DoD Voluntary Education Office: CRM Solution Implementation

Challenge

The US Department of Defense (DoD) Voluntary Education (VolEd) Office maintains strategic relationships with ~2,700 educational institutions committed to a set of standards and behaviors that will ensure military Service members have access to high quality education and are protected from abusive and deceptive business practices. Managing communications with such a large population of stakeholders has been difficult for the VolEd Office, and it became necessary to develop an effective and reliable method of communication to ensure institutions are adhering to their Memorandum of Understanding.

Solution 

As a part of our overall advisory support to the VolEd Office, Guidehouse developed a solution to improve upon the client’s communication management processes by implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool built on Salesforce technology. As a more modern and secure communications hub, the CRM tool streamlines communications between the VolEd Office and their partner institutions. 

Impact 

Through this technological implementation, the client and its partner institutions are better able to establish and maintain a Common Operating Picture (COP) of all mutual communications, leading to far better collaboration across the enterprise. Specifically, by implementing the CRM tool, the VolEd Office: 

• Provides institutions with real-time status on their progress toward completing critical compliance-related actions
• Easily maintains a COP of the communications materials between the DoD and the institution, independent of the individuals who are executing the communications. This allows the client to view all communications with the institutions at the touch of a button, maintaining synchronization
• Actively manages the process by quickly and accurately accessing summary information on the institutions and the overall VolEd program

Ultimately, Guidehouse provided the client with a solution that enables them to manage their communications effectively and efficiently with a large and diverse stakeholder population.  

Thank you, Scott Flood, for your contribution to this case study.