Melbourne university selects Rimini Street for Salesforce support

The University of Melbourne's Mobile Learning Unit has chosen Rimini Street to provide managed and professional services for its Salesforce-based eLearning platform.

The Mobile Learning Unit (MLU) offers a suite of learning solutions for education providers, encompassing course design, learning management system (LMS) hosting, and learner support. At the centre of MLU's service delivery is its eLearning platform, built on Salesforce. This platform supports student access, case management, and reporting functions.

MLU sought external support after identifying a need to retain specialised Salesforce expertise capable of implementing best practices and ensuring operational efficiency. According to Pat Violo, Program Office Manager at MLU, Salesforce is essential to the unit's operations. "Salesforce is integral to our operations. If it were to go down, it would impact student access to courses and our ability to manage support issues," said Violo.

Violo outlined a central challenge stemming from difficulties in maintaining a "deep Salesforce knowledge base" in-house, which created a gap in resources needed to uphold the system. "One of our key challenges was retaining a deep Salesforce knowledge base to implement best practices and keep the platform running as efficiently as possible. That's where Rimini Street came in to fill the knowledge and resource gap, and we're excited to take our eLearning capability to new heights through our partnership," said Violo.

Rimini Street, which supports enterprise software environments including Salesforce, was selected as a certified Salesforce MSP and Consulting Partner. The company will provide both on-premises and virtual managed services under its Rimini Manage and Rimini Consult offerings for Salesforce.

David Rowe, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Rimini Street, commented on the company's dual capabilities: "While many Salesforce partners specialise in managed services or professional services, our ability to provide both capabilities sets us apart in the industry. Building on the operational efficiency, stability and flexibility we provide our Salesforce clients, we help unlock new potential for their systems, delivering innovation and business transformation needed to remain competitive – all from one trusted source."

The selection followed an internal review and consultation with other Salesforce clients. Violo noted, "We spoke with several Salesforce clients and did our own internal assessment of risks and rewards for making the switch to Rimini Street. What we learned was that Rimini Street provides cost-effective, high-quality support which draws on global expertise and a vast resource network, making them a strong partner, well-positioned to support our complex Salesforce environment."

MLU's partnership with Rimini Street aims to not only stabilise systems but also evolve its offerings for future growth. "With our systems stabilised, we'll be engaging Rimini Street to help evolve our offerings, allowing us to sell more of our courses and the full LMS solution," said Violo. "With Rimini Street, we can balance both our internal and external resources in a cost-effective way, ensure the knowledge of our critical in-house skills is retained, and look towards the future of our business."

The agreement with Rimini Street is expected to provide MLU with stability and the ability to expand its eLearning and LMS services for education providers, enabled by the ongoing management and enhancement of its Salesforce platform.