This is the story of our three-year engagement with a membership-based not-for-profit organisation that embarked on a transformative journey to enhance its digital presence and streamline its operations.
The Challenge
Our initial engagement with the organisation was to provide an assessment of the current digital environment. The environment was managed by a single Director and a complex variety of offshore developers but did not utilise a development environment or any formal SDLC processes, creating a “bottleneck” which had resulted in substantial instability and a series of cybersecurity incidents.
The Solution
ENVEE Digital was subsequently engaged by the Board of Directors to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the digital environment and propose a new solution. We adopted an informal Design Thinking approach and conducted a full discovery which highlighted key issues, then defined a digital strategy which identified key deliverables and outlined high-level solutions. The iteration stage involved ENVEE Digital developing a proof-of-concept to demonstrate the new solution, before being entrusted with delivery of a new digital platform and associated infrastructure.
The project involved significant stakeholder management, vendor management on behalf of the client, and the development of a new platform to allow the organisation to self-manage membership subscriptions, event bookings, file downloads, a membership newsletter, and a member contribution video library hosted on Amazon S3. A key focus was improving usability and accessibility for both administrators and current/potential members.
The Impact
The digital transformation project had a profound impact on the organisation’s operational efficiency and financial sustainability. Prior to our involvement, the organisation was incurring substantial costs on developer support with unsatisfactory results. The digital environment was unstable and compromised, posing significant risks to the organisation’s operations and reputation.
Our work resulted in a complete overhaul of the organisation's digital infrastructure. We built a new CMS website, migrated existing member, subscription, payment and learning data, transitioned to new hosting and rectified all existing infrastructure issues. This comprehensive transformation resulted in a robust, secure, and user-friendly digital environment that catered to the needs of both the administrators and the members.
The financial implications of this transformation were significant. Annual operating costs were reduced by approximately 75%, representing substantial cost savings for the organisation. This financial efficiency, coupled with the enhanced operational efficiency, positioned the organisation on a path of sustainable growth and development.
Lessons Learned and Future Directions
This project, conducted primarily remotely, underscored the importance of effective communication and coordination in digital transformation projects. We gained valuable insights into effective methods of project management and streamlining communications to make the project more efficient.
The experience with this project has informed our approach to future projects. We are now better equipped to navigate the unique challenges posed by digital transformation projects, especially in the non-profit sector. We continue to leverage the lessons learned from this project to deliver digital transformation projects that not only meet but exceed client expectations.
For more information about our services and how we can help your organisation navigate its digital transformation journey, please get in touch via our Contact page.