As a member of NetSuite’s Professional Services Team in Manila, Celina Bacani spends her workday analyzing the needs of NetSuite’s retail customers and building out custom solutions to help them make the most of the software. With a background in auditing, formerly with PwC, most of Bacani’s projects focus on implementing NetSuite’s ERP which enables various companies (including clothing, green product and sporting goods manufacturers) to establish a smooth flow from sales quote to order fulfillment.
When it came to the opportunity to use her professional skills for good, as part of NetSuite’s SuiteVolunteer Program, Bacani says she was excited at the chance to help nonprofits improve how they’re running their programs, while at the same time giving her the chance to try something new.
Through SuiteVolunteers, NetSuite employees offer pro bono services to grantees of the NetSuite.org software donation program. Since 2013, more than 500 volunteers have completed more than 230 projects for nonprofits and social enterprises around the world. While no two projects are exactly alike, all projects focus on helping organizations to utilize NetSuite’s technologies to manage their finances, track donations and run their marketing initiatives.
Since taking on her first pro bono project, Bacani has offered implementation and coaching services to nonprofits including New York-based Port Washington Parent Resource Center, Wu Yee Children’s Services, the Energy Foundation and most recently Hope Haiti.
And while grantees benefit from free help with their projects, the SuiteVolunteers come away with something as well. “It’s a great opportunity for me to learn, enhance and share my skills,” said Tony Lim, a professional services consultant based in the Manila office. “You are not just helping others but you are also helping yourself as well.”
Like Lim and Bacani, Ailene Ignacio is a professional services consultant. Ignacio, who specializes in the software vertical and has been with NetSuite for eight years, has worked on seven different pro bono projects, from charities serving fishermen, to educational institutions that caters to the marginalized. For example, she helped the Florida-based Children’s Guardian Fund, a nonprofit that caters to children in foster homes and state care, build a way to track all of their operations in one NetSuite tool.
“I’ve always encouraged people to volunteer, especially new comers,” Ignacio said.“The experience is always great and rewarding.”
Tony Lim has worked on six different projects, many helping out with custom saved searches for a grantee’s unique reporting requirements. In one project, he helped a grantee move their records and transactions from Excel to NetSuite in hopes of aiding in their application for tax exempt status. Six weeks later, they were live on NetSuite and a month after that the grantee informed the SuiteVolunteer team that they’d received their tax exempt letter from the IRS.
“Always remember that we all win when we volunteer,” Lim said.