Electronic Arts Builds Extensive Global Talent Acquisition Platform on Robust Salesforce CRM and AppExchange Solution

Challenge

• Electronic Arts (EA), the world’s leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for advanced entertainment systems, required a talent relationship management system to optimally manage its talent acquisitions activities
• EA recruiters used disparate Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that failed to measure conversion rates of contacts to candidates or the success of recruitment campaigns 
• The company envisioned a global, multilingual, end-to-end talent acquisition platform—beyond the scope of sales and marketing functions—to unify a wide array of recruitment applications under one umbrella solution

Solution

• After evaluating CRM solutions from Microsoft and other vendors, the company chose Salesforce CRM for its platform that accommodates multiple apps, simple automated email features, and hosted architecture that provides the flexibility and speed to respond to a rapidly changing global talent environment
• With the help of a third-party consultant, EA deployed Force.com's connect for Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce CRM's  mobile access integration in two weeks to 40 users in the U.S., U.K., and Canada; plans to integrate with multiple mission-critical systems are underway
• Impressed by the initial success of Salesforce CRM and encouraged by the promise of AppExchange, the company built out its talent acquisition platform with 14 applications, including Campaign/Marketing Management, Social Network Sourcing, Internal Candidate Tracking, Global Employee Referrals, and Event Manager
• The company built a University Relations application on the Force.com platform to effectively manage relationships with colleges and universities 
• A Detailed Pipeline Statistics custom application also enables EA to accurately forecast how many people the company needs to contact to fill any given position
• Recruiters received interactive training in small teams customized for each location and team structure, followed by one-on-one training tailored for each user and their role within EA's talent acquisition team, which led to a 95 percent adoption rate
• Dashboards indicate how well a pipeline is working and allows talent acquisition leaders to oversee recruitment efforts on a global scale

Results

• EA realized its vision of a consolidated, global talent acquisition system—the most advanced of its kind, according to Corporate Executive Board—now available in 12 languages
• For the first time, EA is able to track leads to contact conversion, giving the company a critical indicator of how well the company brand resonates in the marketplace
• The company can now also track contact to candidate conversion, which measures how many people want to apply against the specific position, capturing conversations and prerecruitment information that would otherwise be lost post-hire 
• Recruiting specialists are thrilled to be using real sales tools to help them find and close the best talent worldwide, increasing both data capture and sourcing/prospecting effectiveness
• Recruiters are now able to gauge the amount of effort needed to meet hiring managers’ needs, e.g. how many candidates they must contact to bring 10 in the door—making it easier to plan campaigns and meet requirements
• By fully integrating enterprise apps such as PeopleSoft HRMS and subsuming its Applicant Tracking System into Salesforce CRM, EA is on pace to close the loop of its entire recruitment process worldwide