Three non-profit companies in the Philippines are now reaping the benefits of cloud computing after implementing NetSuite Inc.’s cloud-based software.
From left: James Dantow (NetSuite), Jalu Go (Hapinoy), Eugene Naguiat (Motech), and Reginald Singh (NetSuite).
The organizations, namely Cartwheel Foundation, Virlanie Foundation, and Microventures Foundation, each received software grants under NetSuite.org, a corporate citizenship program which offers free and discounted subscriptions to qualified non-profits and social enterprises.
The three foundations manage mission-critical operations like accounting, ERP, social impact reporting, grant management, and non-profit business processes. With NetSuite solutions, they have streamlined business processes, improved reporting both internally and with donors, and gained better insights into their organizations to focus on their core missions.
Cartwheel Foundation: Huge cut in administrative tasks
With the old system, dealing with voluminous data and multiple transactions was a big challenge for Cartwheel Foundation, a Mandaluyong City-based organization that nurtures indigenous Filipino heritage through culturally relevant education. The old system was inefficient and hindered the foundation’s growth.
When Cartwheel implemented the Netsuite unified system in March to run financials and donor management, it gained an easy, intuitive access to its mounting data. The system consolidated its projects and budgets into a single location while providing visibility for performance and foundation for future improvements.
The transformation has brought an estimated 50% reduction in administrative tasks as duplicate tasks and manual reporting have been reduced.
“NetSuite brings us closer to our goal of operational excellence,” said Pia Ortiz-Luis, Executive Director of Cartwheel Foundation.
Virlanie Foundation: No more disparate systems
At the Manila-based Virlanie Foundation, the disparate system of Quickbooks for accounting and separate Excel or Access spreadsheets for each of its programs produced inconsistent data and required cumbersome manual processes that take a week to generate a report, making timely reporting a challenge.
With NetSuite PGE solutions, Virlanie can now provide real-time KPIs to its employees through personalized dashboards and provide detailed information to sponsors about the children they’ve made donations to support. Social workers in the field for the outreach program can quickly and easily enter data into the system with NetSuite’s anywhere, anytime access.
For its project’s second and third phases, Virlanie plans to migrate its accounting and finance to NetSuite and then integrate its fund raising initiatives.
Founded in 1992, Virlanie Foundation takes care of children in need of special protection, including the poor, the abandoned, abused, exploited, neglected and orphaned.
MicroVentures Foundation, Inc.: On-demand insights
Struggling with visibility into budgets across its many projects, specifically identifying expenses and reporting, both internally and with donors, is the challenge faced by MicroVentures Foundation, Inc. and MicroVentures, Inc., the organizations behind Hapinoy.
With NetSuite PGE solutions, Hapinoy can now manage their financials, expense reporting, and donor tracking. The management can now make better decisions while providing donors with accurate monthly reports tracking donations, costs, and budget. The solution also enabled the organization to be more cost efficient as Hapinoy can perform accounting activities in-house, reducing the need for outsourced services.
Aside from accounting functions, Hapinoy will soon be able to use NetSuite for data gathering and storage, thus eliminating the need for additional data gathering software for their community management and market research activities.
“With NetSuite, we are able to provide on-demand insights for decision making,” said Jalu Go, Director for Operations at MicroVentures Foundation, Inc.
“These organizations are doing important meaningful work in the Philippines,” said James Dantow, NetSuite Senior Vice President for Worldwide Support and General Manager for the Philippines. “We’re very pleased to be able to support their efforts through the NetSuite.org program and look forward to their continued success and good works.”
Established in 2008, the NetSuite.org has already empowered more than 500 non-profits and social enterprises with tools to improve their efficiency.
Gaining importance
The cases of the three non-profit companies prove that cloud computing is gaining importance and acceptance among all types of enterprises as it helps transform businesses.
Advocates of cloud have always been saying that the technology can promote productivity while reducing costs when thoroughly implemented.
“I think cloud is a way. With the technology, companies could transform as it takes away the traditional model where you have to buy the technology, the server and have all the people do what cloud does,” said Reginald Singh, Vice President for Asia at NetSuite. “It helps companies focus on what they are good at without having to buy software, maintain and upgrade software.”
Singh noted that for a company to change, there is a need to disrupt and think how technology can be leveraged to drive up business growth. He said that in a digital disruption, there is always the challenge of changing the culture in the organization and the change must be managed.
Singh said the biggest challenge is managing business cultural change – the thinking of the people, how to heed the change, the skill set of the people. They have to be trained to be able to compete in a new environment and think about how they leverage technology and not just implementing it.
