Nonprofit Technology Insights from the Salesforce “State of IT” Report

By: Doron Barbalat Cross-posted from Causeview

Yearly, Salesforce Research speaks with 2,200 IT leaders and Chief Information Officers to learn about their goals, priorities, and needs when it comes to digital technology.

The report is full of important insights for nonprofit technology managers and executives. Download it here.

In the meantime, we’ve picked out some key highlights that your organization can likely relate to and learn from:

Increasing worker productivity is the most common IT goal

55% of those surveyed listed increasing worker productivity as a top goal for their IT team. Increasing data visibility and automating processes were also common responses.

This is common in the nonprofit community, as well. With limited resources, productivity boosts and automation are especially important, while employees in every function are increasingly relying on data to make better, smarter decisions.

Where do IT leaders plan to spend in the next two years?

Over 60% of responders said that they plan to spend in these areas over the next two years:

• Mobile apps
• Customer-facing apps
• Productivity applications
• Cloud migration
• Cybersecurity

None of this will be a surprise to nonprofits. With the prominence of smartphones and tablets, being able to engage and transact with donors through mobile devices and apps is becoming a necessity.

Meanwhile, productivity applications and cloud migration can help nonprofits achieve greater results with limited financial and human resources, and battling fraudulent donations is something that nonprofits are all too often trying to address.

Cloud migration is the top priority over the next two years

While there are number of big tasks on the plate of an IT executive, it’s moving key systems to the cloud that stands out as the number one priority.

We have seen the same in our work, too. We routinely work with amazing nonprofits to help them modernize their donor management platform by moving to the cloud with Causeview and Salesforce.

72% of high-performing organizations rely on the cloud

Why are so many businesses and nonprofits looking to move to the cloud? The data proves that it’s a very, very worthwhile investment.

72% of teams who relied on the cloud for their data management and IT infrastructure were reported as high-performers. Meanwhile, among underperformers, there was found to be just 37% reliance on the cloud.

In other words, getting a lot out of the cloud meant that teams were almost twice as likely to achieve great results than those who don’t.

73% of organizations use more than 10 system integrations

With nonprofits using so many different software tools to meet their unique needs, it becomes crucial that they can integrate and work together. Working in the cloud, and with the right technology, helps to make that possible.

Learn more about Causeview.