Frequently Asked Questions

What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is the world's leading customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise cloud ecosystem. With Salesforce, ASU can build more meaningful and lasting relationships with our constituents, be they prospects, faculty and staff, parents, students, donors, corporations or alumni. Simply by logging in and starting to use the tool, we can better understand customer wants and needs, identify new opportunities to help and address any problems faster with an overview of every customer interaction.

Our implementation of Salesforce at ASU is known as Project Connections. We are in the process of implementing Salesforce Knowledge, Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud enterprise-wide.

Salesforce Knowledge is a knowledge base where users can easily create and manage content, known as articles, and quickly find and view the articles they need. With the Salesforce Service Cloud, ASU is able to provide resolutions to students in a manner that is faster and better. The Marketing Cloud has been selected as the university’s single digital communication platform and is intended to replace all other email and social media platforms that are used for mass communications.

Why did ASU choose Salesforce?

In 2013, ASU began its Service Excellence Initiatives. Through assessments, we learned student service needs and wants were focused on quality of service and delivery; personalized communication standards improving relevancy and timeliness; and greater access to online resources. We began researching tools and systems that could elevate these improvements at the enterprise level and decided to move forward with Salesforce.

What are the benefits of using Salesforce?

There are many benefits to utilizing Salesforce, all of which deliver on our vision of building a comprehensive and connected experience for the constituents we serve. The Salesforce Knowledge Base is easy to use, accessible for students and supports self-service. At the same time, case management automates workflow for improved efficiency and quicker resolution of issues. It also increases the opportunity for cross-functional collaboration, resulting in better reporting and enhanced relationships with our constituents while providing a 360-degree view of student interactions. Finally, the Salesforce Marketing Cloud enables ASU to increase constituent engagement and affinity by providing the ability to gather information and deliver timely, relevant and effective messages.

Who will use Salesforce?

The short answer: everyone! We are rapidly onboarding all ASU schools and colleges (e.g., Teachers College, New College and Polytechnic School), departments (e.g., Help Desk, University Registrar Services and Business and Finance) and organizations (e.g., Alumni Association) so that they can take full advantage of what Salesforce Sales, Service and Marketing Clouds have to offer the ASU community.