• According to the Salesforce Connected Student Report, 58% of higher education staff say their institutions are increasing investment in supporting learners from anywhere with more flexible, personalized experiences. 
• The report also notes that while many students and a high percentage of staff prefer a high level of face-to face engagement, one in four students said that having more flexible courses and part-time offerings would help them succeed.
• With Customer 360 for Education, institutions can create their Student 360 to drive digital transformation across recruitment, admissions, the student experience, alumni relations, and marketing to deliver connected experiences from anywhere.

At the 10th annual Education Summit, Salesforce announced expanded offerings to help higher education institutions provide digital-first, flexible learning options; real-time and asynchronous collaboration; and personalized experiences for students, faculty, and staff. Customers such as Arizona State University (ASU) and INSEAD are already tapping into these new capabilities to meet growing student needs.  

“Institutions recognize the importance of having a strong digital foundation to support the experiences that today’s students and alumni demand,” said Susan Morrow, GM for Education Cloud at Salesforce. “Customer 360 for Education enables colleges and universities of all sizes to build their Student 360 and rapidly build new programs, such as executive education and flexible learning programs.”

Every Institution Can Create Their Student 360 with New Customer 360 for Education Capabilities

Enable digital-first, flexible experiences for the next generation of students 

• As reported by Salesforce’s Digital Skills Index, 76% of the workforce feels unprepared for the future of work. Additionally, according to Salesforce’s Connected Student Report, 45% of higher education staff say their institutions are implementing new business models, such as credentialing or executive education courses, to provide flexible learning options and drive new revenue streams as undergraduate enrollment rates decrease. 
• With Lifelong Learning, institutions can implement next-generation, digital-first experiences that make it easy for students to find tailored programs and courses. These “storefront”-style digital experiences surface programs such as elective and non-credit courses or certificates relevant to students’ interests and career growth, similar to how they experience an ecommerce site. Using Lifelong Learning, students can also access a self-service center that helps them easily add relevant courses to their purchase carts, complete registration, and manage payment all in one place. 

• 72% of higher education staff globally said adjusting to virtual work has been a top challenge. With Digital Campus, institutions can become more connected to students, staff, and faculty with communication, collaboration, and insights tools in a single, easy-to-use, customized workspace whether they are on campus, in their living room, or traveling. With a student-centric One Stop as part of the Digital Campus, students, staff, and faculty can access on-demand support and services with easy-to-use search functions, chatbots, and live agent support. 

• With Admissions Connect, institutions can streamline the admissions experience for both applicants and staff. With the Application Form Builder, admissions teams can now easily build customized, branded applications with clicks, not code. Because the forms are built using the power of the Salesforce platform, institutions can automate importing existing applicant data, such as education history, directly into the application.   

Real-time and asynchronous collaboration to support students from anywhere  
Institutions around the globe are already using Slack to improve engagement and collaboration in real time or asynchronously. Now, with Student Success Alerts powered by Slack, faculty and staff can more efficiently support students and streamline communication between faculty and student-support staff in today’s education-from-anywhere world. For example, faculty can quickly raise alerts about at-risk students from an easy-to-use Slack app that feeds directly into Student Success Hub, streamlining communication between frontline faculty and instructors.

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Personalize student and alumni relationships

• Digital Marketing and Engagement helps institutions deliver personalized content, such as targeted onboarding journeys for new students, that foster a greater feeling of belonging in an online environment. For example, institutions can create tailored messaging and reminders — such as tips for moving into a specific dorm or ways to connect with students in the same major, virtually — as part of onboarding journeys.
• Relationship-Driven Fundraising makes it easy for institutions to identify alumni for targeted fundraising campaigns and create more personalized and engaging online giving experiences.

Customers like ASU and INSEAD are innovating for the future 

• With Customer 360 for Education, ASU is creating lifelong student relationships from prospective students to engaged alumni. The university is putting their customers at the center of the ASU experience with flexible learning options across campus, online, or via a hybrid approach. 
  • “A big part of what makes ASU innovative is its commitment to, and energy for, scale and growth. Among a suite of tools, a platform like Salesforce supports that ambition,” said Lev Gonick, Chief Information Officer at ASU. “We contextualize innovation and apply it to purpose — a lot of the work we’ve done with Salesforce is informed by joining technology, innovation and student success.” 

• Recognizing that many prospective students are balancing careers in addition to returning to school, INSEAD needed to deliver a hyper-personalized recruitment experience for its more than 20,000 executives globally. INSEAD also uses Customer 360 for Education to manage its entire recruitment experience from one unified platform.
  • “As hybrid learning becomes the norm, personal connections are as crucial in executive education as they are in the workplace,” said Séverine Guilloux, Executive Director of Open Programmes and Online Learning Innovation at INSEAD. “With Customer 360 for Education, we can deliver connected learning journeys with a personal touch and create long-lasting relationships with our participants and community of students.”

More information 

• Explore the Future Ready Playbook to learn how institutions can evolve with new business models and student experiences. 
• Find out more about Digital Campus and Lifelong Learning. 
• Watch a demo featuring our Student Success product innovations.
• Read the Second Edition Connected Student Report to uncover the latest insights and global higher education trends from over 2,000 students and staff.