In the ever-changing landscape of nonprofit organizations, the development of a comprehensive strategic plan is a cornerstone for success. These plans, often spanning anywhere from three to five years, lay the groundwork for achieving an organization's mission and goals.   However, despite the increase in "Digital Transformation" projects at nonprofits of all sizes, a common oversight in many strategic planning processes is the lack of depth needed to highlight technology's impact on the nonprofit's mission.  This is especially true of smaller nonprofit organizations that may not have the technical expertise needed to help facilitate these discussions.  As technology continues to shape and redefine how nonprofits operate, it is imperative to engage in meaningful conversations about the implications and benefits of technology on the strategic planning process. Nonprofit leaders often craft high-level strategies without diving into the specifics of how technology ca

It continues to amaze us that statistics showing the failure rate of IT implementation projects remains consistently high.  There have been numerous studies that show the failure rate for CRM, ERP and other digital transformation initiatives.  Simply googling “ IT Project Failure Rate ”, as I did, and you’ll see numbers from reputable sources that show the 2023 trend isn’t looking good.   While a few positions/reasons are given as to why this is the case (talent, executive alignment, culture etc), we’d wager that there’s one other glaring reason why implementation projects, even those that DO make it to go-live, are still considered failures.  It has to do with the disconnect between technical requirements in the Request for Proposal (RFP) vs the business case that set the project in motion in the first place.   Typically, especially with line-of-business (LOB) applications, a need is uncovered to solve a series of latent or very overt pain.  It’s in and around this time that the busin

It’s becoming increasingly important to ensure you have connected/spoken with the post-sales team prior to signing your new cloud software subscription.  Why? The answer is simple, especially for more complex enterprise systems.  The model of how cloud software is sold motivates sales reps to “Sell the Vision” (this is actually what it is referred to) or show the “Art of the Possible” (another common phrase). Ideally, by juuuuust about any means necessary in order to hit their sales target for the quarter. However, both of these phrases aren’t grounded in the reality of what you are about to sign on the dotted line for.  Unless a specific time frame can be put around when you will realize said vision or possibility, I’d suggest getting a good idea of what things will actually look like once that sales rep has moved onto the next deal. Who better to have that conversation with than a member of the Customer Success (CS) team (assuming the cloud software provider has set up this critical

Often there is a mismatch between your cloud technology partners Service Level Agreements (aka SLAs) and your requirements as an organization.  I know of vendors that set SLAs (and any associated credits you would be eligible for) based on their ability to deliver the service, in its entirety, as opposed to YOUR ability to perform critical functions after you’ve got past the login screen.   Most SLAs include something related to “system uptime”.  Vendors will often post their month-over-month performance showing 99.99X% uptime.  First off, be aware of what “uptime” means.  In some cases  it just means your ability to get to the URL/page on which you would login to their solution. The big miss though, is situations in which you can access the platform and login, but a super critical function, sometimes the primary function of the application itself, is simply not available or is so slow that it’s rendered unusable.  What happens in those situations?  This is where that quote from the ti

So you’ve put various technology vendors through the RFP process and have narrowed down your list of potential winners.  Don’t be afraid to get into the weeds at this point.  More and more sourcing professionals are having cloud technology vendors actually demonstrate that their solution can do what it says.  You should be doing this as well.  I’ve seen RFP’s get completed only to find out that the answers were juuuust vague enough to call question into how they actually apply to a specific customers use case (the original intent of RFP).   Unfortunately, by the time most customers realize that a certain function isn’t going to do what it was intended, the contract has already been signed and the sales rep is off to the next deal.  In some cases the level of discount offered on the subscription is used to justify the perceived unknowns at the time of sale.  I've always found this perspective both interesting and deeply concerning. The best way to combat this, is to be thorough befo

As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become increasingly popular, they offer the promise of transforming various aspects of our lives.  This of course extends to the contract negotiation process for cloud software.  For medium to large-sized nonprofit organizations, leveraging generative AI in contract negotiations can lead to more favorable terms and better relationships with your technology providers. Increasingly, nonprofits have embraced cloud software solutions to streamline their operations, automate repetitive tasks, and reduce costs.  However, contract negotiations for these solutions can be time-consuming and complex, often involving legal, IT, procurement, and line-of-business teams.  This complexity can lead to rushed decisions, increase risked, missed savings opportunities, functionality misconceptions and ultimately poorer relationships with those who are supposed to serve as your trusted technology partner.  Generative AI can play a role in simplifying and enhancing this p

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to speak with AlexanderLapa ( Dryad Consulting ), a fellow nonprofit technology consultant, about some important themes regarding digital transformations and our experiences being involved in them over the years.  We covered topics including: how to share best practices within the sector, non-tech related challenges that arise during technology implementations, the RFP process and long term vs. short term perspectives about technology investments.    Alex’s podcast provided a good medium on which to have a candid, down to Earth discussion about what we’ve seen throughout our careers in technology and how to avoid certain pitfalls associated with technology adoption.    You can listen to the episode on Alex’s Agents of Nonprofit podcast page: https://agentsofnonprofit.com/podcast/long-and-short-term-approaches-to-technology-with-kevin-christopher-george Also, take the time to check out Alex’s series of episodes, which include more great discuss

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of sitting down with Cindy Wagman of The Good Partnership to chat about all-things-cloud for her podcast, “The Small Nonprofit”.   During the session we talked about everything from what the cloud actually is, why it’s beneficial to invest in and how to measure the value out of those investments.   There were topics we covered that are near and dear to the mission of GreenMerits Consulting given our focus on the successful research, selection and analysis of cloud solutions and data.   The informal approach used on the podcast was reminiscent of conversations I’ve had with nonprofit staff, executive directors and board members, each of whom had varying levels of experience and comfort with cloud technologies. It was a great chat with a forward thinking colleague in the nonprofit consulting world about what it means to bring technology into a nonprofit organization.   As nonprofits have had to change and adapt how they operate over the past few

Welcome to 2023 everyone!  While the New Year brings opportunities for change and growth, it also serves as a good point to look back on past years to see if we can glean any insights that can serve us well in the future.   Per the title of this post, COVID19 caught most organizations off guard.  No surprise there.   As such, we’ve seen cloud software customers reach out to their cloud software providers to request some form of invoice alleviation or leniency as a result of changes in their organization (staff, funding, etc.) brought on by the pandemic.  When times are tough, every opportunity to more closely manage expenses is considered.  In the majority of cases, the unfortunate response was “Sorry, but the invoice is still due on time and in full”.  At most, the payment terms could be adjusted to give a bit more breathing room (i.e. Net30 to Net45), but the actual subscription cost wasn’t going to be touched.  Given how cloud software companies measure their success and report prof