Government Agency: U.S. Army - Acumen Solutions

Solution or Platform Selected: Recruitment System in Salesforce.com

1. The Government agency's challenge that led to the Cloud or SaaS adoption.
   The U.S. Army has typically had more of a challenge recruiting in urban areas where entry level jobs and educational choices are more plentiful. To counter that trend, the Army decided to test out a new recruiting tool called an Army Experience Center (AEC). To achieve their goal of launching this center on time and within budget, Salesforce.com was chosen as the recruitment tracking platform for this initial center launch. The Army launched the program in Fall 2008 at the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia. The state of the art facility allows prospective recruits to undergo simulated experiences of an Army soldier. A fitting counterpart to the retail experience the center has: 14,500 square feet of video games and three full-scale simulators, including an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter, an armed Humvee and a Black Hawk helicopter. For those who want to take the experience deeper, the center has 22 recruiters. The facility, which opened in August 2008, is the first of its kind. “It replaces five smaller recruitment stations in the Philadelphia area, at about the same annual operating cost, not counting the initial expenses”, said Maj. Larry Dillard, the program manager. Philadelphia has been a particularly difficult area for recruitment.



2. The solution that was chosen and why that particular solution was selected.
   To track potential recruits at the AEC, the Army needed a flexible and extendable recruitment tracking system that afforded greater features than the legacy recruiting system. The system would require detailed specifications to track individuals based on their preferences and activities that appealed to them during their experience at the center. The Army chose Salesforce.com as the recruiting platform and Acumen Solutions as the systems integrator. Salesforce.com provides an extendable, customizable, and easy to deploy CRM platform that could handle the Army’s flexibility and creativity needs. Acumen Solutions customized Salesforce.com to enable on-site registration and badge printing. Following registration, visitors are issued an electronic identification card which is swiped at each gaming station they decide to participate in. Army recruiters use Salesforce.com to track activity at each station; such as which games receive the most play, invites to gaming tournaments, and usage of facilities, as well all core recruitment functions.



3. Results of the implementation. How did the vendor meet the agency's needs?
   The Army’s goal with this new approach to recruiting is not only to increase the number of new recruits from urban areas but also to improve the image of the Army in those areas – a public relations outreach effort. The press coverage resulting from the Army Experience Center launch has been very positive and so innovative that it has been featured in numerous articles and recently covered on NBC Nightly News. Specifically for the recruiting aspect, recruiters can track each individual’s participation in specific AEC activities, which allows them to focus on those visitors who have the highest propensity to join the Army. As a result of the comprehensive tracking methods Acumen Solutions implemented within Salesforce.com, the Army saves time and resources by specifically concentrating only on those potential recruits most interested in an Army career path. US Army Recruiting - Army Contact: Major Larry Dillard ph: 845-729-4963 email: larry.dillard@us.army.mil Salesforce.com Contact: Mark Cerniglia 703-447-4050 email: mcerniglia@salesforce.com