Not-for profits choose Microsoft over Google

Microsoft has scored 20 new clients after not-for-profit IT provider Infoxchange steered a significant amount of fellow not-for-profit organisations away from Google Apps and towards Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud.

Infoxchange exists to improve the digital efficiency of not-for-profits by providing them with the opportunity to utilise the technology most effective for their business.

The company conducted an evaluation in conjunction with government-funded research two years ago into the technological needs of the NFP sector. It discovered almost every NFP was using some form of Microsoft’s Office platform.

Infoxchange’s IT boss David Spriggs told CRN despite this, the company also took Google’s Apps cloud into consideration, but found Microsoft beat the search giant in price, support and relationship.

“When we looked at both Google Apps and Office 365, the biggest differentiator was the integration with the Microsoft Office Suite.,” Spriggs said. “From a cost perspective, we were able to negotiate a 50 percent reduction from commercial pricing.”

“From our perspective we get the back-end support from Microsoft, whereas with Google we got the impression the service was out there but you were pretty much on your own if you ran into any trouble.”

Infoxchange’s relationship with Microsoft and its Community Affairs division goes back over ten years. Spriggs said the vendor is the most willing to work with NFPs.

“We find them fantastic to work with compared to some of the other vendors,” he said. “They have dedicated resources in Community Affairs to work with us, and they also dedicated technical resources to help us roll out the solutions.”

Infoxchange's business centres around web-based applications and cloud, but it does occasionally provide hardware services to its 4000-strong NFP client base, via partners HP and Dell. Its staff of 70 plus volunteers provide implementation and ongoing support to clients. 

The new Office 365 clients include BrainLink Services, an organisation supporting those with brain conditions, and community, sport and reaction NFP Leisure Networks.