Creating the Software Infrastructure Nonprofits Need to Transform Lives

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) strive to make a difference in the communities they service - but unfortunately, they tend to lack the funds required to create a robust IT infrastructure that could optimize their day-to-day operations and help them do more good at a lower expense. Additionally, NPOs often have outdated, paper-bound processes that stand between them and their full potential.

This creates a less than ideal situation when it comes to collaborating and right-sizing their IT deployments. However, there is hope. By investing in a cloud or hybrid cloud infrastructure, nonprofits can easily collaborate from anywhere in the world and expand their technological capabilities as needed.

SoftwareONE’s ONEImpact initiative seeks to help nonprofits better serve their constituencies and drive resources towards their missions by making our skills and resources more accessible. Keep reading to learn how SoftwareONE can help nonprofits create the software infrastructure they need to transform lives.

Technological progress has always been about doing more with less, and digital transformation exemplifies that ideal. In nonprofit organizations, time and money tend to be even more precious than for other companies, making them prime beneficiaries of everything digital technology can provide.

To meet the everyday needs of nonprofits, digital transformation should address each of the following:

• Cost optimization: Funds are often tight for NPOs, and many struggle to afford suitable technological infrastructure as well as the IT staff to manage it all. Any digital transformation strategy targeted toward NPOs must prioritize making each dollar stretch as far as possible.
• Risk mitigation: Modern donors seek greater transparency and line-of-sight into operational efficiencies before committing funds. Nonprofits must generate meaningful data around performance, costs, and impact to attract donors. While digital transformation can significantly improve NPOs’ ability to do so, care must be taken so that data remains secure.
• Legacy modernization: Many NPOs have outdated and poorly architected legacy technology. Some are still using software or hardware that has been discontinued, leaving them with no technical support options. Due to this, undergoing digital transformation and cloud migration often requires adopting new software, rearchitecting old solutions for the cloud, and building new cloud-native solutions.
• Sector enablement: Digitizing the entire value chain brings organizations in line with Industry 4.0 goals within the NPO sector. Industry 4.0 refers to the fourth industrial revolution and the ongoing move toward automation and smart technology.
• Ability to address future challenges: Building an efficient, secure, and transparent architecture puts NPOs in a better position to adapt to future changes and technological advances.

One of the most prominent digital transformation challenges facing nonprofits is access to talent. It is no secret that the IT skills gap has affected organizations of all kinds, but IT teams in nonprofit organizations are drastically smaller than equivalently sized organizations in the for-profit sector. While a modernized digital strategy may attract IT talent to these organizations, the strategy itself may include the use of managed services that handle security and threat protection, backups, software lifecycle management, and more.

Carrying out a digital transformation can have a tremendous impact on improving operational efficiency, cutting costs, and boosting productivity for many organizations. Major digital transformation efforts have generated an additional $100 million or more in annual operating income in the for-profit sector - and nonprofits aren’t exempt from these same benefits. When applied to the nonprofit sector, digital transformation can massively increase an NPO’s profile, leading to more donors and a better ability to serve those in need.

The digital landscape provides opportunities for NPOs to not just better connect with donors through video, media, and other methods but to better connect with the people and communities they serve. Benefits of modernizing include the following:

• Automation of manual tasks, reducing costly human errors
• Greater data security that prevents costly breaches
• Actionable data insights that empower strategically-sound decisions about deploying people and assets to the field, such as during a natural or human-made disaster
• Reduced IT staffing overhead by using cost-effective cloud-based services
• Increased collaboration and productivity due to digitally-connected technologies that make every nonprofit program more efficient and effective
• The ability to build platforms for apps that can help seamlessly integrate data from multiple sources to give a single dashboard reference for effective decision making

Updating your software infrastructure can quickly improve your finances and efficiency — both common areas of struggle for NPOs. This sounds great on paper, but unfortunately, many nonprofits have difficulty transforming due to a high barrier to entry.

Often, lacking a skilled IT staff as well as funding for a digital overhaul prevents these organizations from breaking through and reaping the rewards. NPOs may need to rearrange budget priorities and work with knowledgeable partners for a successful transformation, but in the end, the opportunity costs are well worth the vast landscape of new value drivers available to them.

SoftwareONE’s ONEImpact initiative seeks to support NPOs in overcoming barriers to digital transformation. This initiative has put in place an array of supportive features designed to meet the needs of NPOs. Its Global Value Model, built for holistic support, includes the following:

• “Glocal” Organization: By utilizing global and local operating models, SoftwareONE maximizes reach while maintaining an on-the-ground presence in 90 countries, with the ability to transact in over 150 countries. This means that no matter where your organization is located or where you travel, SoftwareONE is nearby with infrastructure and support.
• Lean Operating Mindset: SoftwareONE understands the resource constraints faced by NPOs. Approaching solutions with a lean operating mindset helps NPOs meet their needs efficiently, effectively, and with minimal waste. Automation, standardization, and operational excellence all contribute to this Lean approach.
• Strong Business Metrics: Since success metrics are vital for NPO stakeholders, SoftwareONE emphasizes simple, visible, and consistent metrics to measure and reinforce productive technology strategies.

Moreover, SoftwareONE can assess, build, run, and optimize software assets, including handling demand management, procurement, and compliance until software retirement. Our PyraCloud platform delivers complete visibility and control of on-premises and cloud resources. With over 5,800 experts and the ability to manage more than 7,500 publishers, SoftwareONE customers receive the best contracts, lowest operational spend, and ongoing risk mitigation.

Nonprofit organizations realize a multitude of benefits by undergoing a digital transformation. For example, Pencils of Promise used virtual reality to bring their mission closer to home for donors and investors, allowing them to raise $1.9 million to break ground on new schools in developing countries.

The Social Innovation Foundation in Thailand increased its ability to process cases by a factor of 10 after digitizing records and applying artificial intelligence and analytics to connect disabled persons with jobs. Your NPO can experience the same growth with a little bit of assistance.

Updating software infrastructure can bring about huge amounts of change - and for nonprofits, that change can have a positive ripple effect across the globe. When you partner with SoftwareONE, you can feel good knowing we are here to support the work you’re doing to transform lives.