We are undertaking a complex technology implementation and need help managing it.

Technology implementations are getting more complex by the day: more tool combinations, more vendors, and more organizational stakeholders. We provide implementation management services that include managing vendors; bridging communications between organizations and tech development teams; testing and reporting issues or bugs; and troubleshooting issues so that projects are delivered as planned.

Consulting Lab » Implementation & Project Management

Our organization needs a communication strategy and plan so we can effectively reach out to our target audiences.

We help organizations craft communication strategy and plan that includes all the different contact tools and messaging media. This includes creating a communication calendar and planning out the activities (web site content planning, mailing list messaging, fundraising asks, and advocacy actions) for the year, assigning the needed resources to it, and ensuring that the results are tracked for future action. These calendars also help the organization schedule their communications so that they contact their constituents at appropriate intervals.

Consulting Lab » Strategy & Planning

Our organization does not have an over-arching strategy or plan for technology. We know where we are. We want to understand how technology can help us get to where we want to go.

Most organizations start using technology as a reactive tool (we need a web site, let us build one using x technology) but soon get to a point where they need it to become a proactive solution (what other services can we provide online and how do we start laying a technology foundation with the future in mind). Technology strategy and planning can help the organization understand the long-term goals so that they start putting in place components that will help them reach there. The strategy & planning document can serve as the blueprint for the future than can then be built upon piece by piece or module by module.

Consulting Lab » Strategy & Planning

Blogging (or mobile payment or podcasting or YouTube or Facebook) seems to be all over the place. We want to know if our organization should be doing anything with this.

Technologies change at such a rapid pace that it is becoming hard to keep track of the new and even harder to figure out how the organization can benefit from this. We help organizations identify technology trends and work with them to understand which of the trends can be beneficially engaged to advance the mission and vision. We also ensure that organizations understand and plan for internal resource allocation (staff time, financial costs, etc) are needed for introducing new technologies like blogging and podcasting so that it can be sustained as a tool over a period of time instead of it appearing and disappearing as a fad.

Consulting Lab » Strategy & Planning

We are planning a large technology project. We need to gather requirements, write an RFP (Request for Proposal), and select an implementer for the technology.

We can manage the entire technology RFP process or parts of it: from requirements gathering to writing the RFP, from vendor response analysis to making a final recommendation, from due diligence to contract negotiation.

Consulting Lab » Strategy & Planning

We cannot update our web site easily. Our organization would like to find a tool that can help us manage our web site.

We work with organizations to understand their current web site management issues and make an appropriate solution recommendation. We also find other required and complementary technologies like a mailing list tool, CRM solution, contacts database, network support, hosting provider, etc., to create a bundle that meets the entire spectrum of needs for a robust web presence.

Consulting Lab » Strategy & Planning

Our organization needs a multi-lingual web site that supports complex characters like Chinese and Arabic.

Multi-lingual web sites require coordination of multiple intricate technologies and processes. On the technology side there are encoding and decoding at different levels - encoding at the web application front-end and database back-end; decoding from the database to the front-end web page; etc. On the process side, there are many questions that need to be answered. For instance, how the translation process will work (is it one-to-one relationship?), how web visitors will find the other language versions (a link on the page or is it a separate web site?), what happens when they search for something (does the application search through all language versions?), etc. We help negotiate these intricacies, select the right technology tools, and implement a multi-lingual site that works for the organization and the web site visitors.

Consulting Lab » Implementation & Project Management

We have already selected a content management system for our web site. Now we need to implement it.

We can implement practically any content management system (CMS). We have a robust partner network that will do the installation and implementation. The project will be executed by AI, so you have a single point of contact and won’t have to deal with multiple vendor contacts.

Consulting Lab » Implementation & Project Management

We have multiple tools and solutions that power our many online activities. We need assistance in integrating them all together.

Today’s web sites are a conglomeration of multiple online tools and solutions. We provide two types of integration services to organizations – user experience integration and data integration. User experience integration involves “skinning” an external site (ex. advocacy tool) so that it looks similar to your web site, thus making the user experience seamless when they move from tool to tool. Data integration services help your organization move data (contact information, email address, etc) manually or automatically from one tool to another (ex. moving email addresses from your online store to your email tool). This helps the organization stay consistent in communication and messaging while also respecting user’s preferences (ex. do not want to be emailed, etc).

Consulting Lab » Implementation & Project Management

We are looking to upgrade our web site, find new online tools, and implement all of them.

A basic web site is a collection of multiple tools – a content management system that manages content; a search tool that lets visitors search; an email tool that collects email addresses and sends out newsletters; a web site statistics tool that tracks and analyzes web site usage. This list can grow if your site has other needs like blogging, podcasting, streaming media, etc. We can help you find all the right tools and implement them.

Consulting Lab » Implementation & Project Management