Case Study

Transforming Hunger Relief: How a Leading National Nonprofit Enhanced Its Operations Through Network-Wide Innovation

SUMMARY/OVERVIEW

Enabling Sustainable Impact Across a Nationwide Charitable Network

A major American nonprofit, serving as the operational backbone for a vast network of local charities, recognized the urgent need to modernize its processes and technology to meet escalating demand and drive greater efficiency. At the same time, the organization needed to mitigate disruptions to its normal operations to help avoid an impact to the locations across the country that rely on its services. 

To achieve this ambitious technology transformation, the nonprofit engaged BDO Digital to help reimagine its operational approach. Together, we embarked on a journey to empower the organization’s local partners, streamline its operations, and position it for long-term efficiency.

Key Takeaways

Improved cost stability has provided more predictable and manageable operational costs.    

Accelerated technology adoption has enabled faster implementation of new tools while positioning the nonprofit to take on future projects and scale operations. 

Enhanced reporting and deeper insights allow the organization to generate more comprehensive reports in less time, leading to more accurate forecasting. 

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The Challenge

Overcoming Modernization Challenges 

With its central role in a nationwide charity network, the nonprofit was grappling with several issues that led to reduced efficiency and an ability to effectively scale its operations. Rising on-premises hosting costs, aging hardware, and fragmented IT management tools led to growing challenges that hindered the organization’s adaptability and operational resilience, highlighting the urgent need for a unified, modernized IT approach to sustain and scale its hunger relief efforts. 

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The Approach

Modernizing IT Infrastructure and Operations 

Our team began by developing a comprehensive strategy to help the nonprofit enhance its operations, focusing on efficiency, resilience, and scalability. This included limiting operational downtime during the migration to the cloud to reduce disruptions to the various sites within the organization’s network. Faced with the need to complete the work in 90 days, we prioritized the modernization project in a way that would generate an immediate impact while positioning the organization for future success 

  1. By moving Microsoft Windows and SQL servers and applications from on-premises hosting to Microsoft Azure, we helped the nonprofit lessen the liability inherent to aging hardware while providing enhanced agility to make changes and adapt as their needs grow and evolve. This shift also assisted in unifying IT management tools while making it easier to implement robust controls related to governance and cost. 

  2. Azure's Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) technologies brought further benefits, including powerful development tools without the need to maintain a costly underlying infrastructure.

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The Results

Building a Better Future 

Through transformative modernization efforts, the nonprofit and its network of local operators saw immediate benefits. 

  • Improved Operational Resilience

    The new cloud-based posture provided by Azure has helped the organization improve its operational resilience and recovery capabilities. By hosting critical tools in the cloud, they are better able to address cyber-related threats, with essential information backed up by the unified security and disaster recover solutions Microsoft offers. 

  • Cost Savings and Infrastructure Enhancements

    The enhanced resilience position was also coupled with significant savings, with a projected 20% reduction in costs compared to on-premises hosting models. With a reduced need for on-premises hardware, the organization mitigated the liability of replacing aging technology infrastructure. By leveraging the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit, a program that allows users to bring their existing server licenses to Microsoft, the nonprofit experienced a further 20% savings in their migration efforts, as compared to pay-as-you-go pricing.  

  • Streamlined Management and Enhanced Controls

    Shifting to the cloud allowed the client to consolidate its fragmented management systems into first-party Azure solutions, such as Azure Monitor and Azure Backup, simplifying organizational oversight and strengthening operational controls. It was also an opportunity to establish standardized practices while deploying automation functions to bring more efficient resource allocation, greater compliance, and more predictable IT spending. 

By embracing transformative modernization efforts, we helped the client achieve a strategic IT transformation that generated immediate benefits while positioning it for long-term success. With the organization no longer reliant upon on-premises hosting for its critical infrastructure, it was able to increase its operational resilience while enhancing its processes and controls through Microsoft’s Azure platform. This has enabled the client to better serve the hundreds of charitable locations across the country that rely on it and adapt to changes that may come in the future. 

BDO understands that every organization’s journey is unique — which is why we bring tailored solutions and deep knowledge to our clients’ IT transformation projects. Contact us to learn how we can help you achieve your strategic vision.

By leveraging the capabilities of Microsoft Azure, we helped the client address the challenges they faced from on-premises hosting without disrupting their important charitable work. Now, they have access to deeper insights and beneficial automation without the worry of expensive overhead that comes with owning aging hardware.
Noah Mattern
Solution Sales Director

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