5 Must Digital Transformations For NGOs

4 min readMar 2, 2021

In a world that is constantly evolving, you must stay with the times and evolve with them. Being left behind means that you won’t have some of the benefits many other NGOs have. However, there are a few important things that every NGO needs to add to its arsenal in the 21st Century to ensure viability.

In the following article, we will have a closer look at some of these digital transformations. While most NGOs have gotten onto the bandwagon of evolving for the 21st Century, there are still many that are using outdated methods. These methods will increase productivity and ensure that your organization will flourish:

Using Cloud Services

Before the “Cloud Boom”, many people relied on old cabinets and files to store some of their data. However, many people have upgraded to using external drives and digitalizing all of their data collection and other administrative files. The downside is that these can break or get stolen, which means you lose everything.

The cloud is an online method of storing your basic information and it will allow you to keep the information if some of your drives crash. At first, the cloud was expensive, but nowadays there are affordable cloud packages that make it possible for almost anyone to transfer their data to a secure cloud service. You will never have to worry about losing your data & you can save paper. Just make sure to choose cloud storage that ensures proper safety and security for your data.

Going Digital For Data Collection

The traditional method of data collection involved using standard surveys that were printed on paper and handing them out. These surveys would then be collected and a person would work through each one of them and collect the data. Unfortunately, this is a timely method that will be frustrating; surveys often go missing & most importantly transferring the data to computers or computing results manually can be tedious & overly time consuming.

The internet has made it possible to set up all your surveys online and direct people to the page via sharing. It will allow them to complete the survey on their computer or even mobile devices while saving all the information. Now you can be sure that information never goes missing and everything is easier to collect & computing.

Online Call/Meeting Platforms

Regardless of your position, you will often need to conduct meetings with stakeholders and other people in the organization. Everyone does not sit around and wait for a meeting, which means people often travel abroad. However, you can use the internet to conduct online calls and even meetings no matter where they are located. We all know no organization could have survived COVID-19 without online meeting platforms.

Not only does it mean things can happen faster, but it does not interfere with the schedules many people keep for their daily lives. You can sit in your home while you are sick and use the internet to log on and join a meeting. With online calls, you can reach someone anywhere in the world as long as they have an internet connection.

Using Mobile IT Systems And Apps

Once people accepted that using pen and paper is no longer the way of the future, everyone jumped on the computer to do their business. However, mobile devices have developed at a rapid rate and some of them have better features than entry-level computers. This means you can use applications and systems to control your NGO.

There are numerous applications like Artemis that can be installed on your mobile device e.g. communication apps that allow you to communicate with your teams or mobile CRMs.

Digital Tools To Communicate Within Teams & Outside

While we have seen different methods of conducting meetings, most NGOs are run by a team of people that work together to achieve a common goal. However, they have a leader and the leader needs to give them instructions. If you cannot reach your team members physically, you can use digitals tools to communicate with them.

These tools can allow you to set up milestones and goals that they will need to meet and you can also track the performance of the members. Many of these tools will give you a group communication feature that allows you to communicate with each member simultaneously. It is a great way to spread your ideas rapidly.

Wrap-Up

The internet and modern technology have made the world smaller and more people are coming together to do business. By using some of these features and tools, you can jump on the bandwagon and be ready to improve your NGO. It should not take you too long to get used to these features and adapt them for your organization.