American National University
Accelerating Business Process Automations with Lingk
Systems Integrated: Salesforce, Anthology Student, Canvas, Zoom
Challenge
For years American National University (ANU) was using time-consuming manual efforts to process thousands of physical documents. This drain on labor was further exacerbated by the need to manually mirror the SIS updates in their CRM and LMS platforms, Salesforce and Canvas. Wasting valuable resources on jobs dedicated to processing documents, ANU was left with an enormous backlog and a mountain of technical debt. And with a limited budget, it was difficult to keep everything running, let alone create innovative experiences for students, faculty, and administrators.
Solution
Lingk's professional services team worked with ANU to understand their procedures, data, and desired business outcomes. The team then developed a suite of integrations on the Lingk Platform, that synchronized the exchange of data between Salesforce, Canvas, and Anthology Student, to automate enrollment records, attendance data and faculty assignments.
With Lingk’s iPaaS—built on a big data processing engine (Apache Spark)—ANU drastically reduced their processing time from hours to seconds.
Results
ANU was able to repurpose staff toward high-value tasks, eliminating time-consuming manual processes. The institution also alleviated costly IT staffing and retention challenges, reducing reliance on specialized in-house technical resources.
With a unified and comprehensive view of student information, academic advising became more impactful, ensuring that students received timely, data-driven guidance. Additionally, ANU reinforced its financial aid compliance, minimizing errors and improving the accuracy of student financial records. These improvements collectively contributed to a more efficient and student-centered institutional experience.
Physical documents per student manually processed—before Lingk
“Within only a few months, the Lingk team had integrations working that I spent years attempting to accomplish. Their team is professional, thinks outside of the box, and has solved our most complex integration issues. I highly recommend partnering with Lingk.”
Dr. Joel Musgrove, Senior Executive Vice President of Operations, American National University
Why ANU Chose Lingk
Beyond Lingk’s proven integration success, ANU decided to work with Lingk because of our teams expertise of Anthology, as well as higher education data models.
Furthermore, with Lingk’s Managed Integration Services (MIS), ANU uses Lingk as an extension of their team—alleviating the integration workloads and burden of recruiting, training, and retaining data integration specialists.
“We don’t have the bandwidth to solve these integration challenges on our own,” said Dr. Musgrove. “Lingk enables us to achieve our integration objectives affordably and sustainably.”
About American National University
American National University (ANU) is a private, for-profit institution with several campuses across Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. ANU is committed to helping individuals reach their career goals by offering various credential and degree programs through distance education and blended learning formats. Dedicated to adult learners, ANU provides access to quality, career-focused programs that equip students with the essential skills required to be competitive in today’s changing marketplace.
Together we can do great things
Contact Lingk today to discover how we can assist your institution in achieving its integration goals