Whatever happens or doesn't happen, there's no getting away from the fact that a good CRM helps establish a personalized customer connect that carries businesses through the stampede of competition. So much so that even colleges seem to be looking for options that improve their ability to engage with prospective students and recruit the best-fit candidates.

TargetX, a unique higher education company that offers both technology tools and consulting services, already had a long and successful history with BSC and a strong personal relationship. However, it still needed to prove that its solution was a perfect fit for BSC and was superior to other CRM tools in the market.

In 2008, TargetX built the system on the proven Force.com platform of Salesforce.com (News - Alert) and, and the end result was a powerful, mobile and customizable recruiting tool that could be used in higher education.

TargetX's campus consultants convinced BSC that the education company's built-in electronic communication tools had everything that the college wanted and based on what officials had already seen, there seemed to be very little doubt about the suitability of TargetX's Recruitment System.

"There's a trust factor with TargetX and a level of respect and service that we get from them that is rare in today's world," said BSC's Sheri Salmon, associate vice president of admission.

Salmon was confident that the system's user friendly approach would not be difficult to handle, and although she does expect a bumpy ride during implementation, she knows that TargetX's technical support team will see her through.

Having recently returned from the TargetX users' conference in Las Vegas, where she saw Recruitment CRM in action, Salmon is keen and excited to use the system's powerful reporting capabilities so that it would help manage prospects better and help staff communicate more effectively.

For TargetX, this is another take off point for it plans to expand into advancement and student-retention areas with two new cloud-based CRM tools: advancement CRM and retention CRM, arming colleges further.

Microsoft (News - Alert) hopes its new Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Trust Center, a website that provides detailed information about its privacy, security and compliance practices for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service, will be the next best thing to a data center visit.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.

Edited by Rachel Ramsey