The education landscape is undergoing a significant transformation. Technology is playing an increasingly vital role in classrooms, creating a demand for innovative solutions that streamline operations and enhance student experiences.
Salesforce Education Cloud emerges as a powerful tool for educational institutions, offering a robust CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform specifically designed for the EdTech sector.
Here's why Salesforce Education Cloud deserves your attention:
- Did you know, that 74% of higher education institutions reported facing challenges in managing student data effectively?
- Whereas, 61% of prospective students say a personalized communication strategy would significantly influence their decision to enroll at an institution.
These statistics highlight the need for a centralized platform to manage student data, personalize communications, and streamline educational processes. This is where Salesforce Education Cloud steps in. If you are planning to go for Salesforce education cloud implementation, this post is for you.
How Can Salesforce Education Cloud Transform the EdTech Sector?
Many educational institutions struggle with inefficiencies and a lack of visibility into their
student data, hindering their ability to attract, retain, and support students
effectively.
Challenges Faced By The Educational Institutes:
Let's dive deep and understand what challenges educational institutes face and how Salesforce education cloud services help colleges overcome those challenges:
1. Disconnected Data
Disconnected data is one of the biggest challenges that educational institute often faces. There are multiple systems that compact students’ information. The stored information is often siloed across various systems like admissions software, learning management systems (LMS), and financial aid platforms.
Another reason for the disconnected data is the incomplete picture that an organization gets due to scattered data. The fragmented data makes it difficult for educators and administrators to gain a holistic view of each student's journey, academic performance, and engagement levels.
Salesforce partners create a unified student record with the help of a centralized hub of information. Salesforce Education Cloud creates a unified student record, consolidating data from various sources into a single profile.
Education cloud CRM also offers a 360° View of each stakeholder. This unified record provides a complete picture of each student, allowing educators and administrators to track progress, identify areas needing improvement, and personalize support.
2. Inefficient Communication
Another challenge that educational institutes face because of fragmented data is non streamlined communication. The presence of fragmented Channels is the major cause. Communication with students and parents often happens through a mix of emails, phone calls, and physical mail, leading to missed opportunities and confusion. This leads to a Lack of Personalization. Generic communication fails to resonate with individual needs and interests, hindering engagement.
Salesforce for education comes with powerful engagement tools & personalization. It also comes with a centralized platform that helps in managing all communication channels, allowing for targeted outreach through email, SMS, and social media messaging.
Salesforce CRM also accelerates personalized outreach. Schools, colleges, and institutions can leverage student data to personalize messages based on interests, enrollment status, academic performance, or upcoming events. This fosters stronger connections and improves engagement.
3. Limited Personalization
Students prefer those places where they get personalized responses. In the absence of Salesforce in education institutions struggle to personalize outreach to prospective students, leading to generic messaging that may not resonate with individual needs.
It often leads to missed opportunities. The inability to showcase relevant programs and support options can result in losing promising students to competitors.
Salesforce education cloud comes with such abilities that will enable you to deliver personalized program recommendations & execute targeted marketing.
AI-Powered Insights by Salesforce CRM lets you leverage Salesforce Genie (mentioned later). It is the platform that can analyze student data and recommend relevant programs or courses based on individual needs and interests.
Targeted Marketing can be achieved with Salesforce educational cloud for intuitions/schools: Segment prospective students based on demographics, academic backgrounds, and program preferences. This allows for targeted marketing campaigns with personalized messaging, increasing recruitment success.
4. Lack of Operational Efficiency
Many administrative tasks like application processing, event management, and reporting rely on manual processes, consuming valuable time and resources. There is also a challenge of limited visibility that occurs due to manual processes. The lack of a central data hub makes it difficult to track progress, analyze trends, and make data-driven decisions for improvement.
This problem can be overcome by leveraging the automation & reporting & analytics capabilities of the Salesforce education cloud. Salesforce Education Cloud automates repetitive tasks like application review, event registration, and communication workflows, freeing up staff time for more strategic work.
Robust reporting enables you to access real-time dashboards and reports to gain deeper insights into student enrollment trends, program effectiveness, and resource allocation. This data-driven approach allows institutions to make informed decisions for better strategic planning and resource optimization.
Introduction of a New Feature: Salesforce Genie for Education Industry
Salesforce is constantly innovating. The recent introduction of Salesforce Genie for Education leverages AI and machine learning to further enhance the student experience.
Genie personalizes student journeys by:
- Recommending relevant programs and courses based on individual needs and interests.
- Identifying at-risk students and providing proactive support.
- Automating tasks and workflows for administrative staff.
Genie’s excellent integration capabilities with education cloud and experience cloud enable users to manage their data, identify quality leads, and keep a proper track of the entire admission and other processes.
Education Cloud Features Dedicated to Higher Educational Institutes
Salesforce Education Cloud empowers higher education institutions to transform the student experience from inquiry to graduation and beyond. Here's a closer look at some key features designed to revolutionize how you connect with students, optimize processes, and support their success:
- Guided Academic Paths – It empower staff to tailor academic journeys for students, aiding them not just in their education but also in post-education endeavors.
- Admissions Connect - Unify admissions management and applicant engagement with this CRM technology, streamlining the admissions process.
- Salesforce Student Success Hub -Foster collaboration among students, staff, and faculty, providing effective support and connection to enhance student success.
- Account – Integrate fundraising and accounting data for increased transparency between the non-profit and education sectors.
- Elevate – It is one of the interesting features dedicated to the higher educational institute. The Elevate feature offers a suite of fundraising solutions for US users, enhancing fundraising efforts within the Salesforce ecosystem.
- Experience Cloud Interation - Higher educational organization, can seamlessly integrate with Experience Cloud to establish projects like alumni resource centers, facilitating postgraduate opportunities for graduates.
Impacts of Education Cloud Implementation
Educational institutions that have implemented Salesforce Education Cloud have witnessed significant improvements in:
- Increased student enrollment and retention by 7% to 11%.
- Improved communication and engagement with students and parents
- Enhanced operational efficiency and productivity by 12%.
- Data-driven decision-making for better strategic planning which lead to 195% more ROI.
By leveraging the power of Salesforce Education Cloud and its cutting-edge features like Genie, educational institutions can foster a more connected, personalized, and efficient learning environment. It's time to embrace technology and drive the EdTech industry forward!
Conclusion
It’s time for the education industry to embrace innovation and what better choice there is than Salesforce education cloud. By creating a unified student record, fostering personalized communication, and streamlining operations, Salesforce Education Cloud empowers institutions to attract and retain top talents, enhance student engagement, optimize operational efficiency, and make data-driven decisions.
However, implementing a complex CRM platform like Salesforce Education Cloud requires expertise. Partnering with a skilled Salesforce consulting company can ensure a smooth and successful implementation. Look for a company with a proven track record in the EdTech sector, one that understands the unique needs of educational institutions.
Consider FEXLE, a leading Salesforce consulting company with a dedicated team of Education Cloud experts. We'll work closely with you to understand your specific needs and goals, configure the platform to optimize your workflows and provide ongoing support to ensure you leverage the full potential of Salesforce Education Cloud.