Helping YMCA Work Better Online
Business challenge
YMCA is an Australian not-for-profit organisation, made up of a national organisation, and numerous local associations. Every day, from 382 centres, YMCA staff and volunteers deliver programs in health, fitness, youth, and family services. Immersive developed a strategy to solve YMCA’s five main business challenges:
1. Facilitating communication, collaboration and workflow
2. Rapid staff access to essential news and information
3. More effective learning and training for staff
4. Better staff engagement around the YMCA brand
5. Consistently going to market as a unified organisation
Strategy development
At Immersive, we go deeper in asking our clients the right questions, so that we can deliver better results. To work out a better way to achieve those objectives, we do a comprehensive examination of your business and the marketplace in which you operate,
In this case, we started with strategy sessions for senior management from the YMCA national body. To develop a roadmap for the next 12 months, we worked through YMCA’s long-term business requirements, and the challenges it faced. Our discussions and analysis covered internal communications, HR, operations, branding, and marketing.
We looked at the way the YMCA functioned, identifying its ‘users’:
- Customers
- Internal association staff
- The YMCA organisation itself
We were then able to develop personas of these users, and develop a strategy to suit their needs.
Our marketing analysis found that YMCA was competitive with providers like Fitness First. And through business workshops with senior management, we aligned the requirements of the national and local associations, coming up with a common view of how the YMCA brand should be presented as a unified voice in the marketplace. We also investigated the needs of local YMCA associations for a communications system that catered to their specific needs and workflow requirements.
At that point we were able to do a gap analysis between YMCA’s business goals, its online goals and the characteristics of its users. Based on these analyses, and our knowledge of cost-effective technical solutions, we made our recommendation to YMCA management.
Business outcome
We devised a strategy to allow all YMCA employees and managers to communicate and work together more effectively, whether they were located in Melbourne, or in Broken Hill in outback Australia. The strategy maps out a framework for YMCA staff to:
- Access the same online communications and workflow, tailored to individuals
- Portray the YMCA brand professionally and consistently
- Achieve better workplace communication, project collaboration and marketing campaigns
YMCA management readily accepted this strategy, and we were engaged to build a system to deliver it.