Background

The Thai government has a policy that all employers over a certain size must make jobs available to People With Disabilities (PWD), or pay penalty fines. In order to match available jobs with the right workers, the non-profit Social Innovation Foundation (SIF) works to bring PWD and suitable employers together.

Microsoft has a corporate policy of supporting non-profits around the world by using their technology solutions to improve working practices and greater efficiency. Microsoft asked NEEDeed in Thailand to identify suitable Thai partners and then to work with them to implement solutions.

What We Did

We undertook a comprehensive review of various Thai non-profits, in order to identify suitable beneficiaries who both needed the technology solutions, and would be able to make productive use of it. We needed to find partners who understood the benefits of technology support and would be innovative in their use of it.

Once we identified and recommended SIF, we helped them map out their organizational processes and recommended the right technology tools that would make a real and quick difference for SIF and how they serve their beneficiaries. This included tools such as Office 365 for communicating and collaborating more effectively internally and externally with their partners. Dynamics 365 which helped to streamline their operational processes and keep better track of their data.  We also helped them deploy a fully integrated portal that allowed for more efficient data capture from external partners.

We didn’t stop there however. To ensure a smooth implementation of the solutions, we trained everyone who would be a user, to make sure they could get the best out of it.

The Results

SIF’s processes were streamlined by nearly 80%. The use of computer systems automated a significant amount of tasks that were previously done manually. Feedback regarding the collaboration has been overwhelmingly positive, especially regarding improvement of work-life balance. Prior to NEEDeed’s involvement, staff would often fall ill due to overwork – this has decreased dramatically due to computer automation and has made a quantitative and qualitative difference in the lives of the workers. As Apichart Karoonkornsakul, President of Social Innovation Foundation says,

“Our project with NEEDeed was a real life-saver. Compared to our previous processes, efficiency of our work increased significantly, service speed at least tripled. Relevant information became available real-time to both internal team members and external partners anywhere. Implementation support by NEEDeed was excellent and praised by everyone here.”

From Microsoft’s perspective they were able to focus their sponsorship and support on a group who were both deserving and capable of using it well. Dr. Daiana Beitler, Regional Director of Microsoft Philanthropies commented,

“NEEDeed demonstrated a very good understanding of the main challenges that nonprofits face and helped these organizations implement and maximize the benefits of Microsoft cloud technology. NEEDeed staff were incredibly professional and responsive, so it was a pleasure working with them!”

Don’t take our word for it, see what SIF has to say!