Higher Ed expects and demands and deserves, kind of having an open ecosystem from which they can choose, in order to allow them to be able to optimize on those experiences.

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. Today, I caught up with Rob Sparks, Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and partnerships at Anthology. We discuss using data to create intelligent experiences supporting student success. Hi, Rob, I'm so excited to talk with you today.

Well, it is awesome to have the chance to be here. So thank you so much for the invite. Great to be here.

Absolutely. We know Anthology has sure been making waves in higher education. And I can't wait to hear more about all that you're seeing in the industry. But first, can you give our audience a little peek into your background and your experience in higher education?

Well, thank you. And in fact, we're thrilled to be here and thrilled to see the advancements that we've been making in the world of Anthology in the world of higher ed. I guess, if you look at my role in Anthology and kind of in the global ed-tech sector, probably had just over a quarter century in higher ed over time. Originally, I'm from Toronto, Canada, and I worked at a community college there as a research officer. And then moved from there, into another role at the organization where I was involved in the college in the selection and design of a very large enterprise administrative system. So I kind of moved over to a different role within IT to help them in a project. Took me four years to complete that project. But then I sorted subsequently got hired by that company and then moved into the ed-tech industry. So I kind of left higher ed and moved into the sector that serves higher ed, which was where I've been ever since actually. And in role I've worked and lived in the UK, and then moved from there to Dubai, in the Middle East, and lived there for over a decade before returning back to the United States. In that time, I've had probably a couple of different roles over 25-30 years, probably a lot of different roles than you might expect. So I've actually had the chance to kind of work in professional services, business development and channel development for organizations, I've actually was in a marketing role at one moment, and then probably most recently is just some of the partner enablement. Now, my title, as you may have heard is SVP corporate development and corporate strategy and partnerships, really have three roles within Anthology. The first one is to support AnthologyÕs kind of corporate M&A strategy, and helping us to understand and identify opportunities. The second one is really kind of the integrated partner ecosystem. And actually Anthology has over 500 partners. So I kind of help to support the team that manages all of those relationships. No doubt TouchNet is one of the key ones for us. And I'll talk a bit more about that at any time, if you wish. And then the third role is really helping Anthology and its global strategy around cis market penetration across the world. So basically means I get the chance to work in a lot of different time zones and a lot of different geographies. A lot of different people. That's lovely. It's nice to be back into that role.

Well, I think you might know a thing or two about higher education and higher ed-tech worldwide, it sounds like.

Yes, would be one answer. But what I seem to find is that I'm constantly learning, which is a testament to I guess, kind of a growth mindset and what we know, we all learn in this world. So it's been good.

That is great. Well, you know, we know that Anthology was founded a few years ago out of a merger of few higher ed tech companies. But can you just give a little bit more of the story of Anthology and what your mission and value is?

It'd be happy to and you're spot on. I mean, I think that Anthology as an organization was really formed out of a simple question, actually. And the question was, what if we could actually help institutions around the world and power their learners to succeed in ways that were never before possible? Because really, what we're trying to understand is like, what if you took a holistic view or lens around the learnerÕs needs, and the way in which data and insights can actually create a better experience for them? And then what does that mean in driving that journey? It's our vision at Anthology to kind of partner with institutions around the world to create that infinite, what we would say is creating an infinite and inspiring world of learning without boundaries. When we did it, what we did is we kind of brought together four education software companies creating the only one that's kind of got this cis, CRM and LMS solution and a set of services to support those. We did that by putting the learner at the center of the experience, and then giving instructors and administrators the tools and insights that would actually help them to be able to achieve their goals and empowering the learners that they serve in their community. Today, gosh, I think we have over 150 million users in over 80 countries. And we continue to grow globally. So as we continue to expand that penetration in different geographies and finding ways to solve more unique problems around the world. Even since Anthology and Blackboard combined a year ago, more than 370 institutions have deepened their relationship with the combined company through expanded partnerships. And that was pretty much a core thesis to the rationale of having cis CRM and LMS, as well as a set of other services around what we would call lifecycle engagement, basically meant that institutions had the choice to find ways to deepen the relationship with Anthology by adding on the relevant components that they felt would help to drive their experiences that they were trying to achieve.

That's great. And you know, it's interesting when I hear you talking, because it sounds very similar, you're on the academic side, and really bringing all those learners together and everything that needs to come together from that perspective. And, you know, we're very similar on the TouchNet side of bringing everything together from the business side, and all the different systems that you need to kind of really have that financial and engagement footprint across campus.

Because one of the things that we say, even within our organization and some of the work that we do with some of our key platform providers, is this phrase of better together. That's certainly a phrase that we share mutually between Anthology and TouchNet is that we're actually in terms of being able to serve the markets and that we've identified, we're actually better together. And that certainly plays out. One thing that's kind of interesting that as an organization and noting that time period for which Anthology formed, it literally was during the pandemic. So in that time period, it really became a matter that in some cases, our team members themselves did not even have the chance to get initially introduced to each other until much later, once travel began to ease up. So we very much took advantage of kind of our institutions that we were serving, to find ways to try and help them during this time period. So it was a challenging time, but a very good learning time for all.

Yeah, definitely a good time to rethink and think differently. That is great. And so with all the recent combinations of the solutions that you were just talking about at Anthology, do you expect to continue really evaluating growth opportunities across higher education? Where do you see expansion going?

Yes, we do, I think that's what's probably most important in that context is identifying opportunities, both organically and inorganically, that drive towards the better experience that we would want to deliver for our clients around the world. The combination itself basically kind of created an initial opportunity to allow us to be able to ask more questions more deeply, because we're able to triangulate across the portfolio solutions. And that was really important for us. The solutions that we're delivering inside and outside the classroom, are really designed to help empower the learner success. And we really did that in four key areas as we looked at the ed-tech landscape. One was kind of, you know, how do we empower technology enabled learning? And as we all well know, student health and well-being and success has been an important driver for higher ed today around the world. And career alignment in preparation is something I think, for me, it's like to sit there and say that the focus on education, both not only in the community college sector, which was where I kind of an essence, I grew up. Even in the university sector, there's an increased emphasis or mindset driven towards career alignment and preparation. That's been a little bit of a shift, I think, in some of the mindsets of certain types of, traditional institutions. And that's certainly a key focus for us. And then fourth, in terms of the key area for this ed-tech landscape is just the overall recognition of digital transformation.

Again, it is this transformational time of change. And having those kind of four key areas all combined, is going to absolutely have a better learner experience.

It is, I think that one of the things and we'll talk a bit more as we kind of peel this one back a little bit throughout the conversation today. But one of the things that we felt is important for higher education today and just in terms of the evolution of technology, and where institutions are on their imperatives and priorities, is really the opportunity around data informed experiences. And then what does that really mean to the institution in terms of being able to help them optimize their services and create a better experience for the learners which is what they're expecting in today's tech landscape?

Absolutely. And I love that you say data informed because I think that is really the shift of saying, it's great to have data, but what is it informing us? What is the knowledge that it's bringing to help us do things differently? You know, for the betterment of all?

Yeah, you would have seen us announced this last year at 1822. And we will certainly show more upcoming this year at 1823, which is our big annual user conference, I apologize for the acronym letters there. But we launched last year, and in Orlando, this concept of something we called intelligent experience. And what's important about kind of this concept, as we describe it, isn't so much about what it is, as it is about how we create those experiences. Let me give you an example. If you were pretending and your name was Miguel, and you had your advisor, and her name was Michelle, and Michelle has more than 300 students. And that's, you know, that's actually a low ratio itself in some institutions. But they need to kind of find an efficient way to be able to monitor the success of the students. And really, it's kind of finding those moments of intervention or interaction, if needed, where the individual may be at some point of risk. And our definition of kind of how that plays out is, if Miguel is one of Michelle's students, and there's a kind of this clear path outlined to achieve his career goal for Miguel, and becoming kind of, let's say, a web developer, if something happens in life, and you know, sometimes we will hear the phrase there just one flat tire away, what steps would allow Michelle to kind of intervene and interact with the individual to help assist them, and in this case, as the individual we have missed an element an assignment in their LMS, how does that play out in our definition, through intelligent experiences, really being able to develop kind of a relationship between AnthologyÕs LMS, which is Blackboard Learn, and our CRM, which is Anthology Reach. Michelle would be able to alert Miguel, who'd missed the assignment, mid-course and engage with him quickly to develop a goal or get him back on path. And that's really the definition of an intelligent experience, is finding ways to use data to actually optimize on creating an action or an outcome that changes the behavior and the experience for the individuals involved.

That just makes a lot of sense, and absolutely shows why it's so important to be better together, when you have integration with partners. So for instance, us, I can see another example where possibly there was a missed payment, or potentially, didn't check into class or a few days in a row that would really helped to bring some more intelligence in to have that full picture from academics to financial.

I think that that's where the strength of the intelligent experience and the strength of the partnership better together for institutions. And something that you'll hear me say often is creating a way so that institutions have choice. But that choice has, you know, a seamless experience in which drives you know, better behavior and better outcomes for the overall community. And the relationship that we have in terms of financial information that is, you act as the system of record for an entire institution, around that entire experience is really, really important because your data and your insights drives one critical factor that we often see that impacts the likelihood of individuals being able to succeed, from one semester to the next, from one course to the next. Progression and retention can be heavily predicted based on what financial information we're seeing related to the individuals and I can personally attest to that.

Yeah, it's really amazing. But the key to that, obviously, is being able to have that integration between all the different systems and really just, you know, crucial to how Anthology is able to provide this experience among everything else you have. So how do you approach working with the new partners and vendors to get that integration?

So our approach and philosophy I think it's fair to say, and this is kind of goes right up to our CEO and chairman and chief product officer is that it's critically important for us to have what I would call an open ecosystem, that allows those institutions to have choice. We partner with the industry's leading and most innovative companies to help them easily and reliably integrate within and across our ed tech ecosystem, in order to make it more impactful and effective. We do that through a number of tier levels. And I think I mentioned this earlier with over 500 different partners that we currently work with. They all operate in a variety of levels across the organization. But that multi-tiered approach basically provides them with the tools, resources and support to be able to help them be able to then go promote through integrations. The scale is significant. I mean, just give you an example. We had over 805 million LTI integration launches last year alone. And a 20% year over year increase in the number of partner integrations developed. So using those open standards. So I think, higher ed expects and demands and deserves, kind of having an open ecosystem from which they can choose, in order to allow them to be able to optimize on those experiences.

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And again, I think we're starting just to see the landscape overall grow and expand and having different technologies and what are we bringing in from AI? What are we bringing in from new payment trends, what are we bringing in from data sources to be able to see and have that intelligence built in? YouÕve got to be able to have an open platform to bring everybody together, but then be able to showcase that in a really unified way where it makes sense.

Yeah, one of the things that we've done, we've done a lot of thinking and a lot of work not only with how we currently actively engage with our global client, education community, and the partners that support that. But even to take two steps back and think about these various platforms, the various personas that we see operate on campus today. So whether you're the director of admissions, or the registrar, or the bursar, or maybe in other markets around the world, and may use other terminology around the provost or the rector. But in almost every one of these situations, there's a set of, of tools and solutions that are loosely coupled, but necessarily interoperable, to allow them to do their role. It's not a single system, but a series of systems that do that work. And I think integration is got to be one of the biggest challenges on any campus today. So for the way we've approached it between us and TouchNet, is really finding a way to remove that friction to make it seamless, so that the clients experience it seamlessly, and was like tick done.

So let's shift over to thinking about the broader higher ed industry. I'd love to talk to you about evolving enrollment trends, because I bet youÕve had a lot of conversation on this. So what can you tell us about the current trends and how you really see this impacting higher ed, with ERP systems?

It's a great question. And one of the things that our marketing department does, it spends a fair amount of time on is equally trying to get the pulse of the global community around some of these trends. We'd recently released an Anthology survey of students and their enrollment experience. And what we're trying to do is, identify recommendations for institutions to attract more applicants and deliver that better student experience, institutions should receive each part of the enrollment funnel to begin the communication and in line with the students expectations and provide additional personalized support. That was something that came out very apparent in that research. And in fact, 67% of the respondents stated that clear steps and requirements for the application admissions process would have been most helpful in their enrollment journey. So it was a really high number, a majority of the responses, were actually interested in continued communication with the university, even after submitting an application. So there's been a shift in mindset, in terms of some of these enrollment trends. And I would go take it even one step further, depending on the geography, but not just the learner, the applicant is looking for that ability to have selective but optimized communication between them and the institution. But in some cases, it's actually the individualÕs parents, because they're heavily involved in this process. And they have a very large stake in this exercise in terms of helping to make sure and understand, is this the right institution for my son or daughter? We've got the right understanding around what can be expected and cheap in this experience. So all of that plays into that role the broad enrollment trends. I really do think it's providing that seamless experience for the prospective students, including proactive, regular communication. That is going to be critical for optimizing on yields, and any tools that enable that communication will be key.

Yeah, it absolutely will. And I'd say that kind of leads a little bit into a lot of this is obviously tech driven. And so have you seen the role of CIOÕs and IT teams continue to evolve on campus? I'm sure you have and so what are really some of those big challenges that you're seeing that you're going to be looking to support from the Anthology platform?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think that one of the things that we know is that the challenges, the enrollment pressures and the scrutiny over delivering higher levels of student success. There's many parts of an institution bear the weight of that on their shoulders, CIOs and IT teams are certainly front and center of that experience. But one of the things that we're excited about is seeing how the ability to break down silos in terms of data systems and platform interrupt operability can actually help to alleviate and reduce some of that pressure on the on those individuals and within the organizations in the learners that they serve. Again, it's like from our side, this is where I think this concept of intelligent experience, or you may hear me, I'll call it Biax. Look through it, generate isn't limited to students or faculty, you know, it's actually kind of helping it to bring it much earlier in that process, but also equally helping the administrative staff across the organization in the way that they operate today. Think about the, processes such as early days, obviously, as we're all learning about kind of the impact of chat GPT and generative AI, but in that area there. I mean, these types of newer tools and solutions are more that, unequivocally going to have an impact on higher ed. So I think that this is going to kind of continue to change the landscape and horizons, for which CIOs and IT team leaders need to understand and support the institution.

Absolutely. And I think that it all really lens down to the expectation of students. And as the world evolves, and as these new, technologies in your everyday life happen, there's an expectation on campus. So kind of thinking about that, how does really that student experience play into how Anthology delivers solutions? So again, technology is ever changing, especially the higher ed space, what are you looking to do to prepare for the future students?

I think we'd still probably kind of come back to this concept of intelligent experience. What it does is it really gives us a model or a way. So again, it's less about the what but more of partially about the how, but it gets us away on understanding the way data can intersects with actionable outcomes. And that that should drive a better learning experience. Institutions themselves have made significant investments in the systems that operate their business. Institutions have different models around teaching and learning all across the world. Some of the same institutions are also not only just teaching learning institutions, but research oriented institutions. And what we really want to be able to do is to help those institutions be able to make recommendations to students based on their progress and experience, and guiding them to the next best course for the program. I think that's the key from our perspective is finding ways to be able to help the institution create an environment for the learner to be able to optimize and, accelerate their holistic sense of self, for what they want to achieve on campus. So this, again, even as we talk, you'll hear us at Anthology talk about two things, you'll hear us call ourselves intelligence. But you'll also hear us talk about the concept of an integrated mindset or a growth mindset. And I think that's really what we actually translate to what we hope to be able to create for the institutions so that they themselves can deliver that to the learner. So much of what happens for an institution, for an individual who's pursuing some type of goal or outcome is not just tied to what they achieve in the classroom, whether it's virtual or in person, whether it's synchronous or asynchronous. But it's actually everything else around that. It's what other experiences brought into that situation. And it's kind of what other parts of their life could be a nurse, a health care practitioner, could be somebody in the lawn security. But in any one of these cases, they're bringing a whole set of skills, a whole set of experiences. And what we want to be able to do is find a way to support all of that to the benefit of the individual. So they can continue to grow.

Yeah, a lot of times you think about going to school and learning, it's sometimes less about what they're learning in the discipline of the book, and more about life and how when they graduate, what does that mean? And what does that mean when they go forward? And so I think that having that intelligent experience on the back end to help then promote that to the students maybe even given them visibility of their path, and their journey is just a great win win for both.

It really is. Can I give you a somewhat anecdotal impromptu story? Because my wife is doing her master's degree she's decided to go back and she's doing her master's degree at and Mexico tech demography not a plug to the institution, which is that's where she's doing her degree. And I had the chance I was away traveling this week. So I had the chance to catch up with my son last night and just try and make sure that our schedule, he's aware that mumÕs got a very big test next week. So she's working. And he has asked me this question about, well, what is she working on? And it was like, well, she's studying and he said, well, but that's what I do. And my son's eight. So I think that your definition of study is a little bit different than your mother, right? You know, his understanding and awareness that these individuals are doing this type of learning, and that it kind of goes throughout life that, even his mother who was, in his eyes is probably much older, but I completely disagree with. But, even the fact that he's witnessing adults around him continue their education to me is important. And while he said, itÕs work, the reality is that he recognizes that she's focused on something that has a goal or objective. And that, to me, was the most important part of that, that experience for him.

That is great. And it's definitely a great story that shows we're all you know, lifelong learners, and youÕve got to have the systems in place to support that.

True, absolutely true.

So when it comes to partnering with a company like TouchNet, what does it take to build that successful partnership?

It's a great question, I think that there's a couple things that immediately come to mind. One is, I think that that working with TouchNet has been something I've done 20 years now. And I've loved it, every moment of it. For the length of that time, and at minimum, another 20 more. So I think that there's a couple of things when I hear from my team members about the relationship and about the importance, and the opportunity of working with a company, such as TouchNet that, and I'd phrase it this way is, you often operate and I hope to be seeing this is mutual, but as a trusted advisor. And in fact, it's something that we attempt to replicate with our other partners in terms of the transparency, the frequency with which we communicate, and the ways in which we engage throughout the entire process. Because I think that's really important in terms of the work that we do with TouchNet, that we engage early and often. And I think that really helps to drive an improved experience for our organizations, and most importantly, an improved experience for our clients. It's a little bit at this stage, I feel for us, in some cases, an entrepreneurial relationship. But I think that's actually what's necessary in partnerships, and is certainly at this stage as we look to accelerate our growth around the world. We've had a chance, I mentioned this earlier, but we'd had the chance last week to catch up with some of our team members. And these team members were at COMTEC, your annual user conference. And we were just reflecting on the experience that they had. And there's lots of partners and organizations, you have a very strong ecosystem of partners. And so we were there along with many others. And my question to the team was, what was the experience like for you? And I'm asking this individual, would you be going back next year? And the answer was an unequivocal, yes. And in both areas. But I think that what was felt important there. And this is where I think the relationship between TouchNet and Anthology is so strong, we're able to have conversations around our clients and around the prospects at these types of events, but weÕre equally able to have conversations with our with our peers, within both of organizations. And that really helps to drive relationships. And I think that, my president would say, and I agree with him wholeheartedly that relationships matter. And I think that in the context of how well we work as partners, and how well we work in terms of helping solve problems for our clients in the market really shows itself based on the strength of the relationship.

I agree, 100%, we work very well together. And the key is relationships. And I say that, in general, across higher ed, that's what's most important, when they're choosing a vendor to work with. They want to have that trusted source. They want to have that advocate, too. And so I agree that, that we all have our specialties and expertise. And so that's where that trusted advisor relationship comes in. And we really see that together.

I agree. I ran a conference a couple of years ago, and one of the themes was better together. And I still seem to lean back on that phrase. But I think that the collaboration in that that coordination between us is really important. And I think that what I often hear and see is from the clients of the prospects is that they see it too. And if it's not there, they see that too, so it's very apparent to them, as we work together, what that means. So that's on us to continue to build and improve.

For sure. Well, speaking of together. What's coming up this year?

Oh, that's tough. Anthology Together. So finally, I was actually in Nashville this week. And part of the reason for that is because it is actually that same venue, where Anthology Together will be held in July. So for our event this year, we're really excited because we have the history making polar explorer and mountaineering. She was team captain, actually, Alison Levine as our keynote speaker for this year. In July, and I'm happy to go take a look at anthologytogether.com, and you will find the date and time period. Levine's journey as an explorer, as an adjunct professor at the US Military Academy at West Point, and New York, and she also has a book so this person is incredibly, incredibly productive. We're expecting here is that she and her role will be able to inspire academic leaders, instructors from around the world to kind of set their sights higher to achieve more than they thought possible. So we're really thrilled to have her there. It will be a global representation of audience that will have members from around the world our clients, as well as employees from around the world and partners. So we're really excited. I will be equally sending you a prospectus so we can share. But we'll be excited to have the event this year. I know we were excited to have to TouchNet there.

Well, that is great. Yes, we will for sure be there and be continuing our relationship building and working with each other and with all of our joint customers in school, so that'd be really fun. Well, this has been such a great conversation, Rob. Thank you so much for the great information. 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 at TouchNet.com.