Jane Zhang covered 5 cutting-edge technology trends to watch out for in 2014, 5 more practical trends and how they affect the nonprofit sector, and practical tips on how to get your nonprofit prepared.
Automating Google Workspace (GWS) & more with Apps Script
Tech Trends and Best Practices for 2014
1. Tech Trends &
Best Practices for 2014
Jane Zhang,
Executive Director at TechSoup Canada
Director of Online Services at the Centre for Social Innovation
Slides and presentation prepared by Joyce Hsu
2. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
3D Printing
ChefJet, the first restaurant-approved food printer, uses
water to melt sugar into shapes. Unfortunately the
samples didn’t taste very good, but the technology is
there.
3D Printing can now be used for printing
customizable prosthetic limbs.
3. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
Wearable Technology
Google Glass is a hands-free, optical headmounted display that shows and captures
information.
FitBit tracks daily activity, calories burned,
sleep & weight. The data is uploaded
wirelessly so you can check progress via
mobile or an online dashboard.
4. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
Wearable Technology
The Hövding is a wearable technology that relies on
advanced motion sensors to employ airbags for cyclists.
5. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
Robotic Technology
The Parrot AR Drone is an app-controlled helicopter,
equipped with a camera. Smartphones, tablets and
other mobile devices with iOS & Android operating
systems are compatible with Parrot AR Drone.
Amazon is experimenting with Prime Air, an
unmanned aerial drone that aims to deliver
packages in 30 mins or less.
6. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
Even More Advanced Robots
ACM-R5, an amphibious snake-like robot from
HiBot Corp, Japan is designed to aid in search
and rescue operations.
Tawabo, a robot tour guide at Tokyo Tower,
speaks Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English.
7. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
Even More Advanced Robots
Google’s driverless car is a project
that involved developing technology
for autonomous cars. There are
currently 3 states in the US that allow
the testing of automated vehicles.
8. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
Modular Phones
Motorola’s Project Ara aims to develop a free,
open hardware platform for creating highly
modular smartphone.
9. What is the World of Tech
Offering in 2014?
Virtual Reality
Oculus Rift is an upcoming virtual reality headmounted display. Consumer version is expected
to become available later this year.
10. However …
These cutting-edge technology trends are unlikely to
impact your charity’s day-to-day operations in 2014.
11. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#1 Responsive & Adaptive Design
Why is this important?
Mobile devices are overtaking PC sales
BetChemy Ventures, May 2013
There are 1 billion smart phones in use and this
number will grow to two billion in two years
Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2013
Your website needs to be optimized to respond
to any device your supporter is using, otherwise
your call-to-actions, important content and
donation forms may be missed
12. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#1 Responsive & Adaptive Design
What’s the difference?
Responsive web design is a single template with
flexible images and fluid grids
Pro: Easier and cheaper to implement
Con: Pages load slower, content not fully optimized
Adaptive web design utilizes scripting to adapt to
various sizes
Pro: Pages load faster, content and web design fully
optimized
Con: Requires advanced knowledge of JavaScript
and CSS
You can also combine both responsive and
adaptive
13. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#1 Responsive & Adaptive Design
Resources to help you get started:
Free Responsive Templates
HTML5 & CSS: HTML5up, HTML5Templates,
CMS: Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla
Email templates: ZURB, Antwort, Campaign Monitor
Coding resources for creating adaptive design
LessFramework
StackOverflow
14. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#2 Dynamic Data
Why is this important?
There is an oversaturation of static infographics
on the web – people are becoming dull to the
medium
moz.com/ugc/infographics-are-dead-long-live-infographics
15. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#2 Dynamic Data
Dynamic Data?
Dynamic data combines both static images and
text (searchable content is better for SEO).
Create dynamic data where users can watch,
click and really explore your data
16. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#2 Dynamic Data
Good Examples
Why Your Brain Craves
Infographics
neomam.com/interactive/13reasons
Air BnB’s Annual Report
airbnb.com/annual
17. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#2 Dynamic Data
Good Examples
Google’s Think Insights Databoard
think.withgoogle.com/databoard
WarChild Holland Annual Report
annualreportwarchild.org
18. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#3 Modular Technology & Integration
Why is this important?
Modular technologies and a good
integration strategy will determine how agile
and “future-proof” your nonprofit can be –
especially with little or no internal IT
support.
The modular approach allows you to:
Customize your tech solution to fit your
needs
Better integrate with existing
technologies
19. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#3 Modular Technology & Integration
Customize Your Tech Solution to Fit Your Needs
Taking a modular approach to CRMs
will help your nonprofit find the best fit
for your needs without paying for
features that you won’t use:
Sumac offers add-ons that have
distinct functionalities. All of the addons are useful, but not all nonprofits
need them (i.e., course registration
add-on, case management add-on,
etc.)
20. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#3 Modular Technology & Integration
Integrating with Existing Technologies
Think about how to integrate the
technologies you are using to improve
efficiency.
Salesforce, integrates with over 250
applications, including EventBrite, Social
Media, SAP, Oracle EBS, Microsoft
Dynamics, etc.
21. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#3 Modular Technology & Integration
A Few Tools that allow Modular Design
Constituent Relationship Management (CRM)
CiviCRM
Salesforce
Sumac
Content Management System (CMS)
Wordpress
Joomla
Drupal
22. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#4 Hybrid Cloud & Internal IT Infrastructure
Why is this important?
Allows all nonprofits (including healthcare organizations) to enjoy benefits of
both:
Benefits of the Cloud: User-friendly, self-service features without expensive IT
resources
Benefits of Internal servers: Store sensitive information that cannot be hosted
outside of Canada
If your nonprofit has not set-up a hybrid cloud/IT system, design your cloud
service usage with a hybrid future in mind and make sure future integration is
possible
23. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#4 Hybrid Cloud & Internal IT Infrastructure
What it could look like:
Highly sensitive
information hosted
internally (e.g. patient
information)
Productivity processes
on the cloud (e.g.,
meeting minutes,
collateral materials)
24. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#4 Hybrid Cloud & Internal IT Infrastructure
Cloud Productivity
Dropbox
Tools
Smartsheet
Huddle
Evernote
Skydrive
Google Docs
Cloud Productivity
Office 365 for Nonprofits
Suites
Google Apps for
Business
Zoho
25. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#4 Hybrid Cloud & Internal IT Infrastructure
A Word on Data …
Technology has made data collection and data sharing very easy. As a nonprofit, consider:
What kind of data are you collecting? (And why?)
What can you accomplish with the data that is freely shared?
Are you contributing data to the sector/larger mission?
How are you collaborating with other nonprofits on a national and international scale?
Read more on TechSoup Canada’s website:
Under Blog > Take The Next Step with Data Sharing for Nonprofits
www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/community/blog/take-the-next-step-with-data-sharing-for-nonprofits
26. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#5 Mobile Beacon Based Sensors
What is it?
Essentially a wireless sensor network that can be used for routing,
monitoring and tracking.
Why is this important?
Gives nonprofits the potential to create more engaging experiences
and to improve operations
27. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#5 Mobile Beacon Based Networks
Example: Geofencing
Geofencing is a virtual perimeter around any
geographic area. It can be used by nonprofits for:
Improving event participants’ experiences (e.g.,
attendees could automatically check-in to an event
zone using a geofence app, you can send a phone
alert/notification to an event attendee when they
enter or leave a geofence area)
Keeping track of your nonprofit’s assets (e.g., your
office manager can receive a notification when a
laptop leaves your office)
28. 5 Tech Trends for Nonprofits
#5 Mobile Beacon Based Networks
Example: Apple’s
iBeacon
Apple’s iBeacon is a transmitter that
notifies nearby iOS 7 devices of their
presence.
29. Best Practices
There are certain trends in the use of technology that are
essential for success:
Content Marketing & Curation
Targeted Communications
Data Informed Decisions
30. Content Marketing & Content Curation
The “spray & pray”
approach is no longer
effective when it comes
to marketing.
Good content marketing
& curation is the best way
for your nonprofit to build
brand loyalty and engage
with your supporters.
31. Targeted Communications
Donors and supporters have
different motivations to give and
different experiences interacting
with your nonprofit. Speak to them
properly to inspire positive
responses.
Loyal Donors don’t want to read
“Let me introduce you to our
mission”
Prospects don’t want to read
“As you may know, we’re
raising money for … ”
33. Questions? Comments?
Jane Zhang,
Executive Director at TechSoup Canada
Director of Online Services at the Centre for Social Innovation
Slides and presentation prepared by Joyce Hsu
Notes de l'éditeur
Most of the technology you will see in 2014 are not new, but 2014 is the year of innovation and maturation of these technologies3D Printing: -Mention last year when the technology became more widely available. In past the technology and affordability of 3D printing was more important. -In 2014 we get to see how 3D printing have evolved. We are seeing 3D printed prosthetics that are lighter and more customized to help people to be more mobile, but we are also seeing creative innovations combining art, technology, and food.
Innovation and Maturation theme: Last year, Google Glass technology show cased how wearable technology truly helps to integrate the analog and digital worlds.In 2014, we are seeing a variety of wearable technology at affordable prices available to the public. Wearable fitness devices such as Fitbit or Jawbone helps to track our daily activities and give us real time feedback to allow us to make adjustments to our quality of life.
We can hope to see other wearable technology this year that with aid in how we interact with the world around us. From motion sensor that help to deploy airbags to self parking cars.
On the innovation front, Robotic have matured from mostly military implementation to consumer availability.The following technologies are still in the introduction to the technology phase, we hope as they mature we will see more applications of these technologies over the next few years.
Google’s Think Insight’s Databoard allows for organizations to interact with the data and build their own infographic and share in real time with others.