The Magentrix platform is easy to manage and very intuitive. Between the help forums and common sense, I am able to manage it myself without needing a developer to write code. But when I need support, Magentrix is there with high quality and very responsive customer service.
Todd Reade, Director of Interpreting Services at Deaf & Hear Alberta
Over 700,000 Albertans are affected by some form of hearing loss. Deaf & Hear Alberta is a charitable non-profit organization that is dedicated to addressing the accessibility, advocacy, education and communication needs of the deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing populations of Alberta. They envision a society where the hearing population understands, accepts and embraces the deaf and hard of hearing.
Business Challenge
Deaf & Hear previously implemented an online portal that was expensive and difficult to manage. The vendor mandated periodic updates and charged an additional fee each time. When business demands required changes, the Deaf & Hear team had to contract a developer to make the changes. Consequently, maintaining the old portal became costly and time consuming. Since Deaf & Hear needed to serve a large and rapidly expanding group of clients, interpreters and funders, they needed an affordable online portal solution.
Requirements
Deaf & Hear needed an alternative that aligned with their non-profit budget and met all the needs of their growing organization. The outlined requirements included the following:
- Clients required a means of requesting Interpreting Services while interpreters needed the ability to view and select requests they could fulfill and have access to all information related to each booking.
- The solution had to be powerful but easy to use for a wide range of technical and non-technical users.
- As they reached a wider community, a scalable solution was essential for future demands.
- Deaf & Hear wanted a high level of control over their portal in order to make changes more rapidly.
- Providing their numerous funders with access to information about the resources they were funding was also necessary.
- Finally, as Deaf & Hear opened new locations, their distributed staff needed an easy means of communication and collaboration along with centralized access to records.
The Magentrix Solution
Deaf & Hear selected the Magentrix platform together with the Foundation offering from Salesforce.com because it is an affordable solution and met all their requirements. They were able to setup and customize the site without hiring a developer.
The self-service portal’s intuitive user-interface has empowered Deaf & Hear users with direct online access to a selection of resources and support. Clients have the ability to make Interpreter Services requests and view the status of those requests online. Staff members can quickly verify requests, view funding details and approve requests. Interpreters select bookings and are able to process invoices online. And Funders now have access to relevant information on the services they fund.
According to Reade, “the Magentrix portal has empowered Deaf & Hear users to take control of their own needs with a self service site, saving us an estimated $15,000 - $30,000 in the first year.” Now that’s big savings for a small not-for-profit agency!