Salesforce has proven to be the ultimate CRM solution for running a successful business operation. But Salesforce strives to be more than just a customer service platform for organizations. With a goal to introduce cloud CRM services in the education sector, Salesforce developed the Education Cloud and marked the beginning of a new era in CRM for higher education.
The groundwork for the Salesforce Education Cloud was first laid down in 2016 with the launch of HEDA. With it, users began to notice the ways in which the platform had come to manage their most pressing challenges across campus. Since then, innovation has continued and in 2018, Salesforce.org launched the Education Cloud.
The cloud comes with several features that make it the number one CRM for higher education. Anticipating the needs of the organization, as well as its students and alumni, the Education Cloud eases the process of managing an educational institution.
So what features make Salesforce Education Cloud the go-to choice for higher education CRMs? Let’s explore!
Easy Recruitment And Admission
The cloud makes it easy for institutions to get in touch with serious, prospective students. Students, in their research for the best-suited university, could come in direct contact with the educational institution of their choice. Institutions can attract students by targetted campaigns and building brand awareness.
Using the data of various applicants, institutions can make a database in a single system, where details of each applicant are visible. This allows you to keep a full 360-degree view of all your prospective students. The CRM could also be used as a means of personalized and direct correspondence between the prospective students and the institution.
Other key features include the ability to recruit while on the go, with the mobile app, as well as the use of Einstein AI to determine which students can be targetted as prospects.
Student Experience Made Convenient
The student experience is made better by the help that is readily available to students with regard to their educational decisions. The CRM enables institutions to address specific concerns, provide seamless service, and thereby improve student success. The institutions can also communicate with the students based on their preferred mode of communication.
On top of that, the Salesforce Advisors Link, as discussed later, gives a real-time insight and advice on issues that concern each student. Lastly, the organization can enable access to the best and most lucrative internship or career opportunities by managing career fairs, posting job openings frequently, and keeping in touch with the alumni network.
Keeping In Touch With Alumni
Salesforce Education Cloud allows institutions to build lasting relationships with their alumni. By keeping in touch with the alumni and informing them about donations or fund-raising campaigns, the institutions can hope to build a powerful network of alumni. The CRM is well equipped to handle campaigns, projections as well as recommendations. The platform also allows for a detailed catalog of information to be stored with respect to each alumnus, donor, or volunteer. This results in the convenient handling of all personnel.
The cloud also enables institutions to streamline operations like gift entry. Using the Gift Entry Manager, the organization does not have to manually keep track of the alumni contributions. The platform can also be used to easily maintain user-friendly webpages with multiple payment options. On top of all that, the transactions can be easily kept track of and populated in the institution’s accounting software.
Salesforce Customization and Configuration Services
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Well Equipped Data Architecture
The very foundation of the Salesforce Education Cloud is the data architecture called Education Data Architecture (EDA). EDA enables the use of industry-standard objects on the platform to be used to model student relationships, course affiliations, and co-curriculars. EDA can also be tailored according to the requirements of the institution. This tailoring is made easy by removing the need to code for it, rather a simple drag-and-drop functionality can create custom fields, modules, or objects.
EDA updates in the form of incremental, bi-weekly releases. This is useful since users do not have to make room for major updates every few months that would upend the entire system. EDA can also be customized according to the specific needs of the user via the Salesforce App Exchange. Finally, EDA is supplemented with a helpful, diverse community in the form of the Trailblazers community where users can collaborate and share ideas and questions.
Innovative Advisory Services
One of the most useful aspects of using the Salesforce Education Cloud is the Salesforce Advisor Link (SAL) solution. Students are able to seek guidance on their academic or career-related queries and learn what to look out for. Appointments can be made with the advisors using the mobile application. These appointments can easily integrate with the calendar of the advisor. Additionally, the platform provides online office management software that registers and manages walk-in and check-in appointments.
Another unique feature of SAL is the online degree planning tool. Both students and advisors collectively collaborate on building a roadmap for the students to follow. It also enables advisors to evaluate data of each student and determine if any student is at risk. Advising notes also enable advisors to keep up to date on the latest with their students and eliminates the need to maintain cumbersome spreadsheets.
Strategic Digital Marketing
The Salesforce Education cloud allows users to leverage the platform to market their services accordingly. With the education cloud, the right student can get connected to the right department and pursue the right program. The platform also enables consistency in design and in methods of contact when it comes to interactions between students and departments. Alumni can also use the platform to market their own campaigns by making use of the well-equipped platform.
The best performing students in certain departments could be recruited by relevant companies via the Salesforce Education Cloud. Students can also connect with the rest of the campus and market their own activities, such as sports events or galas.
Our Two Bits!
The Salesforce Education Cloud is an innovative means of streamlining management in educational circles. The platform is not only beneficial to the institutions using it, but is also helpful to students as well as alumni. Coupled with the useful data architecture and advisory link, the education cloud places itself well above any other educational CRM platform.
Rolustech offers its Salesforce Customization and Support services to further tailor your education cloud according to meet your needs. From customized App Exchange requirements to consultancy, Rolustech is the one-stop-shop to address all your Salesforce Education Cloud requirements.
Rolustech is a Certified Salesforce Partner and Consultant. We have helped numerous firms with Salesforce Integrations and customization. Get in touch for a FREE Business Analysis and hop on to Salesforce.
