Viewpoints

Through a greater understanding of the development and business processes faced by the technology suppliers, a non-profit organization will be able to maximize its limited resources and avoid the great many costly pitfalls of embarking on ill planned technological adventures. It can be very costly dealing with technology vendors and mistakes will ultimately cost the client. This is not to say that technology vendors are in any way underhanded or not cognizant of non-profit culture, many are; but it is my view that the more understanding a non-profit has about what issues play out in large scale technology implementations, the greater the chance of success. People who dedicate their days to helping others deserve an enormous amount of credit and respect for being pillars in civil society. They don’t get enough respect, and certainly don’t have enough resources or tools to do the job they know really has to be done. But they work at it with heart and soul, focussing on the people who need their help.

In general, social services are focused on people, the relationships fostering success; and the outcomes and costs of service delivery. The technology industry is focused on abstractions, models, systems planning, metaphors, time and revenue, cost and investment. The technology industry is mired in a highly competitive landscape with enormous pressure to deliver, be “better”, be fast, or die out.

I hope to provide insights for you from my own experiences as a former social worker, non-profit executive, Board member, social entrepreneur; and as a founder and former CEO of a leading technology development company. As a social worker I have worked on the front lines with marginalized people, provided counselling, developed curriculum, built social services programs, managed multi-service organizations and provided governance through Board memberships. As a technology CEO I have lead a team to build unique and ground breaking client tracking and case management applications for both community and government organizations and have worked with some of the biggest companies in the world includingIBM, CGI-AMS, EDS and Microsoft. I have come across many useful tools, organizations, techniques and practices which can be useful for non-profits considering the purchase or development ofcase management systems and the philosophy behind the Bio-Socio-Economic Health Model to benefit your clients, your organization, and your funders; and assist in helping the sector as a whole. case management technologies. I want to save you time, money, frustration and fear – all of which I have faced one way or another through my experiences with technology and non-profits. I have both successes and abject failures which I will draw on. I have come through the school of hard knocks and now hope to open up the concepts of