Scaling for Success: How Resolute Helped BIH Build Its Single Source of Truth with Salesforce

Building a bridge between Silicon Valley and South Eastern Europe is an important factor for the success of local startups. By gaining practical knowledge of the ecosystem in the US, these companies are prepared for their global expansion.

This has been the vision of Bulgaria Innovation Hub since its foundation in 2019. The NGO’s goal is to support the efforts of SEE enterprises in developing their go-to-market for entering the biggest market in the world.

In the past 4 years, over 40 companies took part in BIH’s program which provides them with the opportunity to meet with mentors from Silicon Valley. After graduating from the BIH’s Growth Accelerator, they raised over $50M in equity funding from local and international investors.

The Challenge

With the rapid expansion of BIH’s portfolio and market presence, the need to find a single place to store all data got bigger. Up until this point, the NGO kept a record of everything but the information was stored in different locations. This was a challenge for all activities such as donor management, reporting, coordinating marketing efforts, and campaign planning.

That’s the point when the company needed to establish a CRM platform that will allow them to have a single source of information for all its needs. The NGO got in touch with Resolute Software - a trusted supporter of Bulgaria Innovation Hub and one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Bulgaria. Resolute offers comprehensive software engineering and consulting services by focusing on agile, continuous, and predictable delivery of solutions that help its clients expand their digital footprint.

The solution

After the initial evaluation of the current processes and systems BIH is working with, Resolute suggested implementing the customer relationship management platform - Salesforce. It has a special pack for non-profit organizations (NPSP) and Resolute recommended it as a solution that would fit all of BIH’s needs.

"When considering Salesforce's CRM solution for non-profit organizations, there are several important factors to take into account”, explains Veselka Ilieva, Salesforce Consulting Manager and the person responsible for the implementation.

“The solution is suitable for BIH as it helps in several different aspects of the business - data migration, customization, user adoption, integrating existing systems, and cost control.”

By using Salesforce NPSP, the Resolute team ensured that all data is accurately and completely transferred to the new system and that any data inconsistencies are resolved before the migration. The ability to customize the Salesforce solution was also very important because of BIH’s unique mission and goals.

One of the key BIH requirements in the implementation process was for the solution to be integrated with the existing systems. This was also a very important benefit of using Salesforce’s NPSP.

“We were able to drill into the processes and uniqueness of BIH and provide them with a custom-tailored solution that fits their needs. Our goal from the start was to build a live system that empowers BIH’s growth. That said - if you want a live system - you need to provide the necessary training to the end users”, Veselka Ilieva explains.

As user adoption can also be a big challenge that defines whether a system is used correctly, Resolute’s team ensured all key stakeholders at BIH received the needed training and documentation to make the most out of the solution.

“For every non-profit out there - having the technical expertise and budget for implementing complex software solutions is a real struggle. Аs a Salesforce partner since 2020 - at Resolute we have experience implementing and supporting complex Salesforce solutions within different organizations hence we were able to support BIH in this new journey”, Veselka highlights.

The outcome

With the implementation of Salesforce, Bulgaria Innovation Hub can rely on a single source of truth that allows the management to make data-driven decisions and easy access to data to make reporting to different stakeholders faster and easier.

“Management of constituents and donors, improved visibility and decision-making based on data, streamlined operations, enhanced communication, and increased accessibility are among the biggest benefits of implementing Salesforce’s NGO solution; These benefits can significantly contribute to non-profits achieving their goals with greater efficiency”, shares Veselka Ilieva.

What’s next

Implementing Salesforce’s CRM solution will allow the organization to scale its operations smoothly and manage its process more easily. With the introduction of the system, BIH will have a single source of information about all its business processes and make reporting easier.

“We aim to help Bulgaria Innovation Hub reach the next step in its development and support the organization in helping entrepreneurs from SEE expand to global markets and explore their full potential. Having this single source of information will make it easier to communicate with all stakeholders and manage their data”, Veselka highlights.

The possibility for Bulgaria Innovation Hub to achieve these milestones is achieved with the support of America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF) - an independent, nonpartisan, and nonpolitical American grant-making foundation working in partnership with Bulgarians to strengthen the country’s private sector and related democratic institutions. For more information, please visit: https://us4bg.org/