As we advance to a fast-paced, globalized, technologically powered world, academia and higher level institutions must digitalize to adapt to our ever changing times. Verifiable, blockchain enabled digital records can help eliminate cost and time, benefitting both the registrars office and students by creating a value added student learning experience, while streamlining and automating administration processes.
The Business Case for Digital Credentials
The return on investment from a slow frustrating frail paper based transcription transfer process to a fully digitalized fraud-proof one benefits everyone, from the students, the registrar office, the larger academic institution to state government agencies by providing an easier, cost effective, empowering way.
Benefits for the Registrar's Office
By switching over to verifiable digital records, the registrar's office benefits by streamlining their admin's staff processes, reducing man hours and time consuming tasks, saving not only money on the actual issuance of transcripts but also time. It also automates features, allowing for control over tasks like renewal, revoking and cancellation. One can digitally go online to see if a transcript or digital badge is live and valid.
Faster Processing
Reduce processing time from 3-5 days to 24 hours with automated digital workflows.
Reduced Overhead
Save $22,000+ annually in overtime expenses and administrative costs.
Staff Efficiency
Reduce staff hours from 6,940 to 785 annually for transcript processing.
It helps staff during high pressure and stressful registration season, since staff can quickly go through applications digitally; it helps remove the pressure of bottle neck high pressure application periods- 60%-70% of all students apply within the three days of the application's due date, by allowing for an overall faster registration process. In person visits, phone calls, human mistakes are reduced– repeated faxing/email of documents saves everyone time– while staff morale is improved and staff are more engaged and focused on higher priority tasks–cost saved resources can be allocated into research, into the company or existing staff.
"Going digital is a long term investment. While it may seem more expensive by its initial cost, versus an allocated per document batch basis, it is more cost effective in the long run. The difference of cost and time between digitally processing transcripts and manually processing transcripts is great, with the return of investment amounting to 9x- it would cost $115,750.81 the paper way vs $12,872.84 the digital way for annual staff costs to process transcripts."
Environmental and Operational Impact
Not only does going digital save time and money, the registrar's office can commit to a greener future. There is 67% less paper usage, saving the administration on production, mailing and actual paper costs. Universities save from $9,000 to $50,000 a year in administrative costs, $22,000 in overtime expenses, eliminating extra overhead for admin staff.
Staff hours are reduced from 6,940.94 hours to 785.6 hours when done digitally, accelerating the overall process in a cost effective manner. In that light, using paper is no longer sustainable nor useful, the digital process is better, faster and saves money. In fact, there is no need for $5 expedition fee since it is no longer applicable since the 3-5 day turnaround is reduced to 24 hours for a transcript.
Enhanced Security and Fraud Prevention
It reduces cost and commitments– in 2012 (before blockchain, and based on only a pdf e-transcript) it saved 7.5 hours a month and over $50k on printing and sending. Staff are also freed from tediously manually verifying, hand stamping, photocopying and comparing courseloads and transcripts. Transcripts can be uploaded by bulk and multiple copies can be created with a few clicks.
Tamper-Proof
Blockchain protects secure data and removes the fear and danger of fraud.
Instant Verification
Remove expensive third-party verification processes and middlemen.
Data Privacy
Customizable on-premise blockchain and cloud options ensure security.
By using interoperable systems, data can be read by a computer and transferred across platforms as long as they use the same data processing. Lastly, educhain's customizable on premise blockchain and cloud options, is tamper-proof, secure and private. Blockchain protects secure data and removes the fear and danger of fraud. Verified tamper proof digital transcripts cannot be spoofed or faked unlike PDFS or physical transcript, guaranteeing and protecting the reputation of students and respected vaulted academic institutions.
Student Empowerment and Access
The main beneficiary group of this digital update are the students. It used to take weeks for students to chase down paper transcripts for school applications, job applications and transfers. Students would have to go in person, email various institutions and wait weeks for paper transcript to arrive in the mail. Now with educhain's digital passport, they have 24/7 access to their documents and can receive and send transcripts instantaneously and easily from their palm of their hands.
The academic passport would be a one spot exposition for their academic career, different course credits from different universities, sometimes across continents can be found in one place, creating a more cohesive well rounded presentation of the student. Perhaps, most importantly students are empowered to guide their academic journey, having "self-sovereignty" to own their information, and encouraged to self promote- there's a gamification of academic achievements– and send it to prospective schools and job applicants instantly without having to defer to a third party or to request for permission.
"Students can proudly showcase the value of their education, increase online visibility of their brand and self promote and achieve. Every single time a student posts about their academic success on social media, they become ambassadors for your school's brand."
Enhanced Verification for Employers
Educhain provides ease of use for recipients that need to verify credentials. Prospective employers and organizations can instantly verify the credentials that the students send. Students can prove that they are who they indeed say they are and the process becomes fast and effective, generating greater trust and transparency, going beyond local geographies and networks.
As well, digital transcripts and records allow for greater contextualization. The information provided is not limited to simply academic grades and course attendance. There is digital space for greater detail and in depth investigation into the applicant's history, whether that be internships, specific skill set gained, a greater description of courses taken- vaguarites of certain courses or disciplines can be explained. Prospective employers and organizations have a bigger picture and can further narrow their search based on their precise specific requirements, looking for traits that shows inherent skills, efforts, ability and work effort.
The Digital Investment Perspective
A recent Deloitte survey of business executives revealed that "investments in digital transformation are continuing to rise — at more than three times the rate of IT spending overall." Businesses that pursue a digital pivot are confident that these initiatives will become self-funding, eventually resulting in a positive business impact and net revenue growth.
Digitalization allows for greater access to educational resources; students are no longer limited by geographical location and can attend online lectures anywhere. Institutions will pivot to a hybrid model that saves on property and utility costs by offering online lectures and on campus in person activities like networking seminars, group work and teacher hours. "In the Summer 2020 semester alone, Indiana University Bloomington saw record-high enrollment numbers in its online courses, up 22% from the previous summer."
Revenue Generation Opportunities
By upgrading to a digital process, digital transcripts become an excellent revenue generation tool. Cutting the cost of production from $25 to $1.50 per active student. Schools can charge students a pay per use fee every time a student requests a document. We can help you earn a profit of $3.50 if your issuance fee was $5, with little manpower or admin costs to that price. There may be some initial infrastructure and set up expenditures but the long term benefits of going digital far outweighs its costs and will revolutionize your educational experience.
Government and Institutional Benefits
Lastly, big data enables institutions and government agencies to observe wide trends about their student population. Federal governments can benefit from "interoperable compressive digital credentialing ecosystems," by placing pressure and asking institutions to demonstrate the ROI of certain programs or even the entire college experience. Institutions can find out broad trends about the post graduate success and job prospects for critical feedback on how to improve existing course curriculum as well as the general student learning experience. It would help "underwrite the value of state investments in all areas of education."
Conclusion: The Clear Path Forward
The transition from paper to digital credentials represents more than just a technological upgrade—it's a fundamental transformation in how educational institutions operate, serve their students, and demonstrate value to stakeholders. With a 9x return on investment, dramatic reductions in processing time and costs, enhanced security, and improved student outcomes, the business case for digital credentialing is compelling and clear.
As educational institutions worldwide embrace this digital transformation, those who act now will position themselves as leaders in innovation, efficiency, and student success. The question is no longer whether to make the transition, but how quickly institutions can implement these solutions to start realizing the benefits.