txttools limited

10th September 2003
Cardiff, UK

UWIC (the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff) is to use txttools, text messaging services from Cy-nap to communicate with applicants, current students and others with an interest in the university. The service will provide reminders for UCAS deadlines, open days and interviews and deliver course information. It will also distribute news and event updates.

UWIC has around 9,000 students with a focus on professional and vocational higher education courses. The text messaging system will complement existing mediums of marketing activity conducted via telephone, post, email and web interaction. It will use targeted profiling and filtering tools to provide the most relevant information to an annual audience of more than 40,000 enquirers, UCAS applicants, open day attendees and subscribers to UWIC’s intouch news and events service.

Initial tests run with part-time students, who make up 30% of UWIC’s student base, have received positive feedback. UWIC’s Communications, Marketing & Student Recruitment Unit will continue to measure the effectiveness of the text messaging service by monitoring response levels to marketing campaign activity and by providing a two-way communication mechanism in the future.

Elin-Marie Griffiths, Customer Relationship Management Officer for UWIC says: “We want to establish real-time contact with students and identified key target audiences, eliminating the time delay inevitable with other forms of communication. The text messaging service is a fresh way for us to do this. Most present and potential students have access to a computer, but often only via school or college library and IT facilities. A higher proportion own a mobile phone and carry it with them.”

Elin-Marie Griffiths continues, “Cy-nap offers an all-round flexible product with a neatly packaged and tailored approach for the education sector. It also allows us to easily transfer data retrieved from our internal management systems.”

Steve McCann, managing director of Cy-nap says: “We have seen text messaging used to good effect in schools to improve communication between school and parents, leading to better understanding and reduced truancy rates for example. In a similar way, UWIC will be able to engage with new and existing students and form valuable relationships with candidates and students using SMS text messaging.”

About UWIC
* UWIC has some 9,000 students, with a national and international reputation in particular in the areas of sport, teacher training and art & design.

* For the last three years, UWIC has been independently acclaimed as the leading “new university” in Wales, and is ranked consistently in the top UK new universities in terms of widening access, student retention and knowledge transfer

The Government’s Charter Mark has been awarded to UWIC on three consecutive occasions, each time making specific reference to the high levels of student satisfaction.

About Cy-Nap
“mobile technology helping people to manage their lives”

Cy-nap Ltd was established in January 2001 and is the result of over 14 years of innovation within the technology market.
txttools is used by companies that create services for business to consumer clients and with companies who provide services and content directly to their consumers. These companies encompass a variety of business markets including corporate, publishing, law, web development, retail, health, and many organisations such as schools and surgeries. In fact any group that has a need to communicate to people, be they customers, subscribers, members or staff. SMS text messaging is rapidly opening up new channels for both information and marketing.

For further information please contact:

Stephen McCann,
Managing Director
t: +44(0)113 234 2111
m: +44(0)7866 438056
e: smccann@Cy-nap.com
w: www.txttools.co.uk