Singapore, 10 December 2015 (Thursday) – The School of Information Systems (SIS) at Singapore Management University (SMU) has entered into an agreement with Salesforce, the enterprise cloud computing leader and number one Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company globally. Through this agreement, SMU School of Information Systems becomes the first university in Asia Pacific to start using the Salesforce Academic Alliance Programme to provide practical, skills-based training on the Salesforce customer success platform to its students.

In the initial training course that will be made available to SIS students via the Salesforce Sales Cloud, students will learn how a Sales Representative can use Salesforce to more productively prospect for clients, manage opportunities, handle customer relationship related workflow, communicate with clients, and generate reports. This all leads to better management of customer accounts.

Using examples and scenarios built into the cloud based training platform, students will learn how a Sales Manager analyses and improves sales processes, from lead assignment to deal closure. In this interactive course, students will gain hands-on experience using the Salesforce application for running sales reports, forecasting with real-time data, tracking quota attainment, and using productivity tools to successfully manage sales teams. These hands-on sessions with the Salesforce application will be combined with discussions and interactive Q&A through the enrichment course that will be offered to SIS students.

Professor Steven Miller, SMU's Vice Provost (Research) and Dean (School of Information Systems) said, “It is natural for SMU School of Information Systems to be the first university in the Asia Pacific to make use of the Salesforce Academic Alliance Programme. SIS is renowned for the way we integrate IT with Business, as well as integrate theory with application and practice. This new partnership with Salesforce is another highly relevant example of how we do this. The Salesforce partnership enables our students to get deep and practical exposure to one of the most widely-used and most important cloud-based business applications in the world. The addition of the Sales Cloud course to our enrichment programme will no doubt further enhance the already strong employability of our SIS students, and give them even more options for what they can choose to pursue when they graduate from our programme.” 

According to Simon Tate, Area Vice President Asia, Salesforce, “Today’s jobs are moving rapidly to tomorrow’s cloud computing platform, and there is a growing opportunity gap. Employers are struggling to find qualified candidates to fill the increasing number of jobs requiring Salesforce skills. We’re excited that SMU has partnered with the Salesforce Academic Alliance Programme to offer practical, hands-on training that equips students in business and IT programmes with the skills they need to leverage the full power of Salesforce, the world’s most successful cloud computing platform.”

Selected SIS instructors will undergo a Train-the-Trainer programme in December 2015, before imparting their knowledge to course participants. The first run of the course is expected to take place around May 2016. It will be open to all SMU students.

SIS enrichment courses are short, intensive courses conducted by SIS instructors, faculty members or guests from various industries for SMU students. The objectives are to expand the knowledge base of students, equip students with marketable and industry-relevant job skills, and prepare them for professional certifications. Such courses are usually held during vacation breaks, and are voluntarily signed up for. Students do not gain academic credits or course exemptions by completing an enrichment course, but take advantage of these instructor-led sessions to gain additional practical knowledge. 

For more information, please contact:

Teo Chang Ching (Mr)

Assistant Director, Corporate Communications

Singapore Management University

DID: 6828 5238

Email: ccteo [at] smu.edu.sg

Nichola Palmer

Manager, Asia Communications

Salesforce

DID: +65 6302 1478

Email: nichola.palmer [at] salesforce.com