Increasing Operating Efficiency at “Atlanta Education Fund”

With the transition to a new administration, the Atlanta Education Fund's leadership wanted to ensure that they had a solid infrastructure. After an initial assessment of the environment, the organization realized that they had an old, outdated and unsecured server. Their network was running very slowly and inhibiting their progress. Technology is supposed to make work life less complicated and faster and the Atlanta Education Fund's network was failing. To meet the needs of a virtual office with collaborative meeting space, the leadership of the Atlanta Education Fund knew they needed technology that would let them be fully functional in and out of the office, at a community presentation or an important donor meeting. They also knew that they didn't have the storage capacity or technical staff to manage the necessary equipment.

"As a start-up nonprofit, it does not make sense to hire someone to manage and maintain our systems," said Melissa Solomon, Operations Director, Atlanta Education Fund, "Nor does it make sense to purchase a lot of hardware that we would then have to store, backup, update and secure." Selecting a third party IT provider to recommend solutions, provide support and manage day-to-day IT operations can reduce the burden and costs for a nonprofit organization. The Atlanta Education Fund went shopping for a company that could offer hosting services for their network and Exchange as well as offer IT support.

The Atlanta Education Fund selected TechBridge, Atlanta's NPower program based on their reputation, specific nonprofit experience and low price. "You can't beat the quality of service for the price," said Solomon. "At the beginning of the engagement, the Atlanta Education Fund was essentially starting from scratch. We looked to TechBridge for their recommendations on everything from which laptops to buy to what software we needed."

TechBridge presented various options to the group, and the Atlanta Education Fund chose a completely virtual environment. "A completely virtual environment allows our team to be out in the community where they need to be with the technology that allows them to be the most effective." said Solomon. The only hardware installed at the Atlanta Education Fund location is a firewall - staff need simply their laptop and an internet connection to be completely functional. The Atlanta Education Fund's business applications and file backups now reside on a server housed in TechBridge space at a secured data center. Microsoft's Virtual Server software is the technology that enabled this virtual environment.

TechBridge created the Atlanta Education Fund infrastructure and transitioned all team member's laptops and smart phones to the new system within a couple of days. Using Hosted Microsoft Exchange, Atlanta Education Fund staff can access email any place that has an Internet connection. The service provides use of personal Microsoft Outlook client from anywhere which allows the user to have a seamless email experience; the email functionality will look the same regardless of where a user logs in. And, with remote storage of all files, the files are backed up nightly to provide added security, while still giving all staff immediate access on demand.

TechBridge’s hosting services gives the Atlanta Education Fund flexibility, reliability, and business continuity, all at a cost-effective price. This leaves the Atlanta Education Fund free to focus on what they do best: education reform and community engagement.

After initial setup of the Atlanta Education Fund infrastructure, TechBridge continues to work with the organization to meet support needs and ensure that things are running smoothly. “TechBridge goes above and beyond to meet our needs,” said Solomon. “I am relieved that all I have to do is call them and they’ll handle it. Regardless of the issue, the TechBridge team will work to find an answer and solve the problem.” As the Atlanta Education Fund continues to grow, TechBridge works with them to ensure they are leveraging the most effective technology to help move the organization forward.

And, with the TechBridge membership program, the Atlanta Education Fund received all of their Microsoft software for free. TechBridge helped expedite the process to meet the deadlines of the organization so that they could be up and running as soon as possible. “For a membership fee of only $450, we saved thousands of dollars,” said Melissa Solomon, Operations Director, Atlanta Education Fund. Also, through working with TechBridge, the Atlanta Education Fund received a grant from General Electric to cover the initial cost of the technology set up including laptops, the firewall and the software. “The added value of the TechBridge membership alone and the reputation of TechBridge for being a service provider that provided high quality at a low price was a tremendous benefit to our organization. We are always looking to reduce our operating budget and the software and the ability to receive a grant for the equipment was an amazing cost savings.”