A ‘Customer Success Story’ Story

One of my favorite job responsibilities is writing up Omatic’s Customer Success Stories. What’s great about this work is two things:

1. I get to talk with Omatic customers who are literally working on delivering their nonprofit organization’s mission, and I can hear about their impact that is making the world a better place. Those conversations help me stay actively connected to the nonprofit sector. They ensure that I remember what it’s like to work at a nonprofit and remain cognizant of the challenges faced by lean nonprofit teams. (And I don’t take too much of our customers’ time, because time is among their most precious assets.)
2. I get to hear about the difference, typically astonishing, that Omatic’s software solutions played in our customers’ efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness – and how that has led, or is leading, them to be even more effective at delivering their mission and making the impact for which they exist. (I hear the term ‘game-changer’ quite frequently, as demonstrated in the story below.)

The Process

I recently had the pleasure of writing a Customer Success Story for Utah Food Bank and working with Julie, the food bank’s energetic and no-nonsense Database Specialist. As background, our process for creating a Customer Success Story goes something like this:

• When a customer expresses interest in being featured, I set up a 15-minute call to explain the process, show them some examples of stories that Omatic has done in the past, and answer any questions.
• I then set up a 20-30 minutes session where we actually do the success story interview. I ask about what problems the organization faced, which Omatic solutions were deployed to address those issues, and then what the outcomes were. I take rough notes and also get a publishable quote from a key organizational representative.
• I develop a draft from the rough notes and send it to the customer for approval – or adjustment/modification if I misunderstood something. Once the written copy is approved, our talented designer creates the final designed version, adding imagery and text call-outs to make the piece visually interesting and attractive.
• We send the final designed version to the customer for final approval and sign-off. Then we publish the piece and make it available to other nonprofits that want to know more about how Omatic solutions can help them.

The Scoop

So, getting back to the Utah Food Bank. Talking to Julie was fascinating because it gave me an inside look at what I’d only seen from the outside since March 2020 – how the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected organizations that served people who were directly and economically impacted.

In the case of the Utah Food Bank, the need to support some 200 food-security agencies statewide required a software upgrade, which ‘broke’ a number of integration software customizations that had been used for years. On top of that, and thanks to the generosity of the people of Utah, the food bank experienced an unprecedented – and thankfully long-term – increase in contributions and payments, all of which had to be processed, deposited, and acknowledged without the benefit of extra staff.

When describing how Omatic solutions made a difference for Utah Food Bank, Julie used the words ‘game changer’ a lot. While I don’t want this to be a ‘spoiler alert’, suffice it to say that doing in one hour work that would have otherwise taken five days is certainly a ‘game changer’. In addition, once Julie and her team got into the rhythm of using Omatic, they saw other ways they could leverage Omatic’s data integration tools. But again, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. Please read the entire account for yourself here. It’s a quick read, and it’s a great story!

The Insights

There’s one other insight that I typically get when meeting with a member of the Omatic family to write a Customer Success Story. I try, not to simply obtain stats (‘we’re saving 5 hours a day on data entry and importing’), but to dig in to learn about the long-term effect those stats have on the organization overall. Sometimes it’s more normal working hours and work-life balance for the team. Sometimes it’s the pride of employees being able to take on new responsibilities (which was the case with Utah Food Bank). Frequently, it’s more time now available to address fundraising or mission delivery challenges – or new strategies. In any event, it’s things that we at Omatic don’t often hear about once we get passed the initial solution deployment and onboarding.

Every nonprofit that’s a member of the Omatic family has a great story to share. I am so fortunate that I have the privilege to learn and help amplify a handful of them. If you are interested in sharing your story, please complete the form below or contact me to discuss it further at stu.manewith@omaticsoftware.com.

To see our Omatic integration solutions in action, complete the form below. We’ll show you how you can use Omatic to power your mission by seamlessly integrating and unifying disconnected data into consistent and personalized supporter experiences.