Importance of Digital Transformation in the Education Industry

Create a 360-degree view across the student lifecycle with Salesforce

The ongoing pandemic has stifled the education sector as much as, if not more than, other industries. More than 90% of the world’s students across elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels were forced to abstain from physically attending classes. 

The need of the hour is to reinforce existing education systems with a sound digital transformation, and Salesforce is spearheading this mission with its 36-degree cloud. 

The Salesforce Education CRM is at the forefront of empowering educational institutions with the right technology they need for managing entire student life cycles, right from elementary to graduation levels. The complete set of end-to-end solutions and products offered, termed the Salesforce Education Cloud, is the perfect partner in education.

How? Let’s find out. 

Understanding the Salesforce Education Cloud

Today’s education industry is facing more challenges than ever before, with unanticipated trends emerging in student demographics. Expectations are changing, and so are task divisions, with teachers spending more time on non-academic needs despite the lack of the right tools. 

The Salesforce Education Cloud comes across as a respite in this scenario. A powerful technology suite provides an array of resourceful solutions and applications to drive learner and institution success. You may call Salesforce Education Cloud as the syllabus for Salesforce for the Education industry, an outline for institutions encompassing Recruitment, Admissions, Student Experience, Advancement, and Institution Operations. 

The Education Data Architecture is the foundation of the Education Cloud, developed in collaboration with education partners and customer communities. This flexible data architecture has a series of industry-standard and custom data objects built into the Salesforce Platform for modeling student relationships with family members and advisors, affiliations with clubs & departments, attendance, term grades, employee management, and more. 

The goal of the Salesforce Education Cloud is to provide educational institutions and educators with a ready-made data model for ancillary management so that they can focus more on learning and pedagogy. 

What does the Education Cloud offer?

• Comprehensive View of Stakeholders

The education industry often sees an amalgamation of multiple stakeholders across institutions, departments, and specializations in a student’s life cycle. The Salesforce Education Cloud collates all relevant information from various sources using advanced cloud technology to make their interactions more consolidated and transparent. 

Users can access a 360-degree view of all stakeholders, including past, current, and potential students, affiliates, donors, and so on, on a device of their choice. Detailed reports and interactive visual dashboards are also available for easier understanding. 

• Customized Communications

Salesforce Education Cloud makes it possible for students and institutions by enabling all-around digital engagement. The platform comes with relevant, engaging, and personalized messaging options for all stakeholders. Operations are centralized across all teams to streamline communication and data-sharing. 

• Automation in Marketing and Enrolment 

One of the most significant features of the Salesforce Education Cloud is marketing automation. It allows mapping, designing, and publishing targeted campaigns and customized messages across platforms in line with budgets, schedules, and critical parameters. 

• Efficient Application Management 

Everything can be automated on the Salesforce Education Cloud platform, from grant concepts to budget tracking, project updates to sponsor detail management. You can manage loan applications with ease for faster and hassle-free approvals from internal and third-party partners. The Salesforce Education Cloud also enables quick follow-ups and back-and-forth communication throughout, giving all stakeholders a transparent view into the status of a student loan. 

• Simplified Recruitments

The exclusive ‘Education Cloud for Recruitment and Admissions’ makes it easier for institutions to handle staff recruitments and student admissions. All relevant data is consolidated in a single repository, reducing time spent on data-sharing or searching. Recruiter productivity and performance get a much-needed boost, and all parties have access to a transparent information portal to keep themselves updated. 

• Holistic Student Support 

With the provision of enhanced student engagement options, unified advice delivery, streamlined services, and comprehensive career support, Salesforce Education Cloud has a unique array of solutions up its sleeve.

• Cross-Department Coordination 

Educational institutions rely on multiple departments to collaborate and communicate for smooth operations. Salesforce Education Cloud provides them this opportunity with a seamless experience free from silos or bottlenecks. 

• Advisory Services 

Salesforce Education Cloud enables students to seek advice freely on career-related queries through appointments set up via mobile with a few taps. Appointments are automatically integrated with the advisor’s calendar and office management software to smoothen the entire process. 

How can Education Cloud assist Students and Institutions?

The Education Cloud comes in multiple modules, including K-12, Colleges, and Universities. The K-12 Education Cloud, for instance, helps schools and districts connect people, processes, and data. The extendable data model can flex with the school’s needs with time. Schools can create custom apps and templates as a ready model for digital learning while also providing unparalleled student support, safety, and family engagement. 

On the other hand, colleges and universities enable connecting campuses with its cloud to facilitate unified student services. Higher education institutions can deploy personalized marketing and communication to engage with current and prospective students, alumni, parents, donors, and so on. 

Salesforce.org presents some critical insights on the Education Cloud’s benefits, including an 11% increase in enrollment and an overall increase in donor involvement and funds. Institutes were also able to record a 40% increase in student engagement, besides an impressive 80% improvement in staff productivity. The ROI also stepped up to 195% with a 7-month payback period, and Information Technology expenses came down by a significant 60%. 

All Your Questions About Salesforce Education Cloud Answered 

The Salesforce Education Cloud enables a student-centric 360-degree view of data, simplifying education management to a great extent across hierarchies and departments. At Ceptes, our expertise in Salesforce technology and solutions helps ensure effective implementation of its numerous platforms for our clients. If you have any queries on the Salesforce Education Cloud or want to learn more about the platform, rest assured that you have come to the right place. 

Request a consultation today, and our expert team will try to answer all your questions!