Helping Organizations That Do Good, Do Better
Site Contents
Some Charities That We Actively Support
Visit these great organizations by clicking on their logos. Sites will open in a new window.
Case Studies - Information Technology
| Problem | Solution | Result |
| A mid-sized association had to move quickly to implement a member-management system, and free itself from expensive association management services. But, it lacked the time and knowledgeable resources to properly manage the vendor selection and implementation. | We worked within their tight time and budget constraints to manage the selection process. Because their budget did not allow for a full project management role, we tailored our work to provide high-level project leadership, oversight and facilitation services during the project. | The member management system was successfully implemented. Members and volunteers were pleased and impressed with its operation. Senior management time on the project was kept to a minimum. As an added benefit, our in-depth knowledge of the sector allowed us to source enterprise-class database software for this client at a small fraction of the retail price. |
| A large association had several departments, each of which operated more-or-less autonomously, with inconsistent policies and service s tandards, duplication of effort, and inefficiency. | We reengineered organization-wide business processes, moving the association to a customer service focus. A centralized member service and transaction-processing group was established, providing consistent levels of customer service, and smoothing out workflow among departments. | Overtime and temporary staff costs were reduced, association-wide head-count was reduced, and customer service was improved and made consistent. |
| Line staff in a large association believed that communicating with members was not their responsibility, instead relying on communications staff to tell their story. | We were instrumental in persuading staff to take ownership of information and timely communications with their customers. We enabled this culture change by implementing a comprehensive website content management system. | We saw significant organizational culture change in this multi-stakeholder environment. Line staff communicated more directly with members and became more responsive to their views and needs, all concurrent with a leading-edge website deployment. |
| An information technology service bureau, established to serve several sister professional bodies across Canada, was not customer-focused. Several clients were unhappy and considered taking shared functions back in-house. | We reorganized the service bureau, making customer service a priority for all staff. We increased both the breadth and depth of services, offering new applications, infrastructure support, and new customer service facilities. | No customers left the service bureau; in fact, several additional organizations began using its services. Satisfaction levels improved, and the service bureau's financial performance improved during this time. |
| Several sister organizations were independently acquiring Web-based e-learning software. Even though the same package was in use by several organizations, costs were high due to uncoordinated license purchases, and there was no focal point of expertise being developed in the application. | We led a project to quickly confirm the choice of software and implemented a shared version of the package. | The application was made available to cooperating associations at considerable savings over the aggregate costs previously being incurred. We also implemented improved security over student materials, and increased user satisfaction with the application through improved support for it. |
| An information technology service bureau - supporting a complex array of integrated software applications - had poorly organized testing and upgrade procedures. As a result, system availability suffered due to frequent maintenance outages, IT staff job satisfaction suffered, and users did not have access to improved features on a timely basis. | We oversaw the introduction of rigorous version control, testing and upgrade plans and schedules. | Operations had increased system up-time performance, and resulting user satisfaction. IT staff were satisfied with less, but more predictable weekend work, and a more stable production environment was put into place. |