CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE
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IT strategy , because there was a lot of low hanging fruit ,” explains Knight , acknowledging that in the non-profit sector , technology is difficult to invest in without donor support . When she arrived at the DI only 70 of 270 staff had email addresses , so the first task was to roll out Office365 across the organization . She notes , “ I made a mistake by just sending out videos on how to use the new tools – it took me about four months to realize that I would be more successful supporting this user group in a room with a human being they liked and trusted .”
Knight admits : “ I had a lot to learn about appropriately engaging this compassionate , service-focused audience with technology .” However , the first steps of her technology transformation quickly yielded fruit . By calculating the opportunity cost of wasted time due to the DI using multiple free and donated tools and databases , Knight was able to prove a return on investment of US $ 1.5mn per year , and return 20 hours per week per person that could be spent manag-
MARCH 2019