Ashoka

Ashoka – Innovators for the Public, a global organization supporting social entrepreneurs in more than 65 countries needed an integrated infrastructure to accommodate their rapid growth. They lacked a single source of institutional knowledge and an effective way of managing the organization’s most valuable asset: its network of nominators and entrepreneurs. They wanted to use cloud computing to integrate their 24 offices and 10 mission-critical programs, strengthen their cohesive identity, and drive networked collaboration around the world while reducing costs.

Ashoka evaluated Blackbaud, Kintera, Maximizer, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but chose the Force.com cloud platform for its flexibility. They deployed Force.com to 25 countries in five languages with help from Exponent Partners, Accenture Development Partners, a Turn It Up grant from Salesforce.org, and volunteer assistance from Salesforce employees.

In just over a year, Ashoka replaced fragmented and out-of-date information stored in 30 different databases with reliable, up-to-date data in salesforce that provides consistent, real-time views of the organization’s operations. They have enhanced organizational integration and communication flow via Chatter profiles, groups, and files; and overall organizational responsiveness has improved. Finally, Ashoka leveraged Heroku to rapidly develop and deploy the AshokaHub linking Ashoka Fellows around the world in a collaborative space that is fully integrated with the Ashoka Force.com platform.