Top Italian business school empowers students with unified learning environment

How Sitecore solutions are transforming higher education and lifelong learning experiences at Polimi Graduate School of Management.

4 minute read

Group of people in office

At Sitecore Symposium 2024, Luigi Gangitano, Chief of Digital Innovation at Polimi Graduate School of Management and Alessandro Nivuori, Sitecore Platform Lead, Avanade, Italy shared their recent digital transformation journey, detailing how the business school is enhancing student learning experiences through tailored, connected interactions.

A commitment to digital innovation

Founded in 1863, Polimi Graduate School of Management (Polimi GSoM) is one of the top 20 universities in the world, and the largest school of architecture, design, and engineering in Italy, with two campuses in Milan and five additional locations in northern Italy.

Polimi GSoM aims to provide the tools, skills, experiences, and connections to nurture innovators and help them realize their full potential. Luigi Gangitano, Chief of Digital Innovation at Polimi GSoM underlined these values by providing an overview of the school’s commitment to digital innovation, zeroing in on two impressive achievements. Not only was Polimi GSoM the first business school in Italy to deliver remote learning courses to students, but was also an early adopter of AI, launching an AI-powered mentor in 2018.

Next, Alessandro Nivuori, Sitecore Platform Lead, Avanade spoke about Polimi GSoM’s most recent digital transformation goals, which focused on three areas:

  1. CRM: Polimi GSoM was keen to have a CRM as a centralized point. They needed a solution to power their vision of delivering consistent, unified user experiences. In addition, their existing commerce platform and CMS hindered progress and were not equipped to integrate with other systems.
  2. Smart campus: Polimi GSoM opened a new smart, sustainable campus in the center of Milan in 2022 and was eager to enhance this hybrid learning environment.
  3. Flow: Polimi GSoM’s Flow initiative aimed to provide students with relevant, personalized experiences to support their learning journey.

As mentioned by Nivuori, Avanade had been working with Sitecore for over 10 years and their expertise with Microsoft and Sitecore meant they were well-placed to drive Polimi GSoM’s digital transformation.

Fixing fragmented experiences

Working in close collaboration, Polimi GSoM, Avanade, and Microsoft created a digital transformation vision and built a prioritized journey map.

They took a phase-by-phase approach, starting with the CRM implementation, then adding Sitecore OrderCloud, Sitecore XM Cloud, and Sitecore Search to replace the previous commerce system and CMS.

Implementation strategy

Sharing their vision of creating a unified learning environment for all students, Nivuori highlighted specific project goals which were realized using a combination of best-of-breed tools and technology.

  1. Launch a master’s degree with agile approach to teaching.
  2. Create modular training plans and an AI-based life-long learning solution.
  3. Centralize Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM as a collection point for all user information.
  4. Integrate into Sitecore’s digital experience platform, leveraging Sitecore’s XM Cloud and linking to the existing CMS.
  5. Upgrade the commerce platform to Sitecore OrderCloud, enhancing the management of carts, discounts, price variants, and the entire purchase flow.

With Sitecore Personalize, Polimi GSoM will soon be able to enhance Flow by delivering tailored experiences that react and adjust to student preferences and actions in near real time.

First-class results

Within just six months, a suite of Sitecore solutions have enabled Polimi GSoM to transform student experiences, while delivering significant cost savings and improvements to operational efficiencies.

97%

savings in content management and operational costs.

93%

improvement in internal operations.

300%

faster website load times.

5

minutes sale to enrolment time.

In recognition of these achievements, Polimi GSoM was awarded a best commerce experience award at the Sitecore Experience Awards which took place at Sitecore Symposium 2024. Read more about how they improved and transformed operational efficiency and revenue.