Sometimes, being small has its perks. In the case of technology implementation, being a smaller university enables Redeemer to be more agile in its approaches to using technology. This past fall, Redeemer was able to put this to the test with its new OneCard system. The card acts as Redeemer ID and a debit/credit tap card for payments on campus.
It’s all part of Redeemer’s digital campus project that is pushing integrated technology advancements in a number of areas.
“That’s what I call reaching higher,” says Len Moelker, director of information technology. “We’re introducing newer technologies that certainly move us to be leading edge in many ways.”
In the case of OneCard, though implementation came with its challenges, it has caused Redeemer to become a model that other schools can look to when choosing and implementing payment technologies. While other universities are using similar systems, many are not in the cloud. Due to its size and smaller teams, Redeemer is using the cloud solution, rather than housing the system on physical servers located on-site.
TouchNet, the vendor for OneCard, as well as Ellucian, the vendor for other major applications used by Redeemer, have become true partners in implementing systems and making improvements to the technology behind them.
“Because they want to work with us and now see us as a model school, they’re really pushing for our success,” Moelker says. “We’ve made partnerships with our vendors; that’s a shift for us. We’re able to work with the vendor to improve things. We can influence changes to the technologies that we’re using, which can affect and improve things not only for Redeemer, but for other schools. We have their attention.”
Redeemer recently participated in a webinar with TouchNet and Ellucian that presented its story to other schools. Moelker hopes Redeemer can be a model school for the next major project of Reaching Higher as well. In December, an application called Campus was selected for Redeemer’s new internal website (portal/intranet) and communication hub. The app, available on mobile and desktop, will be a single sign-on platform that integrates communications, events, information, files, forms and systems for students, staff, faculty, and eventually, alumni and possibly prospective students. The tool will be the digital home for everyone at Redeemer, pulling in a complex web of information from several sources along with powerful communication tools including personal profiles, groups and messaging that will be personalized and customized to each user.