This publish was co-authored by Jill Crowley, Senior Manager of Cloud Architecture at Softchoice, and Kelly Carter, Cisco Canada’s Meraki Virtual Sales Leader.
A Longstanding Partnership
Cisco Canada and Softchoice have a historical past of partnership that spans a few years. Beyond enterprise, our relationship is rooted in a shared mission to drive significant change. With the frequent perception that doing good is sweet for enterprise, our organizations prioritize supporting each other when alternatives for collaboration and neighborhood giveback come up.
One early effort is our work with Connected North, a program based by Cisco and now operated by TakingITGlobal. Connected North makes use of best-in-class collaboration know-how to ship dwell, interactive studying experiences to college students in distant communities, together with Indigenous communities. Working along with an ecosystem of know-how companions, together with Cisco and Softchoice, Connected North now reaches greater than 40,000 college students throughout 200 colleges.
Improving Delta Family Resource Centre’s Capabilities
Building on a relationship of giving again, Cisco Canada and Softchoice joined forces to assist Delta Family Resource Centre, a grassroots, nonprofit, community-based company offering important providers, together with a meals pantry and on-line laptop entry, to remoted communities in Northwest Toronto. Delta Family Resource Centre additionally companions with Cisco to supply web-based IT and AI programs, equipping younger individuals with useful, marketable abilities.
Delta Family Resource Centre serves near 11,000 purchasers yearly. Twenty % of their purchasers go to their neighborhood facilities particularly to entry the web and on-line assets. “For many of our clients, internet access in their home is a luxury they cannot afford,” shares Kemi Jacobs, Executive Director at Delta Family Resource Centre. “Yet, it’s a resource that plays a vital role in accessing the government aid needed to help them keep a roof over their head and food on their table.”
Until just lately, Delta Family Resource Centre had an outdated community, which was now not secure or dependable, and posed a safety threat. Through its Technology Grant Program, Cisco recognized the required Cisco Meraki {hardware} and software program wanted to boost Delta Family Resource Centre’s community and Softchoice led the design and implementation of the answer.
Configuring the Right Solution
Taking the time to grasp the group’s wants, the Softchoice undertaking crew designed and applied a custom-made, safe, easy-to-administer community infrastructure throughout the nonprofit’s three areas. The undertaking was delivered through Softchoice’s Charity Accelerator Program, and Cisco supplied the Meraki {hardware} and software program by way of its Technology Grant Program, all at no cost to Delta Family Resource Centre.
“We are excited to make our technology resources available to the Delta Family Resource Centre through our Charity Accelerator Program,” stated Sean Denomey, Softchoice SVP of Services and the Charity Accelerator Program government sponsor. “The program aids small nonprofits by providing them with technology consultants, pro bono, so they can focus their time on their missions. The work happening at Delta Family Resource Centre is centered around building an inclusive and engaging community, and was a very strong fit aligned to the type of charity organizations we support through our Charity Accelerator Program.”
Fostering an Improved Online Experience
The improve has been transformational for the nonprofit’s total employees and purchasers. But it has been further significant for Troy Reis, IT administrator at Delta Family Resource Centre. “These improvements have enabled me to transition from mobile tech support, regularly needing to fix outages at our three locations, to strategic advisor, implementing solutions that support our client’s needs,” says Troy.
Since the improve, Delta Family Resource Centre has skilled a substantial enchancment in Wi-Fi reliability, with far fewer dropped conferences for the group’s employees. Delta Family Resource Centre’s purchasers are additionally utilizing the digital providers extra, a lot in order that the group has needed to implement a per-use time restrict.
And, because of the responsiveness and experience of Adam Genery, Sr. Consultant, Professional Services and Ryan Brown, Consultant, Professional Services, on Softchoice’s volunteer implementation crew, outage resolutions are a fast cellphone name away. Perhaps extra importantly, Delta Family Resource Centre now has enhanced on-line safety, fostering a safer web-based atmosphere for purchasers and employees.
“We’re so grateful for the products, services, and support we’ve received from Cisco and Softchoice,” says Kemi. “Because of their grant programs, our operations and services have literally been transformed.”
Are you interested by studying how your corporation can positively impression your neighborhood? Or do you will have tales to share about methods your group is giving again?
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