Around this time last year, Arizona State University embarked on an initiative to infuse Salesforce as the CRM of choice. As a university, we had dabbled in a variety of tools including PeopleSoft CRM, Talisma, iModules and RecruitmentPlus with a number of challenges and limited success.

There were a few awakening moments that I would equate to a Salesforce epiphany. The main one occurred while attending the Salesforce Higher Education Summit in Detroit last summer.

It was evident at this event that there were many higher education institutions exploring and getting started with this extraordinary platform called Salesforce. This brief, but informative time in Detroit demonstrated the power of the platform and the power of us, including:

Transforming business processes into a connected campus

We need to rethink how we connect with our constituents – prospects, students,alumni, parents, faculty/staff, and corporations. We need to engage at a more personal level and in a variety of channels.

Leveraging the transformation of a connected campus through collaboration

The higher education community is very collaborative. We all want to succeed in providing our students with the best experience possible. The Salesforce customer community has been forthright in sharing best practices, lessons learned, and strategies to solve the common issues we all struggle with. Having the opportunity to network and learn from peers at other universities is extraordinarily valuable.

Salesforce is a catalyst to enable technological change

In order to innovate and make waves, we need to embrace and innovate on cloud social, and mobile technologies to accelerate success. Hearing how others have been doing so,successfully is truly inspiring and encouraging. 

Arizona State University, in collaboration with Salesforce.com Foundation is hosting the second annual Salesforce Higher Education Summit, on June 5th Mission Palms Hotel. Dr. Mark Milliron, champion for education opportunity and a catalyst for conversations on innovation and the road ahead will be one of our keynote speakers., Eric Stoller, a higher education thought-leader, consultant, writer, and speaker will also join us for a keynote on Day 2. 

This post originally appeared on the Salesforce Foundation Blog.

Join us in Tempe for sunshine, warmth and an opportunity to see how hot Salesforce is in higher education! I look forward to personally meeting all of you.