Case Studies
The following clients were generous with their time to provide detailed responses to a few questions about my services.
Alex was our CRM/Salesforce Solution Architect from April 2022 through August 2024. During this time played several roles as the program moved through its inception phase into execution. He brought a deep knowledge of many aspects of the Salesforce Platform.
The implementation at The Salvation Army Canada & Bermuda Territory included the Salesforce Non-Profit Success Pack, Marketing Cloud, and Experience Cloud. Alex also played a key role with his fellow architects in orchestrating the implementation of Salesforce along with Workday, MuleSoft and Snowflake.
Several key highlights:
- Led the technical evaluation of the Platform RFP and Proof of Concept between Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce.
- Led the technical evaluation of 4 Solution Implementation Partners validating the bench strength of each resulting in our selection of Slalom.
- Designed and developed our internal IT team’s Salesforce capability.
- Jumped into lead the data analysis and migration of our first tranche of data ensuring we met the timelines of our first set of pilot locations.
About the organization: Through over 400 chapters world wide, Net Impact mobilizes next-generation leaders to use their skills and careers to make a positive impact on the world.
Project goal: Alex assisted us with Salesforce administrative tasks and troubleshooting with many of our systems platform integrations and also provided guidance to the team and one-on-one teachings on Salesforce and other best practices.
1. What is an obstacle that would have prevented you from purchasing my service?
There was no obstacle! It was a great fit for us.
2. What were the business results of using my service?
The team has more understanding of Salesforce, and we have more organized processes with how we collect data which has made our originally very messy data a lot cleaner for the future.
3. What specific part did you like most about my service?
I appreciated the many suggestions about how to make our processes better!
4. What were three other benefits of my service?
Learning about new platforms that work with Salesforce, one-on-one and team support, and a ton of knowledge about data organization.
5. Would you recommend my services? If so, why?
Yes, because of your experience working with non-profits there is a lot of knowledge he has about how to make things run smoothly!
About the organization: We are experts in the implementation of relational database (CRM) that increase the relationship with your target. We help to connect the CRM with other tools of communication, marketing, fundraising and sales that contribute to results and efficiency processes.
Project goal: Raise N’Go was presented with an opportunity to perform the discovery phase with an international nonprofit. Wanting to improve their success rate, they asked me to lead the discovery. This included multiple working sessions from people from multiple countries, digest their business needs, and then produce a number of technical documents aligned with their goals. These documents could be used by any Salesforce agency to perform the implementation phase.
1. What is an obstacle that would have prevented you from purchasing my service?
The cost or cost model could have been an obstacle. However, it was not a limitation for the specific project where you collaborated since you were able to present a fixed cost that was affordable.
2. What were the results of using my service?
Your work was important to deliver the Discovery and Solution Design:
a. On-time
b. With technical quality
c. To ensure best practices
d. To include the recent and specific knowledge about the new vertical Salesforce CRM solution (Nonprofit Cloud)Your contribution was essential for the client to rate our project with 4.4 out of 5.
3. What were three other benefits of my service?
You brought:
a. Guidance for the development and delivery best-practices.
b. Relevant knowledge about Nonprofit Cloud new product
c. Maturity and a good mood on the challenge to engage and mobilize our client (with people from many cultures and digital maturity).
4. Would you recommend my services? If so, why?
Sure. For Salesforce partners that need a Tech Lead to challenge projects. For partners who want to accelerate to training of not senior developers. For partners who want to establish a Center of Excellence to deliver with high quality.
5. Is there anything you’d like to add?
Besides the technical capacity, Alex is committed and fulfils his word.
About the organization: CERIC advances education and research in career development in Canada, funding innovative projects and hosting Canada’s largest career conference.
Project goal: CERIC was concerned about their technical debt. They wanted to introduce new features, and wanted a professional to first analyze their current Salesforce implementation for technical debt and recommend best practices.
1. What is an obstacle that would have prevented you from purchasing our services?
Just lack of resources, being a small charitable organization with limited resources.
2. What were the results of using our services?
Having an expert look at our Salesforce setup, so we can gather a third view perspective on how we can improve and adhere to best practices.
3. What specific feature did you like most about our services?
The insights that were given by you, when it came, as above, the execution of best practices. For example, you pointed out how it is more ideal to create opportunity types rather than creating custom objects. Also, how beneficial it can be to use reports to do mass record editing.
4. What would be three other benefits of our services?
a. Expert insights
b. Organizational focus on the use of the Salesforce
c. Application of best practices identified
5. Would you recommend our services? If so, why?
Yes, because I found interactions with you professional and jovial, which is the best balance to have with any external consultancy you want to have.
About the organization: NetHope helps our nonprofit Members effectively address the world’s most pressing challenges through collaboration, collective action and the smarter use of technology.
Project goal: NetHope needed to integrate Salesforce NPSP with their Microsoft’s Volunteering App.
1. What is an obstacle that would have prevented you from purchasing our services?
The main obstacle would have been price. As an NGO, funding is restricted and often the deciding factor will be price.
2. What were the results of using our services?
The results are that:
a. Our Member data is now synced between our system of record (Salesforce) and the platform Volunteer Management System (Microsoft’s Volunteer Management System)
b. The cohesion of our data has increased as we pull our systems closer to each other, enabling NetHope to use this data more easily for reporting.
c. Improved speed and efficiency for the Emergency Response Team (ERP Team) when working in an emergency situation as the data being captured is synced back to our main system.
3. What specific feature did you like most about our services?
The year long support post implementation was the most attractive feature of the Dryad service. This is true particularly for organizations that has a small IT department. Having a technical expert you can call on if something where to break is very useful and increases the success of the work in the long run.
4. What would be three other benefits of our services?
a. I really appreciated being able to communicate via Slack as this made updates and request for important information easier and quicker (bonus, this is also our core communications system!).
b. The explanation and documentation of the work that was performed was also extremely valuable as it ensure institutional knowledge for any future work performed in these systems.
c. Lastly, the level of technical expertise and customer care was very high and I left like my project was not only being worked on, but also looked after as Dryad pushed back on certain aspects of the project and asked very pointed questions, all with the intention that this work be built for the long run.
5. Would you recommend our services? If so, why?
Yes, I would recommend the services from Dryad Consulting as they have the technical expertise as well as a service model that ensures that the work is built for the long run and will be built for purpose.
6. Is there anything you’d like to add?
I hope to work with you again in the future 😊
About the organization: Volunteer West Island (VWI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the needs of volunteers as well as the community organizations and groups that require volunteer help.
Project goal: VWI was used legacy systems that prevented them from truly understanding their clients and volunteers. These systems were migrated to Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP).
Who are you and what does your company do?
Lynda Barrett – I’m the Executive Director of Volunteer West Island, a not for profit that facilitates volunteerism to meet the many and varied need of the Montreal West Island Community. We also assist seniors to remain autonomous by offering programs and services that break their isolation. We support and recruit volunteers for 300 groups and offer essential Food Services (13 Meals on Wheels Kitchens, Frozen Meals and purees), telephone reassurance calls, Tax Assistance, Animal Therapy and a wide variety of activities for seniors.
Before working with me, what was the problem you were trying to solve?
Our client database was so vast, outdated and lacking adequate protection for all our sensitive data. We needed to find a resource to house all the users of our programs and services to track, organize and help us strategize and be more responsive.
What was your experience while using my services?
It allowed me to validate every aspect of our operations and to visualize our management from the first communication from the user to the final output of our activities. The planning effort with Alex was logical and collaborative. He understood the structure and asked the right questions that allowed us to migrate effectively into Salesforce.
Before we agreed to work together, what made my services stand out from other options available?
The solutions offered to us were explained and presented in a language that made sense. All our questions and uncertainties were quickly responded to and it was clear, even at that time, that we were being guided by a professional who not only understood the capacity of Salesforce but actually cared about making our operations the most efficient and effective.
What made you happiest working with me?
Clear, concise and always willing to help us when needed. Troubleshooting is necessary on the occasion: Alex quickly responds, troubleshoots and has always fixed our problems when we needed it the most. He provides us with the latest options available for our business and advises us when a change is required when using Salesforce. We value his guidance and his ideas never fails to help us improve our CRM.
What would you tell someone who’s considering my services?
Alex will ask you the right questions that in turn, will help you solve your organizational issues. He is so quick to respond to your inquiries and has proven to us over the years that he is knowledgeable and trustworthy.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for everything Alex. You, through Salesforce, saved our business.
About the organization: We work with farmers around the world to grow a better future, one seed at a time.
Project goal: To provide on-going support and add enhancements to Salesforce and the Causeview add-on.
Who are you and what does your company do?
My name is Teresa Garavito, and I am a Fundraising Systems Analyst. I’m responsible for the administration of the fundraising database (Salesforce/Causeview) and oversee the daily operations of fundraising. I work for SeedChange, a non-profit organization, which works with farmers around the world.
Before working with me, what was the problem you were trying to solve?
After the migration of the fundraising database from Raiser’s Edge to Salesforce/Causeview, we needed to hire a consultant to continue with the implementation and customize the database according to our specific needs.
What was your experience while using my services?
It has been a great experience working with Alex. His analytical skills and ability to problem solving has contributed to improvements in many processes and solutions according to our requirements. It has been a great pleasure working with him.
Before we agreed to work together, what made my services stand out from other options available?
Alex’s experience working with Salesforce and his expertise in non-profit organizations in Canada were an added-value. In particular, the work he did at Oxfam converting their database from Causeview to Salesforce NPSP.
What made you happiest working with me?
The interpersonal and analytical skills. It is a pleasure working with Alex. He is reliable. I can count on him on responding to our problems or issues in a timely manner. Not only does Alex respond to our inquiries almost immediately, but he also provides though out and innovative solutions to our requirements.
What would you tell someone who’s considering my services?
It is my pleasure to strongly recommend Alex. I’ve been working with him for over 2 years and during this time, he has demonstrated deep knowledge of Salesforce and its application for non-profits. He has the ability to understand our business and developed a solution that supports our process/decisions. He is very analytical, responsible, detail-oriented, and has great communication and interpersonal skills. It is a joy working with him.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I’ve been working with different consultants throughout my career and I can say Alex is one consultant who uniquely stands out. It has been a great pleasure working with him.
Testimonials
GAIA had been looking for a consultant to support efforts to review our custom Salesforce database, update automations and improve the way the system functions overall. Prior to working with Dryad, we had encountered a few issues that were limiting our ability to report and track certain program indicators.
After speaking with a few consultants that were way out of our budget range, we were grateful to have found Dryad Consulting and even more grateful to have worked with Alex and {team}. They were both great at listening to our needs, working within our budget and taking the time to understand how we wanted the database to function.
Alex and {team} were patient and approached our requests realistically – letting us know what would be feasible and offering solutions within budget when needed. Throughout the project, Alex and {team} made themselves available whenever we needed to schedule time to speak with them and they were prompt in responding to questions and requests.
By the end of the project, the Dryad team worked to simplify our work flows and ensure automations were functioning correctly. We really value their services, flexibility, availability and enthusiasm. It was a breadth of fresh air to work with consultants who truly wanted to understand our mission and needs, and how improvements made to Salesforce would contribute to our overall impact as an organization. We definitely recommend Dryad Consulting, especially for smaller, mission-driven organizations who want to work one-on-one with a great team invested in your success!
Kelsey Fisher, Program and Grants Officer at GAIA at GAIA Global Health
Alex is plain awesome. He is really open minded, and absolutely excellent at what he does. He is the one I would want to design, execute and maintain my entire tech architecture, but he is also the one I would trust to create the best user experience your users deserve.
Over the years, he developed this amazing skill in creating polished user experiences, and that is what makes him good at the rest; He keeps users in mind from start to finish.
Justin Ledoux, Partner & VP Software Development at QuickSeries Publishing Inc.
Alex is definitively one of the best consultant I know. He is not afraid of any challenge; he is always ready to jump on complex projects, and he delivers successfully! He has an incredible learning ability, even though he already knows a lot about Salesforce. In only few hours, he can quickly become a Subject Matter Expert as well as a technical expert. I would recommend without hesitating Alex for any of your Salesforce challenge.
Alexandre Boyer, Chief Operating Officer at Nubik
Alex is an affable person to work with, truly passionate about technologies, promoting strong UX practices. He clearly understands how to adopt a client perspective into projects and has helped provide well thought feedback for my designs.
Adrian Sule, Design & Product Direction
Alex is a true gem and a Salesforce wizard. He created our Salesforce under the supervision of another company, and eventually became our direct supplier when the other company went out of business. He saved the day!
Alex gets to the bottom of things, he doesn’t give up until he finds a good solution for the client. He is available, positive, helpful and understanding.
It has been a great pleasure working with him.
Béatrice Mille, Secrétaire de direction ay HEC University
Alex is a creative, pragmatic, clever designer, and produces wonderfully clear, detailed documentation. He is at once calm and yet entertaining, straightforward with his explanations yet flexible about handling unexpected subjects in presentations, and takes enormous pride in his work yet is humble about handling constructive criticism. He is altogether a lovely addition to any team.
Stephanie Halley, Senior Manager at Yellow Pages
Very creative, highly professional, always willing to help , comes up with solutions out of the box or that fits within the boundaries without losing sight of the longer term goals… and pleasure to work with.
Daniel Hebert, Enterprise Architect at Yellow Pages
Alex, has worked on the Paid Content Capture project as a Solutions Architect. His role was to define solutions applicable to a Content Collection application that work off a Web and Mobile interface. He also designed at high level all the interactions between many platforms that connects through our ESB. His contribution has been very strong and well appreciated by the team.
During this project Alex would challenge some of the suggestions brought forward in order to ensure that we always ensure that we selected the right solutions. Also in time of review Alex would rapidly identify flaws, errors, and would ensure that all reported stay accurate and that all were on the same page.
Alex is certainly a team player, and will never say no to technology challenges by coming up with the solutions that greatly accommodated business requirements.
I would select Alex without any hesitation to work on my projects again. He has been key to the success of the Paid Content Collection program, and this has been recognize by all on the team.
Serge Meunier, Senior Project Manager at Yellow Pages
Alex is a great asset to any organization who is seeking to have one of the best architect in field of ERP, his ability to understand the business needs is one of his rare asset that will add value to any organization he works for.
I strongly recommend Alex, based on results he brought to many project he work and lead from the architecture stream.
Vick Keshishian, Senior Project Manager at Yellow Pages
I worked with Alex for two years at YPG in a very high pace and dynamic environment. Alex talent and knowledge was instrumental in all major projects. His experience and qualifications helped the team to ensure the success of major implementations at YPG. I was always impressed of his ability to concentrate and focus on the task at hand.
No details are too small for Alex – he is perfectionist and it reflects in his work. He possesses a perfect combination of technical skills, a sharp mind and attention to the detail that allows him to execute the job to the last detail.
I would recommend Alex for any project because of my confidence in his work ethic, intellect and his ability change and adjust in the today’s demanding work environment.
Lina Zitkute, Product Owner at Yellow Pages
Highly professional, great attention to details without losing sight of the bigger picture, always motivated, thinks out of the box, and pleasure to work with.
Carlo D’Alessio, Director Application Development at Yellow Pages
Gin Jang at Industry Canada
Isabelle Delaunay, Billing Manager at SITA
Alex is the Swiss Army Knife of web development and software support. He was able to provide top-notch support on a wide variety of areas related to our website and e-commerce platform. I gave him a rough target sheet for how I wanted to develop our website and he completely fulfilled my vision, and more! He did this on-cost and on-time and I made a friend in the process. I highly suggest working with Alex if you are interested in improving your company’s online presence.
Frits Diepen, Owner / CEO at ADENSYS AG
It has been a great experience. Alex was able to accommodate all of our requests and help us determine what is the best path forward. Highly recommended..
Amanda Blackburn Dupont, Sales Operations Coordinator at E2IP Technologies