Using Explorance Blue to Drive Engagement, Enhance Learning Experiences, and Deliver Measurable Strategic Impact at ESSEC

About ESSEC Business School

ESSEC Business School is a leading academic institution that combines academic rigour and practical expertise to educate the responsible leaders of tomorrow. Upholding a legacy of excellence, it nurtures a spirit of openness to advance business and social initiatives as well as innovation. With programs ranked among the best in the world, thanks in particular to its outstanding faculty, ESSEC Business School is a dynamic and committed school, recognised for its ability to educate and transform the leaders of tomorrow.

The Challenge: Turning Low Response Rates into Actionable Data at ESSEC

ESSEC Executive Education, part of ESSEC Business School, is committed to providing tailored solutions for individuals and organisations, developing competent leaders ready to meet the complex challenges of today's business world.

Within this Continuing Education offering, professionals can explore a diverse portfolio of 15 degree programs and 60 certified programs covering key areas such as management, leadership, finance, strategy, AI, CSR and more. ESSEC also designs tailored learning experiences that help organisations and their executives becomes leaders of change – and currently supports around 60 client companies per year.

Maëlys Pettirossi, Director of Quality, Data, Operations and Control, explained the challenge: “We welcome around 5,000 executive education participants each year, roughly 3,000 participants annually in open programs and about 2,000 in custom programs – and I supervise a team responsible for data management, data strategy for business development, program data within our systems, compliance – since continuing education in France is highly regulated – and satisfaction measurement. In 2018-19, we realised we were not gathering enough participant feedback. Response rates were very low. We were using an internal solution at the time and we decided to outsource and selected Explorance Blue.”

The Solution: Leveraging Blue for autonomous, data-driven program evaluation

The transformation began when Maëlys and her team assumed full ownership of Explorance Blue, and shared how “internal confidence” has grown with administration sitting within the Quality, Data, Operations and Control department.

“Previously, we used a module integrated into our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for evaluations, but now courses are created in our ERP and transferred automatically to Blue,” Maëlys said. “The major difference with Blue was autonomy. We needed consolidated dashboards and actionable insights. We have built dashboards for our management and executive committees, so we can compare programs, track trends and ensure reliable data, and we use this information for accreditation bodies and rankings.”

This is underpinned by a streamlined evaluation process. “On the last day of the course, participants receive an evaluation email, followed by reminders,” Maëlys revealed. “Speakers receive reports later, and evaluations close after a defined period. End-of-program questionnaires are automatically triggered after graduation or certification. Data is integrated into dashboards and access is personalised based on governance rules. We share indicators with the teams responsible for improvement – admissions, academic coordination, and program management— so they can take action.

“Response rates improved significantly once we personalised communications. Emails now include participants’ names and appropriate signatures. However, response rates also depend on how we communicate results. Participants need to see that their feedback leads to change. When we show improvements based on previous cohorts’ feedback, engagement increases. We also address urgent issues during programs rather than waiting for final surveys. Closing the feedback loop is essential to everything we do.”

Maëlys added: “In Executive Education, dissatisfaction is rarely a surprise. Participants speak up during the program. Surveys confirm trends and allow year-over-year comparison. Academic directors value that perspective to track progress.”

The Outcome: Better data quality, stronger engagement, and strategic value

Today, ESSEC Executive Education operates with a centralised automated, and strategically aligned satisfaction management system. Response rates have improved. Data is reliable. Leadership engagement has increased.

“Success in my role is measured first operationally: zero failed evaluations due to data issues. If an evaluation is not sent correctly, that is unacceptable,” Maëlys said. “Data quality is a key KPI. Second, success is measured by engagement. When management or faculty request dashboard adjustments or deeper analysis, it shows they are using the data. Even if it creates more work, it is positive. We try to limit questionnaire changes to preserve comparability but continuously improve visualisation and usability.”

ESSEC has recently renewed its partnership with Explorance for three additional years. “Next steps include potentially migrating to the latest version of Blue and, with access to results given to those responsible for ensuring improvement, reconsidering dashboard access aligned with our organisational structure,” she shared. “In addition, we are keen to leverage AI-driven verbatim analysis. We have tried analysing comments internally, but it is complex. If we can better use AI tools such as Explorance MLY for comment analysis, that would be extremely helpful. For strategic programs like the Global MBA, reading all comments manually is time-consuming. Reliable AI-supported analysis would add significant value.”

Maëlys concluded: “We are growing significantly, with strong ambitions around satisfaction and delivering a five-star experience. For us, satisfaction measurement in Continuing Education is strategic, and Blue has proved to be a powerful tool for supporting that. Blue allowed us to move from simple data collection to performance management. Not only that, I appreciate the client connections that Explorance facilitates. Sharing practices is valuable and reassuring. It helps us reflect strategically. We have developed a real data-performance function internally, which has inspired other parts of the school.”