CSM — Because Supporting Students Shouldn’t Be So High School

Higher Ed customers are some of my favorites to work with at Crossfuze. They bring unique use cases, fun stories, and, for me, a campus tour when I come visit :)

Over the years, we’ve noticed that while every institution has its quirks, many share common themes when it comes to service delivery strategy. Most schools start with a traditional IT mindset: “How do we support our customers—students, parents, staff—the way we’ve always done it?”

That’s a fair place to start. But I’d like to challenge that status quo. Because when Higher Ed only looks at IT Service Management (ITSM) and ignores Customer Service Management (CSM), some very big opportunities get left on the table.

A New Way of Thinking

Let’s face it: change is hard. Terminology is hard. Adopting new processes is hard. But you know what’s harder? Not using the out-of-the-box features that were built to make your life easier.

I’m not going to pretend I know every corner of Higher Ed. But as someone who lived through college without campus Wi-Fi (yes, really) and has been consulting in this space for 15 years, I know this: students and their families are the heartbeat of your institution. Your students make the campus. They are why Higher Ed exists.

So why CSM instead of ITSM? Let’s break it down.

Why CSM Wins for Higher Ed

Unlike ITSM, which is built primarily for internal IT support, CSM expands your reach to the people outside your directory—like parents calling the bursar, prospective students reaching out to admissions, or housing inquiries that don’t neatly fall into IT’s queue.

Here’s what CSM brings to the table:

• Better data structures for interactions with external users.
• Households, so parents can see everything tied to their student.
• Smart identification of requestor type (student vs. parent vs. staff).
• Multi-division support, not just IT.
• Omnichannel interactions (social, email, chat, phone, smoke signals… okay maybe not that last one).
• Robust knowledge bases that every department can contribute to.

All of this ladders up to one thing: a great user experience.

The User Experience Factor

Today’s students—and their parents—expect an intuitive, self-service digital experience. They don’t want to hunt down phone numbers or bounce between five different portals. They want one place where they can:

• Get IT help.
• Pay the bursar.
• Submit a housing request.
• Log a facilities issue.

ServiceNow already provides that single pane of glass. CSM simply unlocks it for the whole campus—not just IT.

CSM vs. ITSM: At a Glance

Key out of the box differences, following best practice and incurring technical debt (not an exhaustive list):

“But Doesn’t This Add Extra Steps?”

This is the pushback I hear most: “If we move to CSM, IT has to do more work.”

Here’s the truth: it’s not about IT. It’s about the users.

CSM starts at the case level, so students and parents don’t have to figure out where their question belongs. Maybe it’s as simple as “What's my dorm address?” or as complex as “My university-issued laptop won’t turn on.” Either way, they just need help. Why put the burden on them to route it correctly?

Behind the scenes, CSM makes it easy to reassign to IT, Facilities, Housing, or HR with a click. Everything ties together, and everyone sees the same picture.

One. Pane. Of. Glass.

So… ITSM or CSM?

How do you decide?

It comes down to your vision:

• If the goal is robust IT support for internal users only → ITSM works.
• If the goal is a unified experience for students, families, and staff across the entire campus → CSM is the clear choice.

And if you ask me? I’ll say it with almost 100% confidence: CSM is the better long-term fit for Higher Ed. It’s flexible, future-proof, and designed to serve all the audiences that make your campus thrive.

At the end of the day, both ITSM and CSM have their place. At Crossfuze, we’ve helped institutions succeed with both—what matters is aligning the choice to your unique use cases and long-term goals.

Final Thought: Students (and their parents) expect and have high expectations in the digital and social world.  Honestly, students today scare me a little and they will tell you very quickly when you’re not meeting expectations. CSM is how you stay ahead of those expectations—and deliver the kind of experience today’s digital natives expect.