National Non-Profit Organization
Fidelus helps non-profit unite a distributed workforce to Benefit Education
The Challenge.
This non-profit was created over a decade and half ago with the goal to connect teachers in need of classroom supplies with citizen donors willing to pitch in. Fast forward to 2014 – with big endorsements from Oprah, Stephen Colbert and Bill and Melinda Gates along the way – this crowdfunded, charitable organization grew to 75 employees working from offices in New York City and San Francisco, plus 10 employees based in home offices across the country. Free, cloud-based tools like Skype and Google Hangouts were adequate collaboration tools when the organization was a lean upstart; but, the time had come to implement scalable, business-grade solutions that could unite the distributed workforce and provide reliable voice and video interaction between co-workers and external contacts.
The Situation.
The organization needed a communications system that supported the sharing culture which had fed the successful growth of the organization. “We wanted all of our people to feel like they were in the same room together regardless of whether they were in our offices or working remote,” said the Chief Operating Officer.
The organization sought to engage an IT services provider. In the words of the Chief Operating Officer, “We need a team who…
- Understands the unique cultural goals and mission of our non-profit organization in order to work effectively with our people.
- Can deliver training to our team of non-technical people across our network of offices, as well as to our home workers,
- Will complete the project quickly and cost-effectively to meet our timeline and budget parameters.”
“From the beginning Fidelus was very user- focused. They kept talking about our model, instead of the Fidelus model. We quickly realized that the core values and culture of Fidelus were completely aligned with ours.”
— Chief Operating Officer National Non-Profit Organization
The Solution.
The organization selected a state-of- the-art Cisco 6000 phone system to support their nationwide operations. They then put out an RFP to find a Cisco solution provider that could install and provide training for a Business Edition 6000 package that included video phones for all staff members, the Collaboration software suite, and Catalyst switches and routers to support VoIP and video.
They were hoping to find a solution provider with solid Cisco Collaboration expertise, thorough trainers and attentive customer service. After interviewing several potential solution providers, none of which seemed to be a good fit, things instantly clicked when they met with the Fidelus team.
This sense of rapport grew stronger during the installation and training
Phases of the project. In the CCO’s eyes, the Fidelus collaboration consulting engineer and trainer,
Became a true extension of his own team. “The trainer was always flexible and amazing and the engineer was always there from early morning to late at night helping us work through all the remote phone configuration challenges.”
The Conclusion.
The new communication system has had a large, positive impact in all areas of the organization. “The phone video cameras facilitate effective interactions, says the COO, You pick up the phone and instantly see the other person’s face in high definition. With a solid collaboration environment in place, the entire team is more effective which is critical to the continued success and growth of our organization.”
“Flexibility, innovative thinking, a relentless user-focus and most importantly an open environment where people are not afraid to speak their minds about what is working and what isn’t.”
— Chief Information Officer National Non-Profit Organization