The Goldilocks Principle – Using The Nucleus Toolbelt

Managing multiple operational tools and software systems within an organization can be a daunting task. Each organization must figure out what data to track, how to capture data, where to save data, and how to use data in meaningful ways. Like all decisions in the life of an organization, there are many options available. From spreadsheets and pivot tables to all-in-one software solutions, the challenge is finding the right processes and tools that fit your organization’s current needs while also providing scalability as you grow.

Wherever your organization is in the development of operational systems and tools, there are some common challenges that organizations face. Similar to the classic Goldilocks story, we see regularly that some systems are too simple and some are too complex. Let’s identify those challenges…

Just too simple…

Lots of small organizations survive off of spreadsheets and manual data entry. It’s quick, it’s simple, and it’s easy to understand. With some added tools like pivot tables, spreadsheets can be a helpful way to manage and organize data. However, spreadsheets find their limitations quickly and can become cumbersome to manage. The manual entry of spreadsheets gives some assurance of data quality but also creates significant challenges in actively using your data in meaningful ways. For instance, spreadsheets cannot send emails, process financial transactions, or automatically update client information. Instead, the individual managing these spreadsheets must manually move data (ugh… Copy + Paste again?) into other tools to accomplish these needed operational processes. This simplistic approach gives you confidence in data management but bogs down quickly in the difficulty of accessing and using your data in meaningful ways.

The pendulum swing from spreadsheets for data management is using an all-in-one CRM or database system such as Hubspot, Salesforce, Monday.com, or Zoho. These powerful tools promise the capability to do all your organization’s major data processing in a single tool – data organization, email, sales tracking, task management, etc… Each of them, to varying degrees, provides the capabilities needed to manage everything in one place. However, as most organizations dive deeper into one of these ecosystems, two big challenges often arise. First, there is often a very high price tag to accessing all of the features needed to truly make an all-in-one solution work. In addition to the base price, most of these solutions offer a-la-carte pricing to turn on additional modules such as marketing or task management. In addition to the added cost, many of these extra modules provide limited functionality compared to other similar tools on the market. This simplistic approach reduces the friction of data management between processes, but can quickly become a very expensive software tool with limited functionality in some important tools.

Just too complex…

Many organizations take a piecemeal approach to data management. They have a software tool for each major need – an email management application like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, a CRM for client data like Hubspot or Salesforce, a task management app like Asana or Trello, a social media aggregator like Hootsuite or Social Sprout, etc… The challenge quickly becomes ensuring that each system is integrated with the others and that there is a primary source of data truth that can be managed confidently. While most software applications today offer native integrations to other systems, they are often limited and simplistic in their connections. Commonly complex data, like tracking households and individual contact records, can quickly push these integrations past their intended capabilities. This complex approach gives greater access to the best tools and systems for a given task but can soon break down as data health and integrations become an ongoing challenge to manage.

Just right…

Just like the Goldilocks story, there is a happy middle ground that is just right! Through years of support and development with organizations going through these very challenges, Impact Upgrade has developed its own toolbelt of software processes and integrations to solve this problem – Impact Nucleus. Using a hub & spoke model, Nucleus is a powerful data translator between systems and tools to help them consistently and seamlessly communicate with one another. This approach allows organizations to pick the best software solution for each of their major tasks while maintaining data integrity within their CRM as their primary source of truth. Once your systems are connected through Nucleus, it runs in the background to sync data, manage common issues like data duplication, update records, and maintain confidence in your CRM as your primary source of truth for your organization. As we work with clients on their unique projects, we’re able to quickly integrate our own “Just Right” tools to reduce task redundancy, tackle previously solved integration challenges, and confidently move data consistently and correctly through your systems.