Cloud has a real silver lining with free IT support for charities
Cloud has a real silver lining with free IT support for charities
29th November 2010 - Professional consultancy firm westbrook has teamed up with leading social enterprise CAN Mezzanine to implement a FREE online ‘cloud' database management tool called Salesforce to all their customers. For many customers, this is the first step towards using new cloud technology.
The programme is an extension of the consultancy's force for good scheme which provides support and advice to third sector organisations on Salesforce.com at a discounted commercial rate.
Salesforce.com is an online customer relationship management (CRM) system - donated free though the Salesforce Foundation to charities and social enterprises as part of their corporate social responsibility activity. It works entirely in ‘The Cloud' without the need to run and manage your own data centre and software.
The exclusive deal with westbrook offers CAN Mezzanine customers free support to acquire the Salesforce.com licences and prepare their data for transfer to the new system including personalising the fields to suit their organisation's language. westbrook can also link the CRM system to their website for online data capture, set up email templates for mass and/or automated delivery, show them how to assign tasks, create appointments and record activities against contacts. The deal also includes setting up and managing reports and dashboards which are all features of the online Cloud CRM system.
The result is a more professional and streamlined relationship with stakeholders, customers, donors, members and other audiences, with features such as automatic ‘thank you' emails to donors, reminders when memberships are up for renewal, flexible reporting on members and integrated donation systems. There is a huge benefit for third sector organisations to migrate to the ‘Cloud'. It means no more expensive software or updates as Salesforce.com automatically updates new features three times a year, everything is in real-time and the system can be accessed anywhere in the world, saving time and money.
Twelve CAN Mezzanine customers have taken up westbrook's offer since it began in October. The international development charity Pump Aid is one. Pump Aid's Alexa Doman says: "We heard about the offer from CAN and it has saved us money, time and effort. Before, our database had very limited functionality. We are now able to use Salesforce to efficiently contact our supporters, segment our audiences, monitor Gift Aid donations and report on the progress of our programmes. As a small organisation with limited resources we have found Westbrook's support invaluable."
Reena Chadha from CAN says: "This tie in with westbrook tackles our key objective of breaking down the barriers for social sector growth. The donation from Salesforce.com is a fantastic offer, but charities often don't have the in-house time or skill to invest in setting these up properly. The professional support from westbrook means our customers can tailor the system and get immediate results."
Francis Hobbs, Director of force for good says "We are delighted that so many of CAN Mezzanine's customers have signed up to benefit from our force for good programme and hope to extend this offer to similar not-for-profit organisations,"
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More information from:
Reena Chadha, Communications Manager, CAN.
Tel: 020 7250 8041. Email: r.chadha@can-online.org.uk
Elizabeth Glover, westbrook Elizabeth Glover [elizabeth.glover@wigroup.com]
Tel: 01256 864300. Email: elizabeth.glover@wigroup.com
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Notes to Editors westbrook provides innovative professional services for businesses of all sizes across all sectors to optimise the power of cloud computing. westbrook offer consultancy, development, implementation, data migration and training skills to evolve cloud solutions to deliver your business objectives, be they cost management, revenue enhancement or improved customer satisfaction and retention. westbrook's force for good programme which has helped over 50 charitable organisations to save on resources and offer a more professional service to their audiences. The Salesforce.com platform is donated through westbrook's charitable foundation, with a commercial value of over £10,000 a year. westbrook then provides the technical expertise to organisations to enable them to build customised systems with ongoing training and support at 10 per cent below the commercial rate to selected charities and social organisations. The offer is open to any CAN Mezzanine customer within 30 days of starting their contract. http://forceforgood.wigroup.com/ Salesforce.com the leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and cloud computing. The company provides CRM and collaboration applications that are accessable over the internet and through pay-as-you-go. Custom applications can be built for the Force.com platform, all without the need to run and manage your own data centre and software. For more information about the Salesforce Foundation visit www.salesforcefoundation.org CAN (formerly Community Action Network) is recognised as one of the UK's leading organisations for the development, promotion and support for Third Sector organisations, social entrepreneurs and social enterprises. CAN supports social entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses and maximise their social impact by providing award-winning high-quality flexible office space and leveraging social investment with strategic business support to the third sector. It runs CAN Social Investment, CAN Engage, CAN Advise and CAN Mezzanine (its own award-winning social enterprise) which has three office buildings in London - two in London SE1 (1 London Bridge and 32-36 Loman Street) and one in London N1 (49-51 East Road, off Old Street). CAN Mezzanine provides office space, events, services and networking to third sector organisations and (to date) houses over 120 third sector organisations. CAN also runs a social return on investment (SROI) consultancy which helps organisations to account for, value and communicate the impact of their activities. For more information on CAN's work visit http://www.can-online.org.uk/ |