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Improving Higher Ed Student Services with Salesforce Education Cloud

Salesforce Education Cloud, Improving Higher Ed, Higher Education student, Student Services, right resourcesAuthor: Nick Van Haeften

A Higher Education student services, support, or affairs team(s) deals with a broad range of questions and issues. They’re often in charge of providing students with accurate information and directing them to the right resources when needed.

When it’s easier for them to do these things, it has a direct impact on everyone they interact with. This could mean making a good impression on prospective students, providing support that keeps at-risk students enrolled, or connecting alumni with resources that lead to donations.

  • The more technology and tools that are available to support a student services team, the easier these things become

This blog will review how Salesforce Education Cloud works to provide beneficial improvements for a Higher Ed organization’s student services team and can be utilized by teams dedicated to both learner and institutional success.

Higher Ed Student Services + Salesforce Education Cloud Basics

Salesforce has several products geared toward Higher Education that works together and acts as one system on the Salesforce Higher Education platform, Education Cloud.

The main components of Salesforce Education Cloud are Salesforce Service Cloud and Salesforce’s Education Data Architecture (EDA). Service Cloud serves as a Higher Ed organization’s CRM, with the EDA laying out the foundation for the organization’s data. It takes away any extra time and effort needed to make the Service Cloud CRM work specifically for Higher Education.

Salesforce’s EDA helps categorize and process data in a way that is specifically designed for a Higher Ed organization’s generalized needs and goals. It can also be configured to meet an individual organization’s requirements, as well as customized with thousands of apps available through the Salesforce AppExchange. This means:

  • Information can be presented in ways that make sense for separate teams, like admissions and recruitment, student support or services, alumni and donor engagement, and operations out-of-the-box
  • Every team and every user has access to the information they need, the information stays up-to-date for all teams and users, and different teams and users can easily collaborate
How Education Cloud Benefits Student Services

While a number of self-service options can be set up for students, alumni, prospects, and donors, for those who need or want to interact directly with an institution’s student services, support, or affairs team(s) — Education Cloud offers several benefits in with its general structure and functionality — some of which include:

  • Student records, information, and case management is organized, with automated actions and assignment; the user has a utility bar for easy navigation
    • For example, the ability to set up macros like automated waitlists, and web-to-case functionality
  • Record details and information, including the record’s relationship to other information or records, can be viewed on one screen
    • Multiple records can be compared and set up as references
  • Cases can be set up and automatically linked to student records, with the ability to add notes, view record history, and access similar cases based on key criteria
  • Email and interaction can be automatically assigned to cases and records
  • Trends and reporting assist with engagement and knowing where to direct time and resources
    • This helps with things like knowing how students are looking for information and what information is being searched for most often; FAQs and accessibility can then be updated to more appropriately address student needs

If we look at the core of these benefits, they’re all about making sure Higher Education functions can be offered as a service. Offering structure and tools to set student services up for success, and engage with students in meaningful ways.

Next Steps

If you’re looking for help navigating Salesforce’s Higher Education offerings, figuring out if Education Cloud is a good fit for your institution, or want to talk through any of your Higher Education teams’ pain points, contact us. We’re always here to offer information, advice, and support.