The preliminary findings of Business U’s National Study: Current Business Engagement Practices under WIOA highlights challenges workforce development professionals and their system partners (economic development, education, chambers and other business-facing organizations) experience delivering both transactional and transformational relationship building practices in various markets.
The demand-side focus of WIOA provides an expanded role with respect to business engagement for Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) that includes:
- Regional coordination with sector strategies, as well as delivery of workforce services based on data (e.g., labor market information) to inform decision making and workforce investments.
- Greater alignment with economic development and education to drive a collective response to labor market challenges.
- Prioritization of an employer-centric system to reinforce business services.
This focus also provides key opportunities to strategically strengthen business relationships nationally—to not only learn the language of business, but gain a deeper understanding of its market-responsive cycles so that employer needs are anticipated and met, even when these needs fall outside the realm of workforce development programs and funding sources.
Are business engagement teams ready to take advantage of these opportunities? The study's preliminary findings, coupled with data that Business U gathered and analyzed during its fieldwork across the country in 2016, found that the number one challenge that resonated across all segments surveyed is the lack of coordination among regional partners.
One of the issues that Business U has identified is that while WDBs may initially serve as a backbone organization for sector strategies, very few have taken on the role as the backbone for business engagement efforts.
Exceptions do exist such as the Centralina Workforce Development Board in North Carolina, which has designated staff to coordinate efforts across verticals, including education, economic development, and chambers to use CRM technology for efficiencies, operations, and outreach.
CRM technology can be a major contributor to help align regional teams and coordinate outreach, however, both cultural and operational disconnects have to be addressed first. CRM technology alone will not solve coordination issues. Business U approaches the integration of CRM technology from the perspective that establishing a solid business engagement plan and standardizing processes and protocols among partners is paramount to success.
Test drive Business U’s CRM-B2B Engage® and see for yourself why organizations find it superior on all levels to the “big name” CRMs (like Saleforce) that have to be highly adapted from a private sector model of selling and sales, to one that the workforce system needs to build long lasting partnerships, and coordination among partner organizations.
Business U has developed, what has been referred to as, the "Rolls Royce" training and support model for implementing CRM technology using a “crawl, walk, run” approach resulting in high adoption rates. If your technology isn’t working for you and not being adopted by your stakeholders as you planned, or you are considering CRM for your region, contact us to learn more and to take a test drive of B2B Engage®.