Face-to-face consultations are mainly how the nonprofit organization, WE CAN, delivers its unique services and support to women undergoing life transitions, but the advent of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and health officials’ advice to restrict personal contact has impacted business as usual in recent weeks.
The Harwich-based organization receives more than 15,000 calls and walk-ins annually with nearly 2,800 individuals participating in their programs and services each year.
WE CAN leadership knew they had to rapidly change the organization’s model to serve their clients remotely and contacted their web design team at 118Group for guidance.
118Group of Hyannis rapidly implemented a secure, well-designed way for WE CAN to provide its services online and continue to operate while expecting increased need for its services.
“We’ve transitioned to a virtual platform to be able to continue to provide services without women having to come into our office,” said Lisa Guyon, executive director of WE CAN. “One holdback for us in the past has been the lack of a consistent way to have forms completed online in order for us to schedule and deliver conference call or video appointments for women who were unable to travel to our office for face-to-face services.”
“Moving services online provides for higher efficiencies,” agreed Meredith Flynn, vice president of operations for 118Group. “In the WE CAN example, moving their forms online and delivering consults via phone or video conferencing will greatly reduce turnaround time because they will not have to print or scan the forms to initially reach the organization, and ultimately it eliminates travel for both the volunteers and participants. Plus it’s eco-friendlier. WE CAN will also be able to look at data in a new organized format, ready to export and analyze with a click of a button.”
“In the last few weeks, consumers have been encouraged to engage with businesses online, rather than in-person,” added Dylan Steven, vice president of 118Group Digital Strategy. “As this trend continues to rise, digital design plays a much larger role in creating positive customer experiences.”
The experience was proof to Guyon that nonprofits can change to adapt to the needs of their clients and the community, from a direct service perspective. “We were able to do this pretty quickly,” she said. “This project showed us we can change the ways to deliver services rapidly in a changing landscape and enhance how we provide services in the future.”
WE CAN services include legal services, financial empowerment, work and business support, personal development programs and mentoring. The organization works in collaboration with many other organizations and groups to fulfill its mission of “empowering Cape Cod women and their families to achieve lasting positive change.” For more information about WE CAN visit www.wecancenter.org
Learn more about 118GROUP Web Design at https://www.118group.com/
