our students, we have a policy where you can only have one active credential at a time you can have it mobile, or you can have it physical, but you can't at the same time, and there are security reasons for that. But knowing that we were going to put those security policies in place, we wanted to make it as easy as possible for a student to toggle between them. So if a student's phone broke, and they weren't going to get a new phone for a couple of days, I know Lord have mercy, right. Heather 18:49 Right. Joe 18:51 We wanted we wanted them to be able to pull out their old Jacks card and activate it. Heather 18:55 Okay. Joe 18:55 And use it. So we provided an end user interface that students could log into its id.nau.edu. And a student can decide which platform they wanted to make active at any given time. Our only rule is you can't have them both activated at the same time. Heather 19:11 Okay. Joe 19:11 So those were some of the technical considerations. Heather 19:14 Yeah, that's really interesting. And I get that, because I think there's also there's definitely a lot of chatter about, am I evolving away from plastic into mobile? Can we have both? And so those are just decisions, it sounds like that you really need to think about how you want to do that, and being able to have both so let's smart. Joe 19:32 Yeah, and I'll tell you on our roadmap here at NAU, our intention is to go mobile first beginning this upcoming fall semester. Heather 19:38 Okay. Joe 19:39 So, as people who run ID programs are aware, there's always the challenge of making sure that you can card your incoming class your freshman. Heather 19:50 Right. Joe 19:50 As quickly as possible. And so we all know the challenge is get them to submit their pictures preprint those cards set up these big events, whether it be an orientation or would be at the beginning of the school year where you're going to disperse these cards. Heather 20:03 Right. Joe 20:03 Some people send them out to the residence halls. And that presents its own set of challenges. Some of them try and do it out of the Card Office. And again, there's there's logistical challenges there. There's long lines. And we're always trying to figure out how do we get that line as small as possible? How do we get the card in the hands of the students as quickly as possible? Well, really, the mobile ID solves that problem. And our goal this year is to capture those students at orientation. Heather 20:30 Okay. Joe 20:30 And encourage them and say, let's check this off your list right now, let's make you an official lumberjack today. Okay. Let's go ahead and get that ID card provisioned, it'll be in your apple wallet, or it'll be on your Android device. And you don't have to worry about it. When you come to campus. When you come to campus, you'll just tap your card, and it's going to unlock the door to your residence hall, it's going to get you into our residential dining locations, it's going to perform all the functions that you need to need it to perform when you go to campus. And it's one less thing for you to worry about. That being said, the incentive there is if you get that not just you have that all that convenience, but you don't have to come and wait in line. Heather 21:08 Right. Joe 21:08 What we were finding was that even when we issued a survey, again, this is a get that you might as another campus be able to learn from, we put a survey up and said, Hey, would you prefer physical? Or would you prefer a mobile ID? Heather 21:24 Okay. Joe 21:24 And even among those that were choosing the physical, even when we were, you know, through our website saying, well, here's all the benefits, are you sure, they were still opting for the physical and then we found that when they got here, and they were standing in line to get their physical card, they would see other students with the mobile one, and say, You know what, never mind, I'm gonna go mobile and with hundreds of wasted cards that we printed. And so this year, what we're going to do to really try and incentivize them to just go mobile, is we're going to, we're not going to pre print cards, they will have to come in. Heather 21:57 Okay. Joe 21:57 We will print the card on demand for them. But we expect that that line is going to be really, really small. And again, we're going to use communications and marketing to reach out and really push for the students through orientation and through our various communications channels to get them set up with their jacks right before they ever step foot on campus. Heather 21:58 That's great. And are you having them do their picture ahead of time to or at orientation? Do you have like picture day? Joe 22:07 You know, we will probably be equipped to take their picture during orientation. But our mobile ID, it's a requirement, just like the physical, you have to have a picture on file before you can provision. It's one of those checks that we do before. Heather 22:37 Right. Joe 22:37 And you have to be enrolled in multifactor authentication, and you have to have an acceptable picture on file with us. But once those things are in place, yes, they'll be able to provision so yeah, we will be prepared to take pictures. But we're really going to push for them to use the wonderful TouchNet tool, Heather 22:54 Thats right. Joe 22:54 And submit their picture ahead of time. Heather 22:56 That's what I'm kind of going back to elementary school and the little plastic combs that you stood in line to get your pictures. Do you remember that? Joe 23:05 I do. It's been a long time for me. Heather 23:07 Me too. I don't know why that flashback just appeared. When I thought about picture day. Well, it sounds like you did all the right things to get it up and going and ready for launch day. So now let's talk about the success. Because launch day came. It's like what is it you know, if you build it, they will come. And they did. Joe 23:29 Oh, they did, they came and we were blown away at the day one responses. And again, this is a testament to both our UI UX specialists, and to our marketing professional, our communication specialists. So day one, we set up a war room. And this was really cool. Heather 23:45 Yeah. Joe 23:46 So campus is virtually empty, because we're two weeks prior to the start of the semester. And we've got this conference room setup. And we've got folks from TouchNet that flew in for this. And we had Apple on the line. And we had our central IT team on the line. And we had all of the key people were all around this big conference table. And Robert, who I'd mentioned earlier, our IT specialist created a custom dashboard. So we could watch the numbers climb in real time. It was very, very exciting. It was a little bit nerve wracking because we have put so much time and energy into this. Heather 24:18 Right. Joe 24:19 And so we developed a communication strategy for launch day down to the minute. And again, a lot of credit goes to both Apple in touch that we're helping craft this strategy along with our communication specialists. And so it was 8am We're going to flip this switch and press releases are going out. TouchNet, Apple, then social media, then we're going to do a push through our NAU Go App. And so all of these different things just went in sequence according to plan, and literally we could watch those numbers start to climb. So the reason why this is so remarkable to me before I tell you what the number is. Heather 24:59 Yeah. Joe 24:59 The reasonwhy this is so remarkable is because on day one, the number of people who provisioned did so without any technical support, we were prepared for it. We had written KB articles, we had our support desk on standby ready to take phone calls when people were running into problems. Students were able to provision by themselves without any technical support needed. Heather 25:24 Wow. Joe 25:25 Second reason why it was so impressive. It was two weeks to the start of the semester, I worked with college students my entire career and getting them to do things ahead of time is always a challenge, right? If we ever did they ever come and buy their books ahead of time. I mean, some do. But you know, the reputation, Heather 25:43 Right. Joe 25:43 That they have is that they don't, they come to class first, and they see if it's really necessary, and then they wait a week or two, before they actually go out and buy their textbooks before they actually get their ID card. And so, the day one numbers that were successful, it is impressive, because both of those things were at play, the ease of use, and the pent up demand and excitement that we generated going into launch day. So on launch day, our first 24 hours we had 1195 day one provision. Heather 26:18 Wow. Joe 26:19 Yeah, it was, it beat our expectations. And so it was by all measures a very, very successful launch. Heather 26:28 Oh, yeah. I remember seeing those reports. That dashboard is amazing, by the way. So kudos to getting that going. Joe 26:34 To Robert. Heather 26:34 To Robert, yes. Good job, Robert. Because I remember seeing that and, we were all yes, we had folks there in person, we were back at the office like waiting to hit the buttons and kept hitting refresh to see the latest results. And it was a really exciting day. I remember that. Joe 26:49 Yeah. And here's something a couple of other things I will just throw out there as far as demand is concerned. So Patti, I mentioned her she oversees our NAU go product, our mobile app. And again, our philosophy here, try and limit the number of apps a student needs, we try and put as much into the NAU Go App as possible. And one of the things that Patti does, because she's so passionate about making sure she has the best possible product out there is she put out a poll and asked students What's the number one thing that you would like to see for in the NAU Go App? And the number one demanded item above everything else was a mobile ID. Heather 27:32 Really? Joe 27:34 Yeah. And so that helped us out a lot. Now, after we launched it, Patti put out another poll. And she said, how satisfied are you with a mobile ID on a scale of one to five? How many stars would you give it? We had 70%, give it five stars. Heather 27:50 Awesome. Joe 27:51 And we had 90% give it three or better, which means a 90% satisfaction with the mobile ID, which is truly truly incredible. Heather 28:01 That is. Joe 28:01 That meant they went out of their way to give feedback to say we like this. And as you know that can be challenging. But they did and it was an incredibly rewarding for us. Heather 28:14 Oh, for sure. Like you said First off, they did a couple of weeks early. Not heard of. And then they actually took action on a survey, but they weren't they were asked to do something and they did it. Joe 28:26 Right. Heather 28:26 You know, even better. So that's that just shows the power to and that and I think to students saying, hey, you know what? You guys listened to us. You heard us and you listened and you made made something happen. And we're grateful. And we're going to give back and by being able to do the survey. That's awesome. Joe 28:44 Yes, yeah, it was awesome. And I really I have to say, I've been fortunate to be a part of many, many, many projects and initiatives here throughout my 20 year career here at NAU. And I really have to say, this was, this has got to be in the in the top two or three, if not number one projects. To put it took a lot of time and energy and effort. It was absolutely worth it. At the end of the day seeing it wasn't just the students. Number one question asked me among faculty and staff, when's this going to be available for us? Heather 29:20 Right. Joe 29:21 So we introduced it for them. This past academic year, faculty and staff even want it. Heather 29:26 Right. Joe 29:27 To do something that gets such universal acceptance is just incredibly rewarding. Heather 29:33 Absolutely gives that visibility of like, Hey, we're here. We do great things here for you for everybody. And, you're right, it becomes it's just how we can do business today. Right. I mean, I know we have happened at the office and I can't imagine not being able to get in without my phone now. It's just what I do. I have no idea where that plastic card is. And it's hard to keep track of so this is this is awesome. Joe 29:56 Yeah, yeah. And I think you bring up an important point. Because I really think that eventually, this technology is going to be inevitable. Heather 30:06 Right. Joe 30:06 And I think students are coming to expect, you know, they grew up with technology, they've grown up with mobile devices their entire life, there's an app for everything. Heather 30:16 Right. Joe 30:17 And as exciting and novel and as new as something like a mobile ID card is, I think, eventually, it's going to become kind of making sure that your institution shows that you understand what student expectations are, and that we are dynamic and, innovative here and willing to deliver those experiences. Heather 30:37 I think you're absolutely right, too. It's just this is the beginning, but then you know, it's not gonna be that far down the road that it absolutely is gonna be, this is just how we do business. This is the expectation when a student comes on campus, you know, they'll be doing it a month ahead of time, because that's just how it works. So I think that. Joe 30:54 You and I are not college students anymore, right? Heather 30:57 Oh, now, come on. No, I'm just kidding. Joe 30:59 I mean, it's been what, two or three years since we've graduated. Heather 31:02 At least. Joe 31:02 Something like that. Right. And, we cannot imagine, you know, having gone through the years of physical credential, now that we're used to using our phones, we can't even imagine. Heather 31:14 I know. Joe 31:15 Imagine exactly what it's like, for the students. Heather 31:17 Right. They don't know a life without a device. Joe 31:21 That's right. Yeah. Heather 31:22 That is so cool. Well, I know we talked a little bit to that, you know, and I mentioned it earlier that, you know, you kind of kicked off this mobile ID initiative. And you went through all the use cases. But I think now, there's even more. So when you think about what all else can I do with mobile ID? Can you talk just share about some of the other areas that you're now starting to see that it's impacting? Joe 31:44 Yeah, so we are looking to the future. Needless I mentioned this earlier, it's a disruptive technology, it just is. Heather 31:52 Right. Joe 31:53 And so places that relied on replacement card revenues, and having to go through that cycle of buying ribbon, and struggling at times with with card shortages and chip shortages and staffing for big orientation events. Now the paradigm has shifted somewhat. And we're looking to the future to say, Okay, we've got this really cool technology, how can we leverage this, Heather 32:18 Yes. Joe 32:18 To create additional revenue opportunities? How can we use this to add additional value not just to the facilities, but to the entire university? And so some of the outcomes that we saw, after we launched, I'll say this, before I talked about the futures, you know, we saw increased participation in meal plans. Heather 32:18 Oh. Joe 32:18 Now, there's a lot of factors involved in that. But you certainly cannot discount the possibility that we just made it easier for students to go to the dining hall. They don't have to dig around in their backpacks in person. It doesn't seem like a big deal. But it is. Heather 32:55 It is. Joe 32:56 It is they don't, you know, I've seen students leave their ID card back at their car or in their dorm room and trek across campus. And then oh, I've got to go all the way. They never forget their phone. Heather 33:08 Exactly. Joe 33:09 You know, so we created less friction for them to perform transactions on campus. And we've seen an increase in the number of transactions and meal plan participation. Heather 33:19 Wow. Joe 33:19 And all I can say is, I don't know that is the only factor, but you cannot discount that it is a factor. Heather 33:26 Absolutely. Joe 33:27 Now, aside from that, we are looking to the future for more ways to leverage this awesome technology. And so we are putting together a new off campus program. So if you think about it, a lot of retailers particularly in a college town, like Flagstaff, you know, we get an influx of 20,000 plus students. Heather 33:51 Right. Joe 33:52 In a community that's maybe 80,000 people. And so when the students come here, they're big economic force. Heather 33:58 For sure. Joe 33:59 And so there's a lot of retailers restaurants, they want to tap into that market. And so one of the opportunities this, this kind of win win scenario that we're trying to create, would allow them to validate that, hey, yep, you're a student, something that was a little bit challenging to do, because in the past, I could have my plastic from 1998 It's changed a little bit, but you know, some retailers, you know, they're just okay. But with the mobile, we can confirm in real time you're an actual student. Heather 34:30 Right. Joe 34:31 So that will just help them be a little bit more focused in terms of their customer base, providing them ways to give them discounts. So we're excited to be talking with the local movie theaters. Heather 34:45 Oh yeah. Joe 34:46 With a lot of the restaurants and retail places. We're talking about the potential of creating a rewards program. Heather 34:54 Yes. Joe 34:55 So students can load up with some declining balance that would be flexible, they could use it on campus, they could use it off campus. And we could generate some excitement and buzz around that. And, also potentially give prizes or enter them into drawings or give them rewards for using their Jack's card around campus. So those are some possibilities. Heather 35:19 Yeah. Joe 35:19 We're also looking at maybe targeting parents Heather 35:23 Okay. Joe 35:23 Or campus visitors. So we know that we have a lot of tour groups that come through, we have camps and conferences. And if we can build in a way that they can provision, a Jack's card, a visitor Jack's card or a parents Jack's card, not only does it engender a sense of belonging. Heather 35:42 Yes. Joe 35:42 And community with the university, but they can go and tap it. And it's really cool, they can go to the bookstore, and they can get a discount on a t shirt, or they can pick up their free trinket that we have set aside for them at other places, so there's lots of unexplored opportunities that Andy, our Jack's Card Office Manager is digging into, and looking forward to see everything he comes up with. Heather 36:07 Oh, I love that you're you're absolutely right. There's that sense of affinity and community. And so I will be interested once you start, maybe bring in the parents and more or the community supporters, and then that potential side result could be increased donations. So we'll have to stay tuned. Joe 36:23 Absolutely. Absolutely. Heather 36:26 That is so cool. Well, I we went through a lot of things. And I think we get a ton of great advice here today, Joe, but is there anything else is I know, there's a lot of schools out there kind of thinking about doing this. And what does it mean? And what do I have to be prepared for? Is there any other kind of last minute advice you'd give to them? Joe 36:43 Sure, you know, I talked about some of the key players. And again, I'm just gonna keep saying it. Having the right people at the table is the central to making the project successful. And, you know, I'm going to recap really quick. We have a communication specialist, we had a business analyst doing all that discovery and use case, we had an IT specialist who made sure he understood all of the necessary downstream systems and integrations that were needed. We had our UI UX specialist, who also happened to be the owner of the mobile product. I haven't talked much about my role. And honestly, a project like this is not successful without all those right people. Heather 37:27 Right. Joe 37:28 There was a project manager to I shouldn't mention, we had a project manager, Christopher, wore two hats for phase two of this project. So phase one was Apple, phase two is Android. Heather 37:37 Right. Joe 37:38 I will throw that nugget out there. Also, we did it in phases like that. So that we can make sure that as a pilot school, we are absolutely concentrated on one platform. And then the other because they are different. Heather 37:50 Right. Joe 37:50 And they do present their own challenges. But at the end of the day, there was a role that I played in this and and while I don't think it's as important as everyone else, I do think it is important that you have a project champion. Heather 38:04 Right. Joe 38:04 And, and by that I mean the chief advocate, somebody who is going to work with all of the different financial people to come up with those financial forecasts to create those business plans. And to stay engaged with everybody along the way, making sure that you're on top of all the different moving parts, because there's a lot in a project like this, staying optimistic and enthusiastic and persevering. Again, there are you are going to encounter challenges and getting this off the ground, taking a plastic card and and then moving it to the mobile device and then making sure that mobile device is compatible across campus. When you think of all the things your ID card does. Heather 38:04 Yeah. Joe 38:46 There's a lot of moving parts. So perseverance, and seeing it through is absolutely important. So my advice to anybody who's thinking about accepting that role of project working, stay positive, stay engaged, encourage your team as you as you move along and crumpet those victories from the rooftops make sure to give your folks tons of credit for all their hard work and dedication, and, you know, maintain those positive relationships with your vendor, because all of those are keys to success. Again, lots of hard work absolutely worth it. Heather 39:23 Well Joe, I can't think of anybody better to be a chief advocate to play that role than you you actually did a great job with that and and even as we talk today, you continue to still make sure that you're recognizing all of those who really you know helped to make that happen and keeping that positive energy going. So this has been such a fabulous time talking with you and I you know, even though I thought I knew everything that you did, I learned some more today too. So hopefully our listeners learned as well. Thank you again so much. It's really obvious that all that work that you all put in, in making the mobile Jack's card a success. It really shows Joe 40:00 Yeah, and again, it was one of the most rewarding projects I've ever been a part of. I do want to say a special thank you to the vendors external to the university, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention each ID, they did so much work to help me as well, Apple, not their first rodeo, they have high standards there, it was absolutely worth following their standards, because at the end of the day, we had a great product. Heather 40:01 Yes. Joe 40:01 And then of course, TouchNet got down in the trenches with us, TouchNet was a fabulous partner to work with the commitment and the dedication to seeing through all the technical challenges and just being there for those weekly meetings and stand ups and everything. Couldn't have asked for a better partner to pilot this with. Heather 40:48 Yeah. Joe 40:48 Had every bit as much dedication to this project as we did. I feel like we both had a lot riding on the line. And it was refreshing to have somebody willing to put in that amount of effort alongside of us. So thank you to TouchNet. And I also should probably think Moto Labs. Heather 41:04 Yeah. Joe 41:04 And the Go App, also put in a ton of development work, particularly on the Android side. So very thankful for our external vendors. Heather 41:12 Yeah, well, thank you, Joe. And you're you're right. It takes a village. And I think that's what's so special about being part of the higher education community for me is that we are all in it together, have it be with our schools, our vendors, and you know, we got the opportunity to work with all of you too. And so it was a it was a great experience all around. Big kudos to everybody on the TouchNet team that made this happen as well. It was it was definitely a whole crew. Joe 41:36 Yeah, it was. Heather 41:37 It was. Well, awesome. Well, thank you again, so much, Joe. It's been a pleasure having you as a guest. Joe 41:42 Well, thank you, Heather and I always enjoy the opportunity to talk about this project. Automated Speaker 41:47 Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Focus. Don't forget to subscribe so you can stay up to date on the business of higher education. For more information, check us out@touchnet.com Transcribed by https://otter.ai