Case Study: Northern Arizona University achieves a unified, near-real-time student view and improved student engagement with Informatica

Northern Arizona University Uses CRM to Establish a Deeper Connection with Students

Northern Arizona University (NAU), a public research university in Flagstaff, faced fragmented student data across departments and on-premises systems that hindered service and advising. Its Student Solution Center struggled with long training times and caller wait times, while advisors typically spent 30 minutes preparing for each consultation—an inefficient process across roughly 2,500 advisors serving 30,000 students.

NAU implemented Salesforce as an education CRM and used Informatica Cloud Data Integration (including the Cloud Connector for Salesforce) to bring PeopleSoft and other data sources into a near‑real‑time, unified student view with hourly delta updates. The result: faster, more responsive service (average call wait times of 3–4 minutes), shorter call durations, training reduced from weeks to hours, thousands of advisor hours saved annually, and new capabilities for targeted outreach and early‑warning alerts to improve retention and enrollment.

Northern Arizona University

April Cook

Project Manager