INSEAD's AI Integration Enhances Student Engagement and Productivity
By harnessing generative AI, INSEAD is enabling prospective students to receive customized program guidance in seconds, transforming the recruitment landscape and enhancing engagement.
Key Facts
- INSEAD's AI agent achieves 75-80% accuracy, streamlining student inquiries and enhancing engagement.
- AI resolves over a third of inquiries autonomously, boosting team productivity and reducing costs.
- Rapid deployment of AI tools demonstrates INSEAD's competitive edge in adapting to market demands.
- AI-driven insights reveal unmet student needs, informing strategic program development and marketing.
- INSEAD's focus on tangible value from AI sets a precedent for future educational innovations and scalability.
Summary
Summary
INSEAD, a leading global business school, faced challenges in efficiently guiding prospective students to the right programs while managing increasing inquiry volumes. To address this, they implemented Salesforce's Agentforce, creating an AI-powered agent that provides tailored guidance to prospective students. The solution achieved 75-80% accuracy in responding to inquiries and resolved over a third of questions without human escalation, significantly enhancing both student engagement and internal productivity.
Background
INSEAD operates in the higher education sector, with campuses in France, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and San Francisco. Before deploying AI, prospective students often struggled to find relevant program information, navigating through multiple brochures and web pages. Meanwhile, INSEAD's recruitment teams faced increasing pressure from growing inquiry volumes and administrative tasks.
Challenge
INSEAD aimed to simplify the process for prospective students to find suitable programs while allowing recruitment teams to focus on more meaningful interactions instead of routine inquiries.
Solution
INSEAD collaborated with PwC and Salesforce to implement one of the first applications of Salesforce Agentforce. The project involved identifying high-impact opportunities for AI to enhance student experience and internal productivity. Within four weeks, they launched a GenAI-powered agent capable of answering natural language questions, providing quick and relevant guidance to prospective students.
Results
The AI-powered agent achieved 75-80% accuracy in responses and resolved over a third of inquiries without needing human intervention. This deployment freed recruitment teams to concentrate on complex interactions and generated valuable insights into customer needs, helping refine prospective student journeys.
Key Insights
The case highlights the importance of grounding AI initiatives in real user needs and focusing on measurable outcomes. Collaboration among cross-functional teams can accelerate deployment and ensure that technology serves tangible business goals.
Customer Testimonial
“We’re using AI to do more than just experiment—we’re using it to connect. By simplifying how prospective students engage with INSEAD and streamlining workflows for our teams, our collaboration with PwC and Salesforce ensured that every AI-driven step we took was rooted in real, tangible value.”
— Pankaj Kumar, Executive Director, Marketing Operations and Digital Innovation at INSEAD
Entities Mentioned
Companies
Products
Technologies
People
Organizations
Key Concepts
Definitions
- Agentic AI
- A type of AI that empowers users to interact and engage with technology in a more intuitive and personalized manner.
- Generative AI
- AI that can generate content or responses based on user input, enhancing user interaction and experience.
- Voice of Customer
- Insights gathered from customers that highlight their needs, preferences, and experiences.
- MVP
- Minimum Viable Product; a version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early adopters and gather feedback.
- KPIs
- Key Performance Indicators; measurable values that demonstrate how effectively a company is achieving its key business objectives.
Use Cases
- →AI-powered student program guidance
- →AI-enabled sales support
- →Streamlining recruitment workflows
- →Improving internal productivity
- →Enhancing customer engagement
- →Generating customer insights
Frequently Asked Questions
How is INSEAD using AI to improve student engagement?
INSEAD is leveraging AI to provide prospective students with tailored program recommendations based on their inquiries, significantly reducing the time spent searching for information.
What role did PwC play in INSEAD's AI implementation?
PwC collaborated closely with INSEAD and Salesforce to identify high-impact opportunities for AI, build the business case, and ensure the technical implementation was aligned with real user needs.
What is Salesforce Agentforce?
Salesforce Agentforce is a platform designed to enhance customer interactions through AI, enabling organizations to provide faster and more personalized responses to inquiries.
What benefits has INSEAD seen from using AI?
INSEAD has experienced improved accuracy in responding to student inquiries, increased productivity among recruitment teams, and valuable insights into customer needs.
What are the future plans for INSEAD's AI initiatives?
INSEAD aims to scale its AI efforts to create fully connected operations that enhance both student experiences and internal processes, ensuring long-term value and efficiency.