FOCUS

Bob Mask, director of campus card services at the Colorado School of Mines, explains how his campus uses credential cards for more than just identification. He outlines how individual electronic cards are used throughout the summer for many on-campus events and camps with a variety of attendees and visitors. Mask highlights the convenient functions of the cards from building access to meal time checkout and the variety of benefits.

In partnership with Student Conference Services, Mask and his card services team are tasked with running logistics for 30 summer events or camps that bring in over 2,500 visitors each year. Each campus visitor is using housing and/or dining services. To grant building entry access to each visitor, proximity cards are programmed to the correct buildings that each visitor needs access to. The card also allows access on a floor by floor bases. The cards run on a number system, so when a staff member looks at a proximity card, they know exactly which buildings and floors the card is attached to. Having this information encoded through a number system is an additional layer of security if the proximity cards are lost or stollen.

In an effort to streamline the dining process, Colorado School of Mines, has created a “summer conference meal plan” that is attached to each of the proximity cards. By utilizing the TouchNet meal system, they have been able to create a block plan that allows for a single swipe for each meal for each day for each card. It helps control how often the card is used and is trackable for when the card is used. The block plan is still flexible enough for groups to work with food service for specific needs. This method makes it very easy to estimate accurate billing and cost for each group based on their time spent on campus. The inspiration for this process came from the dining process at Disney resorts. It is all centered around the convenience needs of short-term summer visitors and campers.

By combining building access and dining plans onto a single proximity card, Colorado School of Mines is able to streamline security and meal billing. Mask and his team have saved both time and resources, as well as cut down on human error and turnaround time between summer groups, by implementing this new card process.

Special Guest: Bob Mask.

Tom Arnold, cofounder of Payment & Security Experts, explains the evolution of payment technology and the potential security risks of having an unprotected network. He dives into recent security trends specific to higher education institutes and methods to avoid being a victim of cyber fraud. He specifically highlights email phishing threats to universities and precautions campuses can take action to avoid being hacked.

From the early days of the internet, Arnold and his team have been fighting internet fraud. As the internet has advanced, so has cyber fraud. From fake memorabilia auctions to identity theft, Arnold has seen it all. Security measures to combat these threats have also evolved. In recent years, the implementation of EMV chips on credit cards has greatly reduced identity theft. On the flip side, they have increased fraud in electronic commerce and automated teller machines. Arnold recognizes that there will never be an end to all fraud, but by taking the correct precautions large organizations and institutes can lower their risk of becoming an online victim.

Higher education institutions and universities have become a very large target for cyber fraud in the electronic commerce realm in the last few years. A common trend is for criminals to reach out to third party content providers that then inject content to a consumer’s browsers to capture private information. Another common trend in online fraud is business email compromise. Many times, email servers are overlooked and end up under protected. Which then creates the opportunity for a cyber-criminal to fake an email from an institution or university, known as a phishing email. This can result in stealing funds and personal information from consumers. A simple username and password are not enough to keep email servers secure.

To prevent security breaches, Arnold recommends using multifactor authentication to authentic users logging into their online accounts. For example, sending a code to the user’s cell phone. When users are logging in on a device outside of the secure network, it is important that the users are notified of the login, like an email, text or notification. Institutions and universities should encourage their users to call in to validate suspicious emails before providing personal information online. Lastly, having a dual-control system in place on the department level to validate changing any finical information will help prevent cyber fraud. To detect potential fraud, Arnold suggests that any transaction over $10,000 should be personally followed up and confirmed by the Accounts Payable Department. If fraud is detected contact law enforcement immediately.

Regardless of the cyber security threats that exist, Arnold still feels confident using online payment methods. With a few simple precautions, consumers and organizations can avoid much of the risks that are out there.

Special Guest: Tom Arnold.

Kristy Pritchett, director of student account services at the University of Alabama, provides an overview of the artificial intelligence bots used in robotic automated processes at her university. She explains the process of obtaining and implementing a new chat bot that helps students by answering frequently asked questions, leaving staff more time to focus on more complicated and specific student needs. Pritchett explains the great success and benefits of having an automated system in the student services department.

Article intelligence can take a lot of different forms and do a lot of different things. Pritchett focuses on explaining the impact of robotic automated processes. These robots help streamline everyday routine tasks and systems. These routines can include uploading and downloading data, answering simple student service questions and assisting current employees in their day to day tasks. This leaves staff more time, energy and resources to focus on more specific and complicated student needs.

This robot was needed at the University of Alabama due to the extremely high volume of student service calls that Pritchett and her department would receive on a regular basis. There were so many calls that systems became overloaded and eventually failed. And that doesn’t even include the emails their department was receiving. Their solution was a chat bot named Bama Bot. Bama Bot not only improved the efficiency of the student account services department, but also the student experience. Bama Bot is programmed to answer frequently asked tier one common questions. Students and their parents were able to be helped quicker, easier and more efficiently.

Pritchett and her team worked with the university’s strategic communications team to brand the chat bot and make the bot readily available on the website, added it to the email signature and added a comment to their voice messaging system. This helped spread the word about Bama Bot and let students know that it is a trusted source for information. Although Bama Bot is fairly new to the university, Pritchett has already seen progress. The bot has answered over 3,000 questions and is generating interest in other departments across campus. Pritchett encourages colleges and universities with similar challenges to research robotic automated processes as a potential solution.

Special Guest: Kristy Pritchett.