1. 1. CASE STUDY: NELNETNelnet uses Titanium to service 12 million student loans worth $60 billionCOMPANYNelnet has built their business around consistently improving customerservice and self-service. Until a year ago, they were servicing 12 millionstudent loans worth $60 million through US mail, call centers, and theirweb app, Manage My Account. To uphold the companys promise to offerNelnet is one of the leading educationservice Anytime, anyplace, anywhere to their tech-savvy, college-aged and finance companies in the Uniteddemographic, Nelnet needed a mobile strategy. States, providing student loan servicingfor 12 million student loans. Nelnet is aIts clear that our customer base college students have gone mobile. servicer for student loans underwritten bythe Department of Education.Titanium helped us develop a cross-platform mobile app quickly so that wecould be with them wherever they are.APPLICATIONDeveloping a mobile strategy with Titanium Loan Assist is a mobile loan inquiry and payment system for Nelnet-In late 2009, Nelnet began investigating mobile development options. serviced student loans.Initially, they considered developing with native SDKs but the learning curveUsers can stay up-was too high for their IT staff. to-date with detailed summaries of loan status, account information, payment history, and statusWe didnt have the time or resources to retrain everyone on nativeof requests.development languages. With Titanium, our IT team could use the JavaScriptand HTML skills they already have, and focus on developing a great mobileapp, said Mike Randash, Executive Vice President at 5280 Solutions, a Nelnet BENEFITSwholly-owned subsidary.Enhancing customer service by expandingonline payment system to mobilePush notifications keeps students up-to-date on their payment status80% code reuse between iPhone andAndroid deploymentsMobile app ties into backendpayment systemIts clear that ourcustomer base collegestudents have gonemobile. Titanium helpedus develop a cross-platform mobile appquickly so that we couldbe with them whereverthey are.
2. 2. When evaluating platform options, Mikes team considered Titanium and We didnt have the timePhoneGap. The team chose Titanium for its superior performance andusability. His mobile team began developing their mobile app immediately, or resources to retrainwith no retraining necessary. everyone on nativeDevelopment of the iPhone and Android mobile apps as well as theirdevelopment languages.backend payment system occurred simultaneously over a four month period.With Titanium, our ITThe mobile app was launched on both platforms, and Nelnet had 20,000team could use thedownloads with little promotion in the first few months.JavaScript and HTMLStudents/Borrowers love the app. Since our launch several months ago, some skills they already have,customer service inquiries have moved away from more expensive call centerand paper-based methods to cost-effective mobile inquiries.and focus on developinga great mobile app,Nelnet is currently promoting Loan Assist and planning the soft launch forseveral student focused apps built with Titanium. MIKE RANDASHEXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT5280 SOLUTIONS (A NELNETWHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDARY)Future PlansMike plans to develop iPad-specific apps in the future, and is consideringrolling out to Android tablets. CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS | 440 N. Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043 CONTACT US | www.appcelerator.com | Phone: 1-877-909-4589 | General info: info@appcelerator.com | Sales inquiries: sales@appcelerator.com Copyright 2011, Appcelerator, Inc. All rights reserved. The Appcelerator logo is a registered trademark of Appcelerator Inc., and Appcelerator owns other registered and unregistered trademarks. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. RV083011