Selecting Nonprofit Software: Technology Comes Last pt 2

Community IT Innovators Nonprofit Technology Topics

In this webinar, Build Consulting experts, including the former CEO of Community IT, David Deal, lead a discussion of why, to be successful with new software at your organization, technology must come last.
Nonprofit transformation or change management or any successful organizational change process involving technology begins with software selection, if not prior to selection.

And when people ask what does successful transformation involve? Well, it goes all the way back to leadership and governance and your operational capacity, the processes that you execute as an organization, the data that you manage and then finally technology. And that’s why the subtitle for this webinar is technology comes last. It really is the last thing that needs to be taken into consideration for successful technology selection and implementation projects. A lot of things upstream of the technology selection actually need to be well ordered or done as part of the selection process in order to make sure that that resulting implementation is successful.
Part two answers these reader-submitted questions:

1. How do we define the requirements for the software that we need?
2. When is an RFP (Request for Proposal) or RFI (Request for Information) appropriate in a software selection?
3. When should we let the vendors demo? And how do we ensure vendors show us what we need to see and not what they want to show us?
4. How can we make sure a vendor is giving us a realistic project estimate?
5. Any change involves a cost to the institution. So how do you weigh the benefits versus costs when selecting nonprofit software?

Presenters:

Peter Mirus, former Partner at Build Consulting, is an expert at helping organizations and people to learn, communicate, and grow through the use of information technology. He has more than 15 years of experience as an executive, strategist, analyst, and solution developer, serving more than 30 non-profits and 40 professional services firms ranging from start-ups to large international organizations.

Over 20 years ago while doing a year of volunteer service at a nonprofit, David Deal found his passion by helping a nonprofit and its staff use technology effectively. His career has built on that theme ever since and in its newest expression is Build Consulting. As a Partner at Build, David gets to guide and support nonprofits in developing their information management capacity.

Kyle Haines is passionate about all things design. An architect at heart, he finds joy in creating evocative and engaging “things”. This passion spans his personal and professional life and is most notable in the visually engaging way that Build Consulting communicates. While a Partner at Build Consulting, Kyle also volunteers with organizations to improve the sustainability of his community. His experience in design allows him to delve into the software selection process with an eye to successfully fitting the eventual implementation to the organization’s style, culture, and needs.

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