SU pilots salesforce.com to facilitate customer relationship management.

Several months ago Information Technology and Services (ITS) began investigating cloud application development platforms, including Force.com, a product offered by Salesforce.com (SFDC), a leading cloud SaaS (software as a service) application provider. SFDC offers an array of cloud based applications and platforms for a wide variety of purposes, and the Salesforce.com Foundation provides lower cost licensing to 501c(3) organizations like SU. ITS executed a Master Subscription Agreement with SFDC last December and started getting its feet wet with the service.
 
As familiarity grew with Salesforce.com, so did interest to use SFDC to support Customer Relationship Management (CRM) endeavors on campus. CRM combines business processes, people, and technology as a means to get and keep customers. It's an overall strategy to learn more about customer behavior and develop stronger, lasting relationships. SFDC adds elements of social media, such as their Chatter application, to help the enterprise connect with customers in new ways. The makers of SFDC claim that their application transforms customer service through the power of cloud computing.
 
The Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), and Imagining America (IA) are now using SFDC for their CRM efforts. The Technology Services group at the Whitman School of Management provides the IT support for the IVMF, and ITS helped IA get started with SFDC. The Center of Excellence (COE) is in the early stages of working with ITS to assess using SFDC to facilitate CRM. ITS's primary role is to facilitate SU's relationship with SFDC, provide deployment assistance, and manage license purchases.
 
SFDC is growing in popularity at colleges and universities as CRM for student recruitment evolves. Currently ITS and Enrollment Management are exploring two different options for student recruitment CRM that are built on the SFDC platform.
 
For more information about Salesforce.com, contact Sam Scozzafava at x4027 or sjscozza@syr.edu.