Even as Simplilearn helps learners all over the world train themselves on technological skills, the company is using technology to learn everything it can about its own customers.
Simplilearn, one of the top 20 online learning library companies of 2018, has helped train and certify more than a million learners and 1000 companies across 150 countries in digital technologies and applications.
Simplilearn is a high-engagement, outcome-centric learning platform that engages learners through self-paced online learning, live virtual classrooms led by world-class faculty and hands-on projects. The company also provides 24/7 support to learners, via phone, online chat, a ticket system and an online discussion community.
According to Anand Narayanan, Chief Product Officer, course completion rates on traditional e-learning platforms that teach through video and text are between 7-20%. At Simplilearn, over 70% of enrolled students complete a course at a global NPS of almost 80% – true testament to the value that the platform offers.
Simplilearn’s journey from small, traditional classrooms to the professional certification powerhouse that it is today has been driven by a focus on customer needs – and by using technology as an enabler.
A common platform to integrate all internal processes
In 2015, as both Simplilearn’s consumer and enterprise businesses started expanding, the team found it challenging to coordinate sales, support and internal operations. Running the entire workflow on spreadsheets was inefficient and unscalable. The company wanted to streamline all processes so that customer-facing teams could spend more time on value-adding activities rather than on operational and administrative tasks.
“We needed a single solution to automate and integrate all our processes,” says Narayanan.
“We had an in-house CRM system, but it was unable to provide the data and insights that our teams needed,” adds Jitendra Kumar, Chief Technology Officer. “Different teams were asking for different kinds of reports and dashboards, which we did not have access.”
“That is when we looked for an external solution, and Salesforce emerged as the clear market leader. Its ecosystem of solutions was attractive to a company focused on future growth.”
Achieving sales and operational efficiency through Salesforce
Simplilearn deployed Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud for both the enterprise and consumer businesses.
“Using Salesforce has vastly improved the efficiency and predictability of sales,’’ says Narayanan.
Previously, with data dispersed across multiple spreadsheets, the sales team had incomplete information about customer interactions, and were neither able to qualify nor follow up on leads for closure. Now, using Sales Cloud, the team consolidates all information in one place to get a single view of the customer. This has improved agents’ efficiency by 20%.
“Insights from consolidated customer data are also helping us with revenue outlook,” points out Narayanan. “Quarterly reviews of the pipeline allow the management team to make better business decisions.”
Kumar explains that Service Cloud is enabling the team to deliver smarter and more personalised service.
“Every workflow is automated in Salesforce – from setting up virtual classrooms and aligning the faculty, to managing resources and cost,” he says. This automation has boosted the operations team’s productivity by around 80%, allowing them to focus on more value-added customer-centric work.
Simplilearn team members are enthusiastic about using Salesforce as well. “Using Salesforce has excited and motivated the team – they see that automation is making them more efficient and helping them achieve their targets,” says Kumar.
Using technology to drive future growth and customer-centricity
The Simplilearn team now has a solid platform to build its plans for future growth.
Kumar is leading Simplilearn’s next big technology initiative – achieving a 360-degree view of the customer. The company is looking at automating every stage of the customer journey, from when a prospect lands on the website and starts browsing for information, to engaging with online agents and then enrolling for a course.
“The 360 view is our big goal for this year,” says Kumar. “The data we collect on the customers’ journey towards conversion will help us understand them better and gain insights into what and how they buy. This, in turn, will enable us to deliver smarter service that encourages repeats and referrals.”
The team is confident that Salesforce data and dashboards will help with this critical insight, ensuring that the company continues to grow fast even as it becomes more and more customer-centric.
“This is just the beginning of our Salesforce journey,” says Kumar. “We are next evaluating chatbots, Einstein Analytics and everything else that Salesforce has to offer so we can continue to achieve our vision of giving learners the world over access to quality training.”
