To research and assess whether TARGETconnect provides a return on investment for the Careers and Employability Service at the University of Chichester.

Abstract

TARGETconnect is a customer relationship management system which is designed to support a
 careers service. This paper researches, discusses and assesses whether or not TARGETconnect
 provides a return on investment for the Careers and Employability Service at the University of
 Chichester and therefore justifies future investment in TARGETconnect.
 The organisational review highlighted a key obstacle in investing in TARGETconnect for future years
 was the current incompatibility the website has with mobile technology, with a growing demand for
 accessibility on both desktop and mobile formats. However, the literature review also provided
 optimism for a return on the investment with Imperial College London using TARGETconnect to
 generate revenue via the facilitation of advertisements from external companies to students at the
 University.
 Following the organisational review, data collection was undertaken with current University of
 Chichester (UoC) TARGETconnect users using questionnaires, a focus group, an options appraisal and
 an interview. The research identified the profile of active student users to be female
 undergraduates, who used TARGETconnect to search for employment opportunities. Profiling active
 users from external organisations found the majority originated from a company that had been
 established for more than 10 years and were looking to advertise opportunities to graduates. The
 research found TARGETconnect to have many benefits to all stakeholders, providing students with a
 quick and convenient platform to access employment advertisements, whilst offering a facility for
 external businesses to promote opportunities to students. Moreover, TARGETconnect was also
 found to assist the Careers and Employability Service of the UoC, decreasing staff administration
 time on tasks, whilst also providing a database to save notes from student appointments for future
 use.
 The research also identified that the barriers hindering stakeholders’ use of TARGETconnect were
 the lack of guidance as to how to effectively use the website, users did not find the website easily
 accessible and TARGETconnect is not compatible with mobile technology. This led to the
 recommendation of system improvements that would lead to TARGETconnect offering better value
 to justify future investment.
 With regards to charging external employers to engage with TARGETconnect in order to fund the
 system and generate revenue for the Careers and Employability Service at the University of
 Chichester, the research indicated that the majority of employers would not be willing to pay. Of
 those that would be willing to pay, statistical evidence would be required to indicate whether their
 advertisement was effective and worth repeating in the future.
 The paper recommends a review of the marketing of TARGETconnect, whilst also addressing the
 issues of accessibility and compatibility with mobile technology. It is predicted this will lead to
 increased usage of the website, whilst also encouraging more registrations, increasing the value of
 the service to its stakeholders. In addition, it is also recommended the service has a tiered pricing
 option to avoid losing active users who do not want to pay for TARGETconnect, whilst improving the
 effectiveness of advertising opportunities through TARGETconnect for the companies that are willing
 to pay for additional promotions.