Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam University

A Netcall Case Study

Sheffield hallam campus

A more responsive system meant more calls answered, more offers made and a far better experience for students at a crucial moment

Sheffield Hallam University is home to over 31,000 students and is one of the UK’s largest and most popular universities, attracting thousands of enquiries each year during the clearing period.

To better support students and manage the intense demand, the University introduced Liberty Converse, a hosted, scalable contact centre solution. This gave their team the flexibility and resilience needed to handle high call volumes during one of the most important periods in the student recruitment cycle.

  

The Challenge

Clearing places immense pressure on both students and staff. For Sheffield Hallam, the existing telephony system was struggling to handle demand. Long wait times resulted in many prospective students abandoning their calls before speaking to anyone, and the infrastructure could only support 30 front-line agents working simultaneously.  

At peak times, queues grew quickly and the team had limited visibility of what was happening in real-time. This made it difficult to respond to sudden surges in demand and ultimately meant the University risked missing out on potential applicants simply because they couldn’t get through. 

The Solution

To create a more responsive and resilient clearing operation, Sheffield Hallam implemented Liberty Converse by Netcall, an omnichannel, cloud-based contact centre solution designed to scale during periods of high demand. 

Faster response times 

The new system dramatically reduced waiting times. The average wait fell to under 10 seconds, a reduction of more than 99%, allowing students to reach an adviser almost immediately. 

Fewer abandoned calls 

With shorter queues and a more stable platform, call abandonment dropped by 92%. If a caller hung up, staff could use CLI reports to return the call, ensuring no enquiry was lost. 

Real‑time visibility 

Managers gained access to clear, real-time dashboards displaying queue lengths, handling times and agent availability. This enabled them to make swift decisions, redeploy resources and maintain smooth operations throughout the day. 

Increased capacity 

By separating queuing from call handling, the university could utilise all available lines to answer calls. This led to a 37% rise in calls answered, effectively adding the capacity of three more agents without increasing staff numbers. 

Throughout, Netcall has been very supportive and worked alongside us every step of the way. They helped us develop and implement a new system that others said couldn’t be done!

Lindsey White, Student Recruitment Manager (Operations), Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield hallam logo

The Results

The improvements were immediate and continue year after year: 

  • 37% increase in the number of calls answered 

  • Waiting times were significantly reduced to less than 10 seconds 

  • 92% reduction in call abandonment 

  • An equivalent of 3 x more agents on the front line 

  • 15% more clearing offers made – a direct financial impact on the university 

  • Improved student experience at a highly anxious time, with feedback on student experience greatly improved 

  • Real‑time oversight for managers leading to quicker high-demand decisions 

  • A more resilient, hosted system with built‑in contingency options 

  • As a hosted system, Sheffield Hallam could implement a robust contingency plan, which could be replicated at another site or location if there were a disaster or emergency evacuation 

Sheffield Hallam filled significantly more places for the following academic year, driven by faster, more effective call handling and a smoother clearing experience for both students and staff.