In Use:
Solodev was built to coincide with AWS and their main goal is to build and manage a website that will attract potential customers and catch donors’ attention. Solodev works closely with the public sector such as government, healthcare and education. At the AWS Public Sector Summit, Solodev achieved the AWS Education Competency status due to their technical proficiency. According to their press release Solodev; “demonstrated success in building solutions that support mission-critical workloads of higher education, K-12 primary/secondary, research and publishing customers.” According to Shawn Moore, CTO of Solodev, websites are where people are going to consume content, so if the website is unappealing, they may go elsewhere when purchasing products or donating funds. Moore sees this as a problem that spans across the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits don’t have the time or money to manage their website. Because of this, their website can get over looked. With so many nonprofits vying for the same donors, it’s important that the website catches donors’ eyes.

Moore explained that if a parent was deciding whether or not to send their child to a private or public school they would first consult the institutions’ websites. If a parent were to decide based on the website alone they would usually pick the private school since their websites tend to be visually appealing as opposed to public school websites that are historically very drab. Solodev works with these public schools to ensure that their websites are innovative and creative, catching the attention of potential parents.

Technology Used:
Solodev works closely with Amazon Web Services and sells their platform on the Amazon Marketplace. While Solodev will build a website for partners, they also manage pre-existing websites for organizations, hosting them on the cloud. This is beneficial for nonprofits as it allows their audience to expand to multiple countries and regions- a benefit that charities may not otherwise have.

Solodev works with nonprofits to get them the data and metrics that they need for their organizations. Solodev offers unique KPIS depending on a charity’s needs. Organizations will be taught by customer service and IT how to analyze these reports and how to use the information to better their website and their nonprofit as a whole.

Ease of Use:
Being connected to AWS makes it easy for partners to gain the recognition that they need to secure donors. With Solodev, nonprofits can have a clean, user-friendly website designed and managed by Solodev and hosted on AWS. The subscription includes data analytics that are unique for each nonprofit.

Recap:
Solodev is a CRM that works closely with the public sector in order for them to gain visibility and potential donors. A nonprofit can work with Solodev to build a website, manage that website, and ultimately host it on the cloud. Because Solodev is expensive, they mainly work with large nonprofits such as churches and schools in the public sector. They work closely with Amazon Web Services, allowing nonprofits to be accessible on a global scale.

Advantages:

Work closely with Amazon Web Services and Amazon Marketplace, hosting clients’ websites and allowing them to be accessible on a global scale

Nonprofits can work with Solodev to build an aesthetically pleasing website that will catch potential donors’ eyes.

Works closely with public education and churches

Data analytics and metrics are included in the subscription fee to ensure that the website is attracting potential donors and expanding a nonprofit’s audience

Proven success for various nonprofits in the past

Disadvantages:

Solodev is expensive starting at $99 per month. Smaller nonprofits would not be able to afford it

Geared towards the public sector although any business or nonprofit can utilize their services

My Opinion
Moore is very knowledgeable on the public sector and the future of websites. I agree that websites tend to be the first point of contact a potential donor has to an organization. Before they go to a gala, or donate money they view the nonprofit’s website to get more information. If the website lacks clarity, or looks run-down the donor may look to a competing charity to donate their time or money.

I have reviewed some web design platforms in the past. These designs seem to be limited when it came to templates nonprofits could use. With Solodev it appears that each website that’s created is unique setting themselves apart from their competitors. If you are a large organization that can afford to use Solodev for your designing, managing, and hosting needs then I would suggest you give them a try. They currently offer a 14 day free trial on their website that I would take advantage of.