The landscape of the education industry has changed quite a bit, transforming traditional classrooms into dynamic digital spaces. This shift has brought both opportunities and challenges for students and educators. While students now seek personalized learning experiences, educators face the challenges of increasing workloads and the risk of burnout.

To meet these evolving needs and stay connected throughout the student journey, schools, and universities are turning to CRM platforms like Salesforce. Salesforce not only has traditional CRM features, but it comes with advanced visualization, analytics, and collaboration tools too, so you can track student progress and take necessary steps to enhance their learning experiences.

In this blog, we’ll explore the prospects of Salesforce CRM for higher education institutions and discuss why embracing Salesforce could be a game-changing move. Let’s first take a look at the key challenges for the education industry and see what solutions you can take as an educator.

Key Challenges that Can Be Solved Through Salesforce for the Education Industry

“On average, a university uses 35 different systems to track the student journey, causing inefficiencies. “

Educational institutions face challenges on multiple fronts. Here’s what might be preventing you from accomplishing goals:

1. Fragmented Data Residing in Silos

Challenge: Data of most education institutions is scattered across various systems and departments, creating isolated “islands of trapped data.” This disconnect leads to delays and inconsistencies, making it hard to access critical information when needed.

**Solution**: To address the challenges of data silos, you can leverage Salesforce Education Cloud, which now comes integrated with Data Cloud. With this integration, you will be able to unify insights from your Student Information Systems (SIS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), and more into a single platform.

Data Cloud for Salesforce Education(Source: Youtube)

☁️ Suggested Read: Salesforce Data Cloud Implementation Guide

2. Enrolling New and Existing Students for Long-Term Association

Challenge: Acquiring new students is one of the primary goals of every higher education institution but let’s face it. It can be extremely challenging to enroll new students, especially when other prospective institutions might also be getting the attention of your prospects.

As per the latest statistics, higher education institutions are already improving student enrollment by 5.5% or more with Salesforce.

**Solution:** Education Cloud's built-in Recruitment and Admissions tool is designed to streamline the enrollment process and enhance student engagement. Its key functionalities include:
**AI-Powered Automation:** The tool utilizes AI to create personalized communication strategies that engage prospective students based on their interests and preferences.
**Applicant Portals:** The applicant portal feature can be used by staff to develop customized portals that enhance the applicant experience, allowing prospective students to easily track their application status.
**Application Review Console:** It centralizes the review process with a cohesive view of applications and supporting information from various sources, making it easier for staff to evaluate applicants.

3. Ensuring High Student Retention and Engagement

Challenge: Retaining students and keeping them engaged is not easy. Most universities struggle to build strong connections with students, and even if they do, they lack the resources or strategy to keep them engaged for a long-term association.

**Solution**: With Education Cloud’s **student success tool**, institutions can improve retention and engagement by tailoring student interactions. It offers several essential features and capabilities, such as:
**Care and Action Plans:** Staff can develop personalized care plans to address individual challenges, assisting students in setting goals and staying on track.
**Student Portal:** A centralized platform where students can manage academic tasks, connect with support staff, and access essential resources, all in one place.
**Intelligent Degree Planning:** This feature enables advisors and students to plan the path to graduation using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Students can select courses and track their progress in real-time.

4. Ensuring Higher Alumni Engagement

Challenge: Each year, students graduate and become alumni, serving as ambassadors and key supporters of their alma mater. However, these relationships can fade over time. Without consistent engagement, universities risk losing valuable connections and potential contributions.

Make it stand out

**Solution:** Salesforce Education Cloud and Experience Cloud helps universities maintain strong relationships with alumni by:
**Creating Custom Alumni Portals**: These portals allow alumni to update their information, register for events, and participate in mentorship programs, fostering ongoing connections.
**Designing Dynamic Digital Experiences**: Experience Cloud showcases institutional initiatives and achievements, keeping alumni informed and engaged.
**Building Inclusive Portals:** Institutions can create portals for alumni, students, staff, and parents to promote collaboration and communication.

5. Dealing with Communication Challenges

Challenge: Effective communication is essential for growth, but an ineffective strategy can hinder progress for both the institution and its students, leading to a sense of disconnection. Moreover, this results in missed updates, confusion, and reduced engagement, ultimately impacting student retention and success.

Only 10% of students feel strongly connected to their student or alumni community.

Solution: Salesforce for higher education transforms communication strategies by unifying interactions across all channels and departments:

AI-Powered, Multi-Channel Messaging: Education Cloud allows you to send personalized, automated messages to students and faculty through email, SMS, and web, ensuring timely and relevant updates.
Unified Communication Hub: This centralized system integrates all communication channels, ensuring consistent messaging and eliminating confusion.

📖 Suggested Read: The Role of Salesforce in Digital Transformation: A Detailed Guide

Why Choose Salesforce for the Education Industry?

Salesforce is the world’s #1 CRM platform, trusted by organizations worldwide across various industries for its robust and innovative solutions. Here’s why Salesforce is the go-to choice for the education industry:

No-Code Customization: With intuitive no-code tools and pre-built templates, you can effortlessly configure Salesforce to meet your institution’s unique needs—whether it’s tracking student performance, managing admissions, or streamlining alumni engagement—without requiring technical expertise.

**Comprehensive Learning Resources**

Salesforce provides its customers with free access to Trailhead, an on-demand platform. If you are an Education Cloud user, you can explore all the resources and learning materials required to navigate the solution tailored to your institution's requirements.

**Built on Unified and Trusted Data**

Salesforce solutions are powered by Data Cloud, which integrates structured and unstructured data to provide educational institutions with a comprehensive 360-degree view of students, alumni, and stakeholders. This unified data approach empowers institutions to enhance student success, improve alumni engagement, and drive institutional growth.

**Powered by Agentforce**

Introduced at this year's Dreamforce, Agentforce enables institutions to create customizable, AI agents that work seamlessly alongside human staff. These intelligent agents can assist students and faculty by answering inquiries, managing appointment scheduling, and delivering personalized guidance, such as course recommendations or event updates.
This innovative solution positions Salesforce as a leader in enhancing engagement and operational efficiency in education.

Easy to Integrate: Built on the Salesforce native platform, all solutions are highly customizable and seamlessly integrate with one another. For example, Education Cloud can connect with Tableau or CRM Analytics to provide advanced data insights, or with Marketing Cloud to execute targeted marketing campaigns.

How Universities are Transforming with Salesforce? [Case Studies]

1. Texas Tech University

A public research institution in Texas, faced challenges in identifying student needs, assessing dropout risks, and improving retention rates. Without a unified view of student data, providing personalized support to students was a significant hurdle

Recognizing the need for change, Texas Tech implemented Salesforce Education Cloud to enhance its student services and streamline administrative operations.

By leveraging Salesforce University developed Raider Success Hub, a centralized student portal that integrated all academic and support information. This platform allowed students to access academic resources seamlessly while enabling advisors and counselors to gain a 360-degree view of student profiles. With this unified approach, the university was better equipped to meet individual student needs.

2. Alumni Association of the University of Michigan (AAUM)

AAUM faced significant challenges in managing alumni engagement. With more than 100 alumni clubs, the reliance on manual tracking and siloed data from various sources hindered efforts to connect and engage the alumni network effectively. These inefficiencies made it difficult to streamline communication, organize events, and build meaningful relationships with alumni, donors, and volunteers.

To address these challenges, AAUM turned to Salesforce , a transformative solution that revolutionized their operations.

Solution: A Unified and Personalized Approach

By implementing Salesforce, AAUM achieved a centralized and integrated data system, connecting university data with alumni, donor, and volunteer profiles. This unification eliminated data silos, enabling AAUM to access comprehensive profiles at a glance.

AAUM is also using Salesforce to improve communication and engagement:

Engagement Dashboard: A real-time dashboard for engagement score for each alumnus, offering insights into campaign effectiveness and improving overall strategy.
Targeted Content Delivery: With Salesforce, AAUM can identify specific audience groups for their events and create content tailored to each group.

Inspired by these transformations? With the right Salesforce development services, your institution can overcome challenges and deliver exceptional experiences.

Conclusion:

Salesforce CRM is more than just a solution to individual challenges, it's a comprehensive suite of tools designed to address the unique needs of educational institutions.

Whether you're a K-12 school or a higher education organization, Salesforce allows you to streamline processes, gain valuable insights, and build lasting relationships with students, alumni, and donors. With this interconnected platform, you can effectively manage everything from admissions to alumni engagement and enhance the overall educational experience.

Planning to implement Salesforce CRM and gain a competitive edge? Concretio, your reliable Salesforce implementation company, is here to provide 360-degree support and tackle every challenge during your transition.

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Salesforce: A Strategic Choice for Higher Education Institutions