Case Studies > Digital Transformation of Council Meetings at The American University in Cairo with Convene

Digital Transformation of Council Meetings at The American University in Cairo with Convene

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Buildings
Education

Applicable Functions

Procurement

Use Cases

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Smart Campus

About The Customer

The American University in Cairo (AUC) is a leading English language institution in higher education, chartered and accredited in the United States and Egypt. The university is committed to delivering high-quality education for scholars in a cross-cultural environment, promoting both excellence and equity. The university has been using Convene since November 2018 for conducting council meetings. The platform is currently being used by two offices in the university — the Provost’s Office for bi-weekly Provost Council Meetings and the School of Business for monthly School Council Meetings.

The Challenge

The American University in Cairo (AUC), a premier English language institution in higher education, was facing challenges in conducting council meetings due to the shift to remote meetings. The university was in search of a one-stop meeting solution that could help them collate documents conveniently and make them accessible across multiple devices. They were previously conducting paper-based meetings, which were not efficient in a remote working environment. The university had shortlisted several meeting solutions including Convene, Nasdaq, MeetingSense, and MeetingBooster. The decision was to be made based on functionality, cost, and responsiveness of the service providers.

The Solution

After careful consideration, AUC chose Convene as their meeting solution due to its cost-efficiency and functionality. Convene was also highly responsive to AUC's request for information, demo, and quotation. The transition from paper-based meetings to Convene was smooth and easy for the university. Convene allowed AUC to schedule meetings with just a few clicks, reducing unnecessary tasks and human error. The platform also provided a Minute-Taking feature that allowed administrators to record live minutes side-by-side with the meeting while automatically syncing action items, notes, and vote items. Convene also satisfied AUC's need for smart document management by allowing users to store and access files in a single repository. The platform also allowed council members to collaborate easily on documents by applying real-time annotations using any device.

Operational Impact

The implementation of Convene at AUC resulted in a seamless transition from paper-based to digital meetings. The platform's intuitive design and easy configuration suited the university's needs perfectly. The Minute-Taking feature was particularly useful during live meetings, allowing administrators to record live minutes and automatically sync action items, notes, and vote items. The Inmeeting Voting feature was also appreciated by council members as it allowed them to discuss and vote during meetings while providing a real-time view of the results. The platform's smart document management system also improved efficiency by allowing users to store and access files in a single repository. The platform also upheld security by allowing administrators to set control permissions to allow only authorized users to access the documents.

Quantitative Benefit

Convene reduced unnecessary tasks and human error in scheduling meetings.
The platform allowed for real-time collaboration on documents, improving efficiency.
Convene's Document Library allowed for smart document management, reducing the need to go through different drives and folders to collate multiple document versions.