NetSuite.org(opens in new tab) proudly announced our support of social enterprises(opens in new tab) including Kiva, Easy Office, United Prosperity, EdTec and Envirofit and how we help Kiva(opens in new tab) make loans that change lives. Since social enterprises— businesses that are changing the world for the better — have the same needs as our commercial clients, helping them improve their operations was a natural fit.
The press coverage, including stories in All Things Digital(opens in new tab), ReadWriteWeb(opens in new tab) and Talkin' Cloud(opens in new tab), touched on a number of themes that we're particularly proud of here at NetSuite.org.
The Cloud Changes Everything
Talkin' Cloud correctly points out that the dramatically lower total cost of ownership (TCO) of cloud solutions yield huge cost savings for both our commercial and non-commercial clients. Those new "cloud economics" are also what makes it possible for NetSuite.org to deliver a free and deeply discounted platform to run their operations to over 200 organizations and will continue to allow us to help hundreds of additional organizations.
Measuring Social Impact
It is notoriously difficult for social enterprises to measure their social impact... to quantify how much "good" they do. There is no common, easily measurable indicator like profitability that would prove who is doing the most "good." ReadWriteWeb(opens in new tab) picked up on how NetSuite allows a social enterprise to measure, in real time, so much more than just the money flowing through an organization. We work with our grantees to develop social impact measurements that are reflected by key performance indicators, in real-time, right on their dashboards.
Supporting Efficiency, Effectiveness and Ultimately Social Impact
Arik Hesseldahl over at All Things Digital hit the really important point. Organizations are looking to squeeze every last bit out of their infrastructure dollar. The increase in efficiency that comes with a business operations solution like NetSuite combined with the general efficiency gains of a cloud solution can yield significant results.
For NetSuite.org, we love when those results are more children more effectively educated (EdTec(opens in new tab)) or more loans that change lives (Kiva(opens in new tab)) or more nonprofits fulfilling their mission (Easy Office(opens in new tab)).
We are so thankful that our grantees work with us closely to understand how NetSuite product donations pro-bono service grants can make a difference in their operations. From these lessons, we look forward to making a visible, critical improvement in the operations of hundreds more social enterprises. For more information on NetSuite.org, visit www.netsuite.org(opens in new tab).