The nonprofit United Way for Southeastern Michigan sought a secure communication solution for its hybrid workplace. The organization implemented Microsoft 365, including Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Defender for Business, to enhance internal communication, collaboration, and customer service.
Meeting the region’s needs
United Way for Southeastern Michigan is committed to uplifting all Michigan residents by combating systemic racism, investing in children’s education, and supporting the basic needs of its community to create positive change. It does this by acting as a funder, advocate, and mobilizer, connecting partners and community members to essential services and resources to meet the region’s needs. It also provides immediate food and financial assistance to families in crisis through its 2-1-1 helpline. In 2023 alone, it served over 660,000 individuals through its partner network, plus an additional 331,000 through the helpline.
Employing 215 people across four counties, United Way for Southeastern Michigan is a hybrid company. And with its vast network of partners, donors, advocates, and volunteers, efficient collaboration is vital. But employees were using a multitude of communication, collaboration, project management, and file sharing tools, which created management headaches around information sharing, and security. “Each department was basically using their own set of tools, from both Microsoft and other vendors, which lead to inefficiencies, errors, and security risks. We really wanted to consolidate what we were using,” says Sue McGuire, Senior Director of Information Services. With information stored across a variety of locations, the organization dealt with data redundancies that slowed its ability to locate correct versions of documents and track program performance.
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Having a remote workforce also made it difficult to teach employees security best practices for working and sharing data from home. “In the remote workplace, it’s harder to build awareness around proper security controls. Given the nature of our business and the regulations we must adhere to, safeguarding critical and sensitive data is paramount. We have a duty to protect and control our data,” says McGuire.
To help close security gaps while also delivering a seamless collaboration experience for employees and partners, United Way for Southeastern Michigan sought out user-friendly, reliable, and secure tools—and turned to Apex Digital Solutions and Microsoft for the solution.
Finding the right partner for an innovative approach
Apex Digital Solutions collaborated with United Way throughout its Microsoft journey. The company provides world-class IT services with Microsoft products to empower its clients to be more productive, engaged, and secure in the hybrid workplace. As its fully managed service partner, the Apex Digital Solutions team deeply engaged in regular meetings with United Way for Southeastern Michigan to develop the technology roadmap, deploy and migrate new technologies, and offer ongoing troubleshooting support. The team also played a pivotal role in conducting an in-depth analysis of the previous infrastructure, orchestrating the implementation of the Microsoft solutions, and delivering training to the United Way team.
“We have a great partnership with Apex who really worked to make sure we were kept abreast and that our challenge was represented well by Microsoft,” says McGuire. The contributions and involvement of the Apex Digital team were crucial to the solution’s overall success.
A dynamic approach for a dynamic nonprofit
Already a longtime Microsoft customer with its use of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, United Way for Southeastern Michigan decided to implement Microsoft 365 to gain a single suite of productivity apps that also included Microsoft Teams. Incorporating Teams into the operations was a must-have, as the nonprofit needs a user-friendly channel for communicating and collaborating with its internal employees, external partners, and people in the community. “Because we work with so many different partners and community organizations, who have varying levels of technical and digital capabilities, it’s necessary for us to use solutions that are widely available and easy to use. Microsoft 365 has really bridged that gap for us and allows us to work seamlessly beyond the boundaries of our own organization with one solution,” explains McGuire. “The accessibility and connectivity of Microsoft Teams have been particularly valuable, especially in the post-pandemic era where digital collaboration is essential.”
By using Teams to quickly meet with the partner organizations and people it serves at a moment’s notice, United Way for Southeastern Michigan has been able to scale its reach. “We’re often called upon to quickly scale up a new service or a specific outreach. Being nimble and having the toolkit to do that is critical and sets us apart from other organizations,” says McGuire. In addition to actively participating in video meetings, team members also share documents, take notes, record meetings, and screen share, which has been revolutionary. “Being able to actually see our participants on screen and share important information with them while talking is so important for us because we often aren’t in the same room. Teams is so much more than just ‘conference call’,” says McGuire.
The team has also improved its organization and project management capabilities using Microsoft 365. “Microsoft Planner is instrumental in helping us manage our numerous active projects, ensuring deliverables are on track at United Way for Southeastern Michigan,” says McGuire. The nonprofit uses Bookings to manage reservations for various services, as well as SharePoint sites to share and store documents across the organization, an additional boost for collaboration.
Having advanced insights into its data has helped the organization become nimbler in working with the community to address critical needs, whether through tracking the number of people receiving services or analyzing program data to measure success. “Microsoft Power BI is essential for data analytics and dashboard creation, which are vital for monitoring the impacts of our team’s work,” says McGuire.
Scaling security for a distributed workforce
United Way for Southeastern Michigan is using Microsoft Defender for Business to help close the security gaps that often come with a remote and hybrid workforce. The nonprofit chose it for its robust security measures and monitoring capabilities, as well as its integration with Microsoft 365. The organization can now monitor potential risk areas using dashboards and tracking tools in Defender for Business, as well as isolate risks in case of a breach or compromised device, account, or user.
By centralizing its security capabilities, United Way for Southeastern Michigan is building a more secure workforce around the state. “People are fallible, and ensuring the security of our data allows us to focus on our core business and provides peace of mind. Thanks to Defender for Business, we can focus on our core mission, knowing that our data is protected by a reliable and comprehensive security solution,” McGuire explains. Since implementing Defender for Business, United Way for Southeastern Michigan is seeing impressive results. The nonprofit has greatly improved its security score from the low 140s to 803 out of 900.
Technology that works for those in need
The organization is also seeing marked improvements in its communication and collaboration capabilities. “We’ve benefited from the advancements in the Teams and Microsoft 365, particularly in collaborating with our distribution of departments,” McGuire says. “We chose Apex Digital Solutions and Microsoft for their ongoing improvements and cost-effectiveness, which are crucial for nonprofit work. Making full use of the Microsoft ecosystem has helped us build credibility and relentlessly pursue our mission of helping people across Michigan.”
Find out more about United Way for Southeastern Michigan on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
**This article was originally published on Microsoft’s Customer Stories website. View the original article.