The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) exists to “create a world of no limits for people who are blind or visually impaired.”
Since 1921, the Virginia-based nonprofit has focused on breaking down barriers to independence and opportunity for more than 30 million people in the U.S. They foster understanding and champion policies that promote equality and inclusion of people who are blind or have low vision.
As a leader within the blindness community, AFB believes it should lead by example, especially on matters pertaining to accessibility.
“We take accessibility very seriously at AFB,” said Patsy Carvache, the organization’s Chief Business Officer. “Even on matters pertaining to internal staffing, assurances that everything is accessible is how we can meet our mission, including in our daily routines.”
Unfortunately, their accounting system was not quite up to par. AFB had been using NetSuite for a decade and liked it fine, except for one key issue — It had minimal assistive technology.
Accessibility of Microsoft cloud ERP
Carvache was tasked with finding a more accessible replacement. Preliminary research showed that Microsoft’s cloud-based ERP might be a good option. AFB reached out to three Microsoft partners to vet Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Boyer was the most attentive, quick to answer their questions and willing to help the nonprofit test the accessibility features of Business Central. The Boyer team even tracked down documentation outlining Microsoft’s commitment to both the nonprofit industry and with assistive technology.
This willingness to go the extra mile in helping AFB make a decision stood out to both Carvache and Haley Linville, the nonprofit’s Business Services Manager. “This is not something that’s always done,” said Linville. “It was pretty easy with Microsoft and Boyer.”
The Boyer team spun up a personalized 30-day trial of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central so that AFB could do their own testing of the assistive features.
The Excel integration especially stood out, since Excel is easy for assistive tech to translate. Linville, who is in charge of AFB’s Business Central administration, said the nonprofit’s engineers tested the software with an assistive screen reader.
“What they’re looking for is that every field is readable to the screen reader so the user can access that field,” she said. “Since Excel is accessible, anytime they were pulling a csv or an export, it was accessible.”
That was all they needed to pull the trigger and make the move to Microsoft and Business Central.
A responsive Microsoft partner
After a full year on its new ERP system, AFB is liking the accessibility of Business Central. They also like the savings from switching to Microsoft.
“It’s definitely more accessible and better in our pockets,” Carvache noted.
She and Linville both said Boyer’s level of service stood out as a key reason for choosing the award-winning Microsoft partner to implement their new software.
“Being attentive and making sure that we had what we needed while we were making the decision was very helpful,” Carvache said. “And Boyer clearly seemed to know what accessibility meant, which was the number one factor for us.”
The implementation went well, and the Boyer team was there to help every step of the way. Linville said Boyer was quick to answer any questions and did a great job of training the core staff. Even while AFB was integrating a third-party piece to their new Microsoft cloud ERP, the Boyer team stayed involved to make sure the integration went smoothly as well.
Based on the high quality of service, AFB recommended Boyer to another nonprofit. That nonprofit also chose Boyer to implement Dynamics 365 Business Central.
“I’ve been through five implementations prior to this one. Out of the six, Boyer’s consulting service was excellent compared to all the other times. That’s why I recommended Boyer to another company because I thought you guys were great,” Carvache said.
