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Salesforce.org Announces General Availability of Salesforce Advisor Link, Transforming the Student-Advisor Relationship

Salesforce Advisor Link offers the higher education community an innovative solution for contributing to student success at scale Salesforce Advisor Link provides advisors with smart insights and a 360-degree view of every student, enabling more timely, relevant and personalized interactions across the student journey Algonquin College, Butler University, Oregon State University and University of Florida are piloting Salesforce Advisor Link as part of the Connected Campus experience SAN FRANCISCO — December 12, 2017 — Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, today announced the general availability of Salesforce Advisor Link, a new solution that helps advisors and students better connect. Now, advisors can have a complete view of every student and create individualized or group plans optimized for student success and higher graduation rates. Algonquin College, Butler University, Oregon State University and University of Florida are piloting Salesforce Advisor Link to transform the student-advisor relationship. Introducing Salesforce Advisor Link Great advisors are a school’s secret advantage — a linchpin in driving successful student journeys. But today, advisors are faced with navigating complex and siloed systems that prevent them from having a holistic view of each student’s academic experience and prioritizing students most in need. This has a negative impact on student outcomes, leading to reduced retention and graduation rates. Today, only half of students who enter college in the U.S. actually complete their degree within six years (source). In fact, student attrition is at an all-time high — costing higher education institutions an estimated $16 billion in lost tuition dollars. Salesforce Advisor Link, built on the world’s #1 Customer Relationship Management platform, gives the higher education community an innovative solution to contribute to student success at scale. Built on top of Salesforce.org’s Higher Education Data Architecture (HEDA) data model, a community-driven data architecture and set of best practices designed to configure Salesforce out of the box for higher education institutions, Salesforce Advisor Link allows advisors to easily engage with students individually or in groups, and to identify and address their specific needs. Salesforce Advisor Link offers:

• Complete View of the Student Journey: Salesforce Advisor Link unifies siloed information across the campus, providing a 360-degree view of every student. This view enables more timely, relevant and personalized interactions across students’ academic journeys, creating a 1:1 experience for every student and a more certain pathway to graduation. Advisors can track student journeys across classes, majors and other activities.
• Smart Insights: Through dashboards, engagement tools, automated tasks and analytics, advisors now have the real-time information and insights to improve student performance. For example, with alerts based on academic performance, advisors can proactively identify underperforming students, create strategic intervention campaigns and engage with them to make improvements.
• Advisor Impact at Scale: Designed to improve the efficiency of advisors, who could be counseling hundreds of students each year, Salesforce Advisor Link allows advisors to build success plans for groups of students to streamline processes, contributing to student success at scale.
• Student First Mobile Experience: Advisor Link equips students to become an active participant in their own success through a mobile experience that allows them to build connections, stay engaged and remain on track.

Comments on the News: “Salesforce Advisor Link gives advisors a single view of all of their advisees, statuses and notes, and allows them to quickly drill down on a student and see all of the real-time data,” said Mary Reiman, Butler. “Advisors are now able to iterate their plans in real time, and Salesforce Advisor Link will allow us to focus on improving student graduation rates, which is the most important metric we could work towards.” “Yesterday’s advising solutions aren’t built to serve the needs of today’s advisors and students. Students expect to engage with their schools just as easily as they use their mobile phones,” said Allyson Fryhoff, Senior Vice President, Salesforce.org. “With Salesforce Advisor Link, students are empowered by experiences that lead to their success, and schools can build a Connected Campus that enables students and advisors with the intuitive experience they’ve come to expect.” “Research has shown that students’ feeling a sense of belonging is important to their performance, and has a major impact on graduation rates,” said Susana Rivera-Mills, Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Learning Innovation at Oregon State University. “Salesforce Advisor Link provides us with the opportunity to create that sense of belonging, building stronger relationships between advisors and students as the pursue their academic journeys.” The Smart Evolution of the Connected Campus Salesforce.org’s Higher Education Data Architecture provides the foundation for the Connected Campus—empowering institutions of all sizes to connect with students, alumni, faculty and staff in new ways. HEDA is an open-source data architecture and set of best practices tailored specifically for higher education institutions. For more information on Salesforce Advisor Link please visit salesforce.org/advisorlink. About Salesforce.org Everyone who wants to change the world should have the tools and technology to do so. Technology is the most powerful equalizer of our time, providing access to data, knowledge, and--above all--connections. Salesforce.org gets our technology in the hands of nonprofits and education institutions so they can connect with others and do more good. As a social enterprise, the more missions our technology supports, the more we invest back into technology and communities, creating an endless circle of good. We’re here to help; visit us at Salesforce.org.