Teaching Business Consulting for Social Impact

Welcome to our blog series, Salesforce Partner Success in the Classroom. Every month, we’ll introduce various Salesforce partners supporting colleges in teaching Salesforce content or curriculum. Along the way, you’ll hear stories of the incredible work happening across the ecosystem to create and skill-up early-stage talent.

Today, we spotlight how the University at Buffalo School of Management is preparing students for the Salesforce ecosystem. Dan Franasiak, adjunct instructor and Salesforce employee with extensive ecosystem experience, shares more about this program below.

Give us a snapshot of the program.
Dan: The Salesforce Consulting for Social Impact class at the University at Buffalo School of Management teaches students Salesforce platform and Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) basics along with the Agile Tech Consulting process. It then matches student teams with local small nonprofit organizations to help them customize and get up and running on either basic Donor Management or Volunteer Management using NPSP. Targeted Trailhead modules are assigned to the students and tracked using Trail Tracker, while mock consulting scenarios and basic templates are reviewed during class time. Under the guidance of myself and Alex Bitar from Empodio, the students then participate in a live business process review with the nonprofit organizations, participate and lead demos of specific functionality, and finally train the nonprofits on what they've configured in the Salesforce platform as well as relevant out-of-the-box functionality.

How did the course get formed?
Dan: David Longhini (from Salesforce Partner Empodio) and I wanted a way to help small nonprofits realize what the Salesforce platform could do for them, and also wanted a way to help students gain practical experience with the Salesforce platform. With the help of David Murray, clinical professor of management science and systems in the School of Management, we launched a pilot of the class in fall 2018. We were able to leverage our connections in the local nonprofit community as well as connections made through the UB School of Management Alumni Relations Office to get the first group of nonprofit organizations matched up with the students.

What are some of the challenges you faced?
Dan: Students have such a wide range of interests, and one challenge has been providing them with information across varying interests within all of the Salesforce ecosystem different things they’re interested in, such as marketing automation platforms, custom development, integrations, etc. We've been able to help by bringing in various guest speakers on topics that students vote on, as well as allow for optional Trailhead assignments tailored to their interests.

What have been the outcomes of the class?
Dan: Many class alumni have been able to secure internships and full-time employment at various Salesforce partners, including Empodio. We've also helped over a dozen NPOs successfully migrate their processes to the Salesforce platform helping them to increase their impact in the community.

What's next for the program?
Dan: We hope to continue growing the class and potentially start an Admin basics class for students to take prior to the consulting class so they are even more equipped with basic Salesforce knowledge, as well as propose an integrations and enterprise architecture course. We are also working on helping pair student alumni with NPOs for ongoing support should it be needed after the class. Finally, we are evaluating supporting a similar class model at other colleges and universities.

Feeling inspired?
You can teach this too. Salesforce Consulting for Social Impact has been instrumental in creating Salesforce for Future Business Consultants, a role-based course kit now available to educators and partners. The course kit contains everything needed to set-up and deliver the course, including an instructor guide, weekly presentation slides with built-in talk tracks, and a customized Trailmix. Complete this form to gain access to our Educator Portal.

Please also feel free to reach out to Dan or Alex at djfranas@buffalo.edu or abitar@buffalo.edu, respectively.

If you’re a Salesforce Partner looking to learn more about reaching new Salesforce talent, check out the Talent Alliance and our university toolkit.