U.S. Army tries out Salesforce.com in recruiting
The U.S. Army is using the customer relationship management software of Salesforce.com in a pilot program to help it recruit for Uncle Sam.
The Salesforce.com application is being used in conjunction with the Army Experience Center , a special facility that opened in a Philadelphia shopping mall last fall. It includes simulators, games and interactive career tools in a spacious environment that's a far cry from the drab federal offices where recruiters and prospects once met.
This new interactive and casual approach to recruiting is also changing the military's use of IT through the adoption of software-as-a-service.
"This is a new model for the government to be using SaaS in this way," said U.S. Army Major Larry Dillard, who is heading this aspect of the program. Dillard said SaaS also has potential in other areas for the military.
The Army, in this pilot, is trying hard not to be aggressive in its recruiting effort, Dillard said, and is focusing on offering people a place to learn about the Army and coupling that with effective marketing. "Our hypothesis is that the Army is a great opportunity for a lot of people," he said.
The Army is hoping that the Salesforce.com application will help recruiters work more efficiently by focusing on prospects who are most likely to join the military. People at the center can register and by doing so they enter some basic demographic and contact information. By knowing a person's age, education and whether the parents of the registering person have ever served in the military, recruiters begin to get an idea of a visitor's interest.
The Army worked with Acumen Solutions Inc. in Vienna, Va., a company that is involved in SaaS efforts in the federal government, to integrate SaaS to an IT system built around paper processes. One things that Dillard like about the SaaS approach was the ease of implementation.
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And behind door number two
This is interesting. I manage a website that monitors truthful marketing tactics in military outreach. And a consistent problem I have is linking my subject matter to links that support it. It isn't that the stories aren't written. It's that they go away very quickly. I use software to capture screen shots and all of the pertinent information. Then I offer viewable pdfs of supporting news reports on my website. But the rate at which these stories become 404 error messages is extremely alarming.In fact, the Tennesseean Newspaper had a story on their website about a soldier who committed suicide after returning from the occupation. That link is now a 404/Page not found message. But don't think any opportunity was missed. The 404 error message has a top placement banner ad reminding kids in a bad economy how much "money for school" they can get by defending freedom. I have all the screen shots to prove this.
The same "War as Fiction" approach to military recruiting in combination with private sector data collection must be very closely monitored. The whole direction of video games romanticizing war and oppression is not what America can stand for, if we are to progress.
Andrew
admin@CAMMMO.org
Open
Andrew -I am part of the implementation team at Acumen Solutions that delivered this project for the Army. One of the core missions of this center is to provide the public with an honest and open view into life in the Army. If this is something you'd like to discuss further, please contact me and I can give you more info
Marty Young
martyyoung18@gmail.com
Re: Open
Marty,Thanks for the offer to discuss. Having been closely involved with the Army's youth outreach in the past, I understand the fine line that is walked not only by the enlisted team behind this initiative, but also by the private contractors involved on the project. And I have heard all of the "letting the public really see the Army and its' lifestyle" pitch in 100 different formats. The fact is that this video game approach does nothing to reflect what today's US Army is really about. I'm all for a realistic representation of what Army life is like. But all of the polished smooth talk about robots, training, and leadership development stands in stark contrast to the facts you will find at CAMMMO.org relating to unsupplied body armor, unskinned humvees, stop loss effects on soldiers and their families, PTSD, Gulf War syndrome, war profiteering, KBR, deplorable conditions at bases like Ft Bragg, Houston recruiter suicide rates, Army suicide rates, violent crimes here at home committed by soldiers returning from war, violations of Geneva Conventions--- the list goes on and on. Its time to drop the video game/racing/rodeo/music festival/Army as "hip and cool" approach and start fixing the problems that exist. So I'm not sure we have much to discuss by way of a phone call, as you have a vested financial interest in the program's success and I do not. I respect your efforts from the perspective of a business opportunity for your organization. But kids should get both sides of the story. And that is what CAMMMO is trying to accomplish.
Andrew