Easter Seals: Technology Planning
Easter Seals engaged Beaconfire Consulting to forge an
Internet Action Plan to serve as the organization's roadmap for adopting a new
technology infrastructure for Internet initiatives. The engagement documented
the organization's business goals and objectives, identified program strategies,
reviewed identified gaps, and secured stakeholder buy-in for a phased
implementation.
The Challenge: Like many national organizations with a strong and diverse affiliate network, Easter Seals faced the daunting challenge of managing its constituent relationships and brand across multiple channels and disparate Internet properties. In particular, Easter Seals' Internet presence included its national site and a host of independently managed affiliate sites. The uncoordinated tapestry of online efforts was not delivering a consistent brand nor generating the constituent outcomes Easter Seals knew was possible.
The Solution: Transforming the online presence and integrating it with the offline efforts required a sound plan of action for re-engineering the processes and technologies across the organization. Easter Seals engaged Beaconfire over an eight-week period to forge an Internet Action Plan. The engagement resulted in an actionable plan for Easter Seals' Web efforts.
The Results:
The Internet Action Plan:
- Documented the organization's business goals and objectives
- Defined the constituent audiences and desired outcomes
- Identified program strategies and discrete initiatives
- Provided recommendations for technology and staffing needs
- Defined industry benchmarks for measuring success and ROI
- Established a phased implementation plan
The Internet Action Plan enabled Easter Seals to build support for the overall initiative, as well as determine a preferred technology path. As a result, Easter Seals retained Beaconfire to conduct a software evaluation of a Web-based CRM solution to support content management, fundraising, e-communication, and contact management. Easter Seals went on to select the solution, and relied upon Beaconfire to provide creative, project management, and functional support during the redesign.