Hurricane Gustav: Why Planning Matters

Personally, I love the history, culture and people of New Orleans. A number of dear friends are lifetime residents of the city. As a result, I am immensely thankful for the outcome of Gustav.

Over the last week, I have been extremely impressed by the evacuation and orderly return of residents. While the impact of Gustav was much lighter than expected, the plans put into place to protect the citizens of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina seemed to have been executed very effectively.

The tragedy of Katrina exposed enormous failures at all levels both prior to and after the storm. It also exposed how planning, even for high probability contingencies, is often neglected. In fact, I think most would agree that this neglect of planning seems to afflict many corporations and non profit organizations as well as government. And I am not referring merely to disaster or emergency planning.

Fundraising, IT and strategic growth planning all can have dramatic positive or negative effects on an organization. While most organizations plan very well around their core mission for the programs and services they deliver, these ancillary and/or support functions are often neglected. The simple result is that the infrastructure and foundation necessary to react, for example, to an unexpected programmatic need simply does not exist. The organization has the expertise and capacity to make a profound difference, but not the infrastructure.

Asking the hard questions and ensuring strategic planning is done in every area of the organization is crucial. The process need not be burdensome or expensive. But it does need to be done. Take a few days and, beyond programs and services, work with your key internal stakeholders to do an audit of the key support functions in your organization. Lay out contingencies and plan for them now.

My goal for any organization is that their planning makes their emergencies and contingencies a Gustav experience, not a Katrina. That is part of why I love what we do. My desire is that MPower, both through software and services, can play a role in helping organizations be prepared for success.

Open Source CRM Gaining Traction

I just finished reading Bill Snyder’s July 2 article on PC World (the same article was originally published by CIO on June 30) titled “Open Source Delivers More Control, Less Cost.” This article is more compelling proof that businesses, large and small, are shifting to open source CRM because it’s a superior way to run an organization. From giants like H+R Block to six-person operations, the commercial sector now is well underway in giving up cumbersome, closed and expensive CRM systems like SAP, Siebel and even Salesforce.com.

The reasons for this shift are varied, but come down to three key advantages:

1. Cost – Open source CRM does not require prohibitive upfront investment and the related risk. In addition, choice among vendors and service providers ensures the best pricing (i.e., you are not locked into your vendor for all changes and services).
2. Control - According to Matthew Carson, CTO of a streaming media firm with 500 customers in 77 countries, “Control is a big issue. You want to be able to write the (CRM) system around your business model, not the other way around.” Amen. Your software should not drive your business.
3. Ownership – Kurt Miller, president of a six-person business chose open source CRM over alternatives like Salesforce because, in his words, “No matter what happens, I control my own data.”

We are seeing this exact same trend among nonprofits, large and small, for the same reasons. In fact, as illustrated above, some of the most common arguments against open source CRM are being patently disproved by the diversity of open source success in the market.

One argument I often hear is that open source CRM lacks the robust features and functionality of closed, proprietary systems. This is a myth propagated by closed CRM companies’ sales and marketing machines. While different products certainly have different features and strengths, MPower Open is every bit as powerful and robust — and more powerful in many key areas — as the leading nonprofit CRM solutions.

But, don’t just take my word for it. Consider the assessment of Keith Heller, Founder and Principal of Heller Consulting, the nation’s leading technology consulting firm with a specialization in helping nonprofits use Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge®, which is one of the most common donor databases in the philanthropic sector: “No product matches MPower’s native features in enabling nonprofits to conduct highly complex segmentation to deliver the right message at the right time through the right medium.” And, since we are open source, you can download MPower to see for yourself.

The second argument I hear is that small organizations with limited or no IT resources will find open source CRM too complex. That is simply not true. As seen above, organizations with as few as six employees are reaping the benefits due to the cost, control and ownership of data. To quote Matt Asay’s comments July 2 on CNET, “Does this mean that the only way to benefit from open source CRM (and other open source enterprise applications) is if you’re a technology-savvy shop? Of course not. Most don’t need to tweak the code, and never will. But even those who don’t, benefit from those who do.”

Matt’s quote from an earlier post aptly sums up why the closed, proprietary model is in such trouble:

No decision is best made blindly. No product is best defined, designed, and implemented in an information/feedback vacuum. Opening up source code means customers can place greater trust in the software they use even if they never read a single line of code, precisely because others can exercise this choice in their stead.

I could not be more excited about what lies ahead for nonprofits as the advantages of open source CRM are realized. Openness, transparency and collaboration have long been hallmarks of the work that charities do in their communities and around the world. Isn’t it time you held your software to the same standard?