HubSpot vs. Legacy Platforms: Why Agile SaaS is the Future of Higher Ed Admissions

For years, universities have wrestled with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, often resulting in complex, expensive, and ultimately unsuccessful implementations. When more than two-thirds of institutions report experiencing at least one CRM implementation failure, it begs the question: Are you choosing the right tools for today’s challenges?

While 77% of higher education leaders agree that CRMs help to improve student admissions KPIs, many are still relying on legacy, monolithic systems that are ill-suited to the demands of modern student engagement and digital transformation.

So, what’s the difference between legacy or aging university systems and a modern, agile SaaS platform like HubSpot?

The Challenge with Legacy University Systems
Legacy platforms, often characterised as large, monolithic systems, face significant hurdles in the current higher education environment. These systems are not just "old"; they carry inherent architectural debt that actively hampers strategic goals:

• Focus on Internal Function, Not the Student: The genesis of these platforms was often aimed at improving internal organisational functions and processes (e.g., finance and registry), rather than enhancing the end-user (student) experience. This fundamental mismatch leads to disjointed communication and negative experiences that drive enrolment loss.
  
• Wieldy and Expensive to Transform: These systems are often so large and unwieldy that achieving even a workable configuration demands a huge amount of time and resources, paired with expensive, ongoing consultancy overheads for maintenance and upgrades.
  
• The Fragmentation Trap: Legacy IT stacks typically rely on siloed systems and fragmented data. This makes achieving a seamless transition throughout the student’s journey very difficult, often requiring teams to "work around" the fragmented systems, wasting time and resources. Furthermore, poor integration with existing systems is a factor in 62% of failed implementations, which results in a reliance on manual processes and a lack of real-time visibility.

The HubSpot Difference: Agile, Unified, and User-Centric
HubSpot - a Modern, agile SaaS solution is designed to address these core weaknesses, positioning the student journey at the centre of the system.

1. Eliminating Silos for a Unified View
HubSpot’s core benefit is its ability to connect marketing, enrolment, and student services teams in one unified CRM. This allows the institution to achieve the key strategic goal of CRM implementation: aligning all functions around the student journey and providing every user with a single source of truth.

When systems are integrated, it ensures clear, consistent, and timely communication for prospective students, which has a direct impact on conversion rates.

2. Driving Real-Time, Data-Driven Decisions
In the legacy setup, gathering actionable attribution data can take days or even weeks. HubSpot showcases the power of data for strategic decisions, highlighting the concept of a "digital boardroom" and real-time insights.

Having this agility is critical in short recruitment cycles, allowing teams to pivot and prioritise instantly.

3. Achieving Rapid Implementation and Adoption
One of the biggest pain points in legacy systems is the delay and difficulty of implementation. HubSpot, however, is built for agility and user experience, which is crucial since a lack of user adoption is the number one reason for CRM failure.

4. Intuitive Design Ensures Enduring Success
A lack of user adoption is the number one reason for CRM failure. HubSpot directly mitigates this critical risk because it is built for agility and user experience. “HubSpot's "Intuitive Design" directly solves the 61% CRM failure problem - lack of user adoption.”

Adoption depends on finding an agile SaaS platform that is intuitive across different teams. HubSpot’s success hinges on configuration over custom code, ensuring the platform can be easily optimised and adapted for future growth. This design focus ensures that teams actively adopt and use the unified CRM system.

The Bottom Line: A Focus on Future-Proofing
HubSpot, as an agile SaaS solution, enables institutions to move beyond fragmented, slow, and expensive monolithic systems and into a future where every applicant lead is followed up on effectively. By adopting agile solutions and implementing configuration over custom code, universities can extract more value from existing resources, ensuring they are more resilient in the face of macroeconomic pressures.

BabelQuest, a multi-award-winning and multi-accredited Elite HubSpot Partner, has extensive experience supporting Higher Education institutes across the UK. Our expertise involves breaking down data silos, streamlining applicant journeys, and successfully implementing unified CRM systems that teams actively adopt.

We understand the urgency of tackling the key challenges facing the UK higher education sector, which is why we are proud sponsors of the Higher Education Partnership Network (HEPN).

Ready to implement a CRM that works?
Whether or not you are preparing for the HEPN in London in November, speak to our higher education specialists to explore how we can help your institution boost enrolments and future-proof your admissions strategy. Two Ways to Connect with BabelQuest:

Discuss your transformation TODAY - Book a Strategic Consultation to discuss your digital transformation roadmap with our higher education specialists.

Meet us face-to-face at HEPN - Secure a guaranteed in-person demo with an accredited HubSpot expert during the HEPN event (secured your HEPN ticket here) - we look forward to meeting you face-to-face!