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of Salesforce, has built a personal brand on the philosophy of ‘doing well, by doing good’ alongside the environmental advocacy work promoted by Salesforce at venues like Davos. Throughout the conference, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and how Business Schools should handle CSR came up several times. In fact, even in our joint research, our findings showed that when asked to identify the main customer of a business school, unsurprisingly ‘students’ was the highest selected answer, but ‘society’ came second. In recognising that the best Business Schools in the world have the responsibility of training the brightest minds to eventually become influential leaders of organisations and companies of all sizes and industries – why not make sure their guiding principles serve a larger purpose? Personalisation – now you see it, now you don’t Another key takeaway was how business schools are experiencing digital transformation to improve the customer experience for students. The lines are blurring not just between the digital world and the physical world. They are also blurring between consumer experiences and learning experiences. According to our survey, many respondents agree that personalisation is important, and these same institutions note that they are currently delivering a personalised experience to students. However, there is a danger in being too lax in how we define personalisation. Rethink what ‘good’ personalisation looks like, and anchor around experiences of great customer experience outside of the Education industry. University leaders must take a holistic view at the customer experience for students. For that matter, why not also look at the customer experience of faculty and staff that you work so hard to hire and train, and retain? Universities like INSEAD for example are blazing a trail and holding
themselves to a high bar when it comes to personalising the student experience. The team from INSEAD presented this work at the Salesforce. org Education Summit this past April. While the face of education has evolved rapidly, one trend that has remained constant is the need to build strong customer relationships. ‘As hybrid learning becomes the norm, personal connections are as crucial in executive education as they are in the workplace,’ explained Séverine Guilloux, Executive Director of Open Programmes and Online Learning Innovation at INSEAD. ‘Putting the customer first is a given. The experience we’re creating in executive education with Salesforce is totally unique.’
larger Salesforce economy. However, in the jargon filled storm of NFTs, the Metaverse, VR and AR… it is easy to feel sceptical at the staying power of something as nebulous as a micro credential. One point worth remembering however is that the lasting appeal of micro credentials is that they offer an easy on-ramp for adult learners that will need to re-skill and up-skill in manageable chunks while managing the obligations of work, family, and other financial obligations. If not with micro credentials, what will Business Schools and other institutions offer this growing market? As the headline sponsor for the event, we were thrilled to attend and play a role in supporting a discussion as vibrant as the surrounding azulejos with co- sponsored research carried out in partnership with AMBA & BGA. Thank you once again to the organisers for holding this gathering. We look forward to sharing the results in a soon-to-be published report and hope to continue this conversation further.
Micro credentials: enigmatic, possibly the future and most definitely not a passing fad
When we surveyed business school leaders, just 25% of respondents indicated that micro credentials represented the future of business schools, and yet at the same time just 6% signalled that these alternative methods were a passing fad. Our research revealed that we potentially don’t know what to make of micro credentials because today they are applied in so many different contexts to achieve a diverse set of goals. For example, an institution may give out a micro credential or badge for completing a semester-long course, or for attending a two-day event. A student could gain a micro credential on the path to earning a certificate or degree, or they may be interested in only gaining a very specific set of skills. Many employers and companies use this learning artefact to build skills on specific technologies and to help support a tech-driven economy. Thanks to platforms like Trailhead and other certification programmes, Salesforce expects to create 9.3 million jobs and $1.6 trillion in new business revenues by 2026 in the
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Education Cloud enables institutions to drive student success at scale and turn siloed systems to actionable insights that personalise the learner experience and transform individual engagements into lifelong relationships. Salesforce Education Cloud provides the digital foundation to capture 360-degree views across the entire education journey. Recruitment and admissions, student experience, advancement, and operations teams can use one, integrated platform to capture valuable data that drives learner and institution success. Business Schools benefit from the latest innovations across the Salesforce platform as well as purpose-built education products and solutions for faculty, staff, and learners that can be customised and scaled to their evolving needs.
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