Envision destination then create solution

Editor's Notes

• #3: Slide 2My company is 501c3 Technologists. We provide IT support to Chicago’s small nonprofits and our focus is Salesforce solutions.
• #4: Slide 3"What’s Your Problem? …and will Salesforce solve it?" How big of a project does this need to be? Do we have the budget for this? Can this be handled in-house, or outsourced? Will it take one week to plan and implement…or (gasp!) one year? None of these questions can be answered without first defining the opportunity you wish to create, or the problem you wish to solve. Tune in to learn how to use Salesforce strategically to strengthen your organization.
• #5: Slide 4We are going to begin with three survey questions to get some information about you, our audience. Then we’ll take a look at today’s objective. The poll questions will appear on your screen. Select your answer and then the Submit button.1) How long has your organization used Salesforce?Still choosing a solution.Just starting to implement or redefining Salesforce.Less than a year of full use.1-3 years of full use.4+ years of full use.  2) For those of you just getting started with Salesforce, do you have a written statement of what you are solving or the opportunity you wish to create with Salesforce? YesNo  3) Do you have a budget and time-line for your Salesforce implementation? YesNo
• #6: Slide 5In this 17th session of the Click and Pledge series, The Experts Talk, we focus on questions: what is your vision for the future, what problem do you wish to solve or what opportunity do you wish to create (your business objectives), and then, does your chosen tool, the Salesforce platform, help you do that. -----------------------------------------------------------------------1) We will first look at questions.2) Then, we will consider options within Salesforce.
• #7: Slide 6Problems to Solve:Not enough money coming in…No communication between departments… No one knows what efforts produced our funding and what those efforts cost…Our staff don’t have the time to document their work..We can’t keep track of who comes to our events and whether they volunteer or donate or just eat our appetizers.
• #8: Slide 7Opportunities to Create:We want to be able to track our volunteer’s time and donations and be able to thank them appropriately. We want our clients to be able to talk to others facing similar issues and be able to share resources with each other. We want our case managers to be able to know whether a client is also being helped by another of our programs at a different site and be able to better coordinate services.
• #9: Slide 8Solving problems and Creating Opportunities is different than board members’ and staff wish lists and the nonprofit grab bag (taking anything that’s free!). The scenarios on your screen should never in and of themselves dictate your decisions.
• #10: Slide 9There are technology choices to be made, but do the human part first -- define your vision. The options for solving some of our data problems, or how we use data systems to create opportunities, are numerous; they include Salesforce; and within the Salesforce platform, involve several choices. Some of these options are better than others. Some of them are more sophisticated than others, and some need to be adapted. But first, do the hard work of defining your vision.
• #11: Slide 10 (click twice – has animation)The first question: “What is your vision?” What is your end game? What do you want to accomplish? Are your trying to address a specific constituency or stakeholder? What do you hope will be different as a result of the changes you are seeking to address? External engagement or investment in your organization? Client satisfaction? Program facilitation?
• #12: Slide 11Phil Simeon, in one of my favorite books on this topic, Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects, says;”The short answer is “people”. The slightly longer answer is that … vendors push, and organizations choose a new system lacking a solid understanding of the four basics for implementing any major technology: data, people, processes, and technology.”When referencing data, as the first cause, he is talking about what you need and why you need it and how the solution will address that problem. Note, that technology is the last of the four pieces.
• #13: Slide 12It is my notion that given good knowledge about where you want to go, what you need and good processes for defining how you will get there; any number of technology tools, or platforms, could be used/adapted to accomplish the technology task.
• #14: Slide 13In the book, Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products, by Jim Hightower, the process is described as one of adaption: Envision, Speculate, Explore/Release, Adapt/Refine, Close, and Start the circle over.Answer the question: What is your vision?Answer the question: What do you wish to solve?Answer the question: What is your business plan for solving that problem?Answer the question: What are your constraints?Answer the question: What is your overall solution roadmap?Answer the question: What are your first steps, what is your first destination?
• #15: Slide 14Understand that we are working on a journey, not the destination. On this journey we start by defining what is the value we wish to create, how will we ensure the quality of that process, and what are the constraints within which we are operating. We have to balance value, quality, and constraints. Within this framework we chose platform/tools. Think broadly, THEN fill in the details. You will not be able to anticipate every turn, every roadblock, etc. Consider this scenario for instance:We envision a more connected family. We know that we want to regularly spend more time with mom and dad in California. We chose to drive a rental car there from Chicago and to travel with our brother, who lives in Kansas City. We have a certain number of days available, we know that we need to travel via Kansas City, we know that our brother has certain dietary constraints that limit where we can stop for meals, we know which day we need to leave, and when we need to be back, and we have chosen the rental car company because they meet certain requirements. However, we don’t know each place we will stop along the way for gas or a meal, though we have chosen where we will spend each night; and we also don’t know whether we will encounter construction delays, have a mechanical break down, or that our brother has decided to bring along his dog, which needs to stop frequently.
• #16: Slide 15With technology, we often get into trouble not because we haven’t defined all the details in advance, but because we enthusiastically secured the rental car, and got on the road without knowing where we were going, when we needed to be there, or who was going along with us– we haven’t answered the big questions and defined our constraints. If we had started with the big questions, we could have decided that we really needed to fly, not drive; and that it wouldn’t work for us to travel with our brother, that we needed to meet him there. We would’ve ended up with a different platform/tool set and a different partner on this stage of the journey. It isn’t that one tool was inherently better than the other. It was appropriate for our constraints. Having answered the big questions, we can look at how we will get there– what are our options, which platform will we drive.
• #17: Slide 16NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) in their “2011 Nonprofit Data EcoSystem Survey” report looked at the platforms/tools then available to nonprofits “to manage all the ways they interact with donors, volunteers, activists, and supporters.” (They did a similar study in 2008.) The tools that they reviewed included tools for the management of donors, volunteers, activists, clients/cases, ecommerce, bulk mail, events, and websites. Though the options have already changed, I commend this study to any one evaluating platforms/tools.This survey reports on the evaluations of software options by nonprofits using those options. Some are more appropriate for one function, but not for another. If you know what you are trying to solve, then you can look at the evaluations of a particular product to see how they fit relative to your purpose. Its purpose may be limited, but it may be just the niche tool that you need.
• #18: Slide 17Here is one of pages that reviews mass email applications.Though this report is wonderful in helping me understand what questions I should be asking of a tool, realize that the tools have already changed. Since this came out, iContact has been added as a mass email campaign tool built within Salesforce. Groundwire, also, has a campaign tool, which integrates with Salesforce. Soapbox Engage, built to integrate with Salesforce, has a new mass email product. Click and Pledge has products that may impact your choice in that they are built inside of Salesforce and integrate with Mail Chimp and Constant Contact.
• #19: Slide18A second source for good review of your available choices comes from Idealware.org, http://idealware.org/reports,is great resource for reviewing reports on 70 different types of software for nonprofits.It is the consumer reports of nonprofit software. Idealware.org does evaluation of technology for nonprofits. This is an incredible reference piece. However, when you use it to look at your options, keep in mind that in this rapidly changing environment, there will be changes from what was reported when this went to press.
• #20: Slide 19So, what do you do with this fast changing land scape?In the realm of client/case management, there is a brand new Salesforce tool, that wasn’t available at the time of these evaluations and reviews. Circe has been tested for seven years by Family Services Agency of San Francisco, won Salesforce Foundation’s Grant-For-Change Grant in 2011 to re-develop it for use by other nonprofits, and it is now available on the Salesforce AppExchange.Because such a package did not exist last fall, I have a client that implemented a non- Salesforce case management product, even though they would have preferred a Salesforce based product. In light of such change, how do you make decisions?
• #21: Slide 20My suggestion for how to approach this fast moving environment is that you begin with a CRM system that will become the platform around which you will attempt to integrate all other tools. This Constituent Relationship Management system will become, over time, your data hub. You will decide about other tools in terms of their ability to work with this primary platform.Heller Consulting in their paper, “Insights into CRM for Nonprofits: How nonprofits are approaching Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) to overcome challenges and meet their goals”, refers to “CRM as a strategy”. It is a vision of being connected to your constituents, that doesn’t wait for the new system, or for the perfection of the new system, nor for the full integration of all your tools.
• #22: Slide 21From Heller Consulting’s perspective, “nonprofit CRM begins with a strategy. The starting point is a focus on the constituent: How can we best serve them? This is an exciting point! This is how every nonprofit starts — with the vision, aspiration and drive to best serve its constituents. The goal of a nonprofit’s CRM strategy is to find, attract, and win new constituents, nurture and retain those the organization already has, entice former constituents back into the fold, and reduce the costs (and/or in­crease the efficiency and efficacy) of communications and providing service to constituents. It then enlists technology, business practices and customer service to support and enhance the constituent experience and, in turn, the mission of the organization.”When looking at the options in the evaluation studies, look at them in terms of their ability to be this CRM, or to eventually integrate with that chosen hub.
• #23: Slide 22When considering your CRM platform options and looking at the Salesforce option, I would, again, reference a Heller Consulting resource, their paper, “The New World of Donor Management Apps for Nonprofits: An in-depth review of top fundraising applications built on the Salesforce.com platform”.They take a look at five apps built on top of Salesforce and how each of them takes a different approach to modeling the data. These variations in data models may also be useful to you in asking questions of other, non-Salesforce CRM systems. What are their organizing data structures? How do they relate an individual to a family, to an employer, to another organization, where they serve on the board? There are different ways to conceptualize these relationships and Heller represents five of these as they do this within Salesforce. They talk about what each does well and what they don’t focus on. It is less about being good at what they do and more about their focus. This allows you to try these on to see, which fits best with your organizational vision.Affinaquest by Affinaquest, Causeview by Breakeven, Luminate CRM by Blackbaud (formerly a product of Convio), Nonprofit Starter Pack by the Salesforce Foundation, and roundCause by roundCorner are the five apps considered. Keep in mind, that again, the choices are changing – Blackbaud has discontinued CommonGround, Soapbox Engage has a new product, and Click and Pledge has done a tremendous job in recent build-outs of their product line.The questions asked by Heller Consulting of the five apps reviewed can also be asked by you of the Soapbox Engage and the Click and Pledge products, as you determine what would be a good fit.
• #24: Slide 23Will Salesforce meet your needs? Well, which of the options within Salesforce are you asking about? It isn’t a single thing, but rather a platform that allows you to choose various ways to organize your data. You could do that through a custom develop from the ground up, or you can do that with one or a number of apps.
• #25: Slide 24The questioning needs to begin with your vision, defining what it is you wish to solve or create, making a plan to do that, identifying your constraints, and creating an over-all solution roadmap; and it is at this step that you ask which of these options best fits our needs. Does that option exist within Salesforce, or somewhere else? Then, ask what is the first step, the first destination on the journey. I propose that for most nonprofits there is a CRM solution within Salesforce that will fit their needs. All the other tools can be found to add on to that central solution, or they will come soon. The change is fast and with 15,000 nonprofits using the platform the demand for solutions is constant. With the AppExchange apps providing add-on functionality (1,500+ business apps and counting, 450+ discounted or free for nonprofits) there is competition among vendors to provide products that meet your needs.There are times when I advise clients to go outside the Salesforce milieu to look for the solution. Case-in-point, the organization that went another route to get an off-the-shelf case management system, because their constraints did not allow them to build one from scratch and they couldn’t wait until an appropriate app became available. It is part of their road map to reconsider that choice in 3-5 years and at that time look at the current options within Salesforce. There is one now, Circe, that didn’t exist at the time of their decision. By the time they are ready to review options, again, it will be further developed and there may be other apps to consider. However, they were committed to a strategy of CRM, not to the tool, and that strategy will also define their future choices.
• #26: Slide 25Answer the question: What is your vision?Answer the question: What do you wish to solve?Answer the question: What is your business plan for solving that problem?Answer the question: What are your constraints?Answer the question: What is your overall solution roadmap? Make a CRM choice.Answer the question: What are your first steps, what is your first destination?Implement your first destination on your roadmap.
• #27: Slide 26Conclusion: You are on a journey emboldened by a vision of what can be. The destination is not your choice of platform/tool, it is value for your donors, your volunteers, your activists, your members, your clients, your staff, your cause… Know your constraints. Don’t wait on the tools, but move forward with your CRM strategy.
• #28: Slide 27Again, my name is Charlie Havens. I thank you for joining us, today.
• #29: Slide 28I am posting a slide with helpful resources and I will gladly answer any quesyions at this time. Are there comments and questions we can address?References you may find useful: “2011 Nonprofit Data Ecosystem Survey”, An NTEN Report, AnnalieseHoehling, Dec. 2011Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products, 2nd Edition, Jim Hightower, 2010http://www.nten.org/ntenchange this month’s online journal focus: “How Your Organization Can Embrace Data”http://idealware.org/reports is a great resource: reviewing 70 different types of software for nonprofits. It is the consumer reports of nonprofit software.“Insights Into CRM for Nonprofits: How nonprofits are approaching Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) to overcome challenges and meet their goals”, Heller Consulting, 2012The Idealware 2012 Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits, Laura Quinn, 2012 (covers 70 types of software products for performing various functions within the nonprofit.)“The New World of Donor Management Apps for Nonprofits” Heller Consulting, 2012Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects, Revised Edition, Phil Simon, 2011