Tech firm highlights non-profit projects
Oracle NetSuite, the world’s leading provider of cloud-based ERP solutions, has leveled up its reach beyond the regular businesses by extending generously a suite of IT solutions and software to nonprofits, including the Coca Cola Foundation in the Philippines, ensuring their social impact projects become successful and sustainable.
At the recent SuiteWorld 2019, Oracle NetSuite put an equal spotlight on nonprofits. Oracle NetSuite supports more than 1,300 nonprofits and social enterprises globally, including an estimated 200 in the Philippines as their way of giving back after more than 20 years of successful business serving more than 16,000 customers in 203 countries globally.
In the Philippines, NetSuite supports at least 200 nonprofits. One of them is Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, which was established by The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines in November 1986, to demonstrate the longterm commitment of Coca-Cola to corporate citizenship in the country.
Since it began operating in 1987, the Foundation has helped to provide hundreds of thousands of Filipinos with better opportunities in education and in improving their financial livelihood. It has provided emergency assistance during disasters and implemented various projects on environmental conservation.
Senior program officer for environment Monina P. Pacheco is implementing the foundation’s water stewardship project under the tag Agos, which is its contribution to the global Coca Cola system’s commitment to replenish 100 percent of the water used in the production of all its beverages by the year 2020.
There are over 15 million Filipinos without reliable supply of water for drinking, sanitation, and livelihood. The Agos (flow) best illustrates the foundation’s commitment to water stewardship. Through the Agos projects, which support watersheds, provide poor communities with access to safe water, and educate the youth and communities on the importance of conserving water resources, Coca-Cola aims to sustain the flow of water for life.
“My focus is water stewardship because our goal is to give back to nature every drop of water we use so we give it back to nature and community,” said Pacheco.
To date, Coke Cola Philippines has already given back 108 percent of its replenishment. It has 208 water projects installed in various parts of the country with estimated beneficiaries of 200,000 since the Agos program started in 2011. Through a collaboration with the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation they installed ram pump systems around the country. This has enabled them bring spring water from the lower ground to remote and offgrid areas. At one point, the water had to be pumped up to 240-meter high.
“Children get sick because of the quality of water supply, people have to walk 2 kilometers
down traversing risky terrains and crossing rivers. Those are real stories,” she said.
Pacheco herself has visited most of these sites where she had to walk for an hour going to the hinterlands where security can sometimes be an issue. “We went to Maguindanao with a project team on the ground,” said Pacheco noting of the grateful natives, who used to fetch water from far away, trekking hills and forests just to get their supply.
In these communities, Pacheco witnessed personally the “Bayanihan” spirit and the genuine sincerity of these Filipinos living in the hinterlands. The community has to be responsible in managing their water source.
A former IT person at CocaCola for almost 20 years before she handled the Agos projects, Pacheco knew how IT could help run their operations efficiently.
And as a foundation, they have to be innovative with the use of the Foundation’s funds because it is geared for community projects and not for their own convenience. But IT solutions and software can be expensive. This is where the role of NetSuite came into the picture. NetSuite did not hesitate to help by providing the software for free to the foundation.
“We’re able to run the NetSuite systems after three months without modifying anything,” said Pacheco.
“NetSuite gave us the entire suite were the most important is the financial solution,” she said noting that before NetSuite 70 percent of their processes were done manually.
The help did not stop with the software. Pacheco said that NetSuite employee volunteers walk the extra mile. They help clients and partners migrate from the manual operation to automated processes.
“NetSuite made our audit reports easy,” said Pacheco.
Evan Goldberg, Oracle NetSuite executive vice-president, said it is but an “amazing opportunity” to be able to support the different advocacies and activities of nonprofits. It has been in the NetSuite DNA as it invested heavily for nonprofits.
Goldberg said there are three pillars to NetSuite’s social impact program: software donation or significant discounting for nonprofits and charities; Pro Bono where employees walk the extra mile to help make the organization more successful; and capacity building, education and communication to make sure overtime their clients and partners remain successful.
“In each of those areas we’re kind of add the accelerator so now we’re not only giving away the service to small nonprofits, we’re giving away the actual SuiteSuccess implementation which includes best practices to keep them running,” said Goldberg.
Goldberg explained it is not just technical assistance, “We’re asking every single NetSuite employee whatever amazing skills set you have that is an opportunity to add value whether in sales, finance, accounting. Let’s help the organization you believe in. We’re running a community of nonprofits.”