Use Service Cloud for Nonprofit Client Services
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- List several ways Service Cloud is used by nonprofit organizations.
- Explain the basic features of Service Cloud.
- Describe how Service Cloud can work with the Salesforce for Nonprofits program management apps.
Meet Service Cloud
If you work at a nonprofit, you know all about the concept of service—but maybe you don’t know Service Cloud.
Salesforce Service Cloud helps organizations receive, track, and respond to feedback, questions, and issues in real time. With Service Cloud, your organization can help the people you serve—external clients or internal colleagues—resolve a need or situation immediately or in a few days.
Service Cloud is a core Salesforce technology that your nonprofit can receive through the Power of Us program. Every qualifying Salesforce.org nonprofit customer has access to 10 donated Enterprise Edition Sales and Service Cloud licenses.
Some examples of how nonprofits use Service Cloud include:
- Crisis and mental health nonprofits use Service Cloud to manage their helplines, from the first call for help through triage and dispatching care.
- Food service nonprofits use Service Cloud to manage calls for assistance and dispatching food pickup and delivery.
- Nonprofits of all missions can use Service Cloud to track internal staff requests, like technology help needs.
In this module, we review how Service Cloud fits with how your nonprofit uses Salesforce.
Note
You may call the people you serve clients, users, participants, beneficiaries, members, or something more specific. In this badge, we refer to the people you serve as clients, the most common term at the social services organizations we work with.
Get to Know Key Features for a Nonprofit Helpline
Let’s explore a few key features of Service Cloud.
- The Case object is the core of Service Cloud. Each record you create using the Case object represents one client question, piece of feedback, or issue you’re working to solve. Cases can be created right from Salesforce or submitted via web form, email, or other channels.
- Automation and productivity features in Service Cloud include case escalation rules, queues, and Omni-Channel routing to respond in the best medium (email, phone, text, and so on). These tools help you make sure that no client need goes unanswered, the best people on your team are working on the issue, and you can scale support across channels.
- Service Console is a Service Cloud app that gives your team a view of each case and the tools to get clients the help they need as fast as possible. It helps your team members view multiple records in a split view on the same screen to process cases quickly and efficiently.
- Salesforce Knowledge gives you the reference documentation to build a base of expert information—called knowledge articles—that you can use internally or with your clients to share relevant information to resolve issues faster.
These features are just the basics. You can layer in additional Service Cloud features and third-party apps to better collaborate across your organization. Those additions can give you tools to help your team in the field resolve crises, connect Salesforce with your phone system, and more.
We recommend working with your Salesforce account executive or a Salesforce.org-certified consulting partner to find the right mix of Service Cloud features and tools for your nonprofit’s needs.
Combine Service Cloud and Salesforce for Nonprofits
While Service Cloud can be your stand-alone solution for managing short-term cases like a helpline or crisis response, you can also combine it with other Salesforce for Nonprofits solutions for long-term program and case management.
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Program Management Module (PMM) is the starting point for any organization to manage its programs in Salesforce. PMM gives you the tools to define your organization’s programs and services, connect clients to those mission areas, and use out-of-the-box reports to evaluate performance. A call for help can be tracked through Service Cloud, but when it’s time to enroll a client in a program you can use the tools included in PMM to track service delivery.
- If you work for a human service nonprofit, you can also add Nonprofit Cloud Case Management. The app—which requires additional licenses—provides everything needed to track intakes, referrals, clients, client notes, case plans, and assessments for long-term, hands-on work with the people you serve. After a client is enrolled in a program, you can track your day-to-day work and your clients’ progress using Case Management.
Now that you have a high-level overview of Service Cloud and a sense of how it works with other Salesforce for Nonprofits solutions, continue your learning journey using the links in Resources.
