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Empowering Fraternal Excellence: Sigma Chi’s Strategic Partnership with Fonteva

Fonteva moved The Sigma Chi International Fraternity from a legacy system, that no longer met their needs, to a platform-based solution that empowered their digital transformation, and made way for long-term planning and growth.

Sigma Chi was founded at Miami University in Ohio in 1855 and is one of the oldest and largest fraternities. With a particular focus on the three great aims of friendship, justice, and learning, Sigma Chi has about 240 undergraduate chapters and more than 130 alumni chapters. Based in Evanston, Illinois, the fraternity now boasts more than 15,000 active undergraduate members and over 250,000 living alumni worldwide, including David Letterman, Brad Pitt, Drew Brees, Luke Bryan, and ten current United States Congressmen.

Key Results

Use of a platform solution with core functionality and features

The flexibility of a modern system to adapt and grow with

Software configurability to address emerging needs

A trusted and valued partnership to support long-term vision

The Challenge

Sigma Chi was using a legacy system which was not user friendly, had limited functionality, and was difficult to integrate with other applications. The fraternity had used an on-premise version of the software for two decades and was faced with the prospect of needing to invest heavily in an upgrade with the provider to move to the cloud. This prompted the fraternity to conduct an internal technology assessment. Consideration was given to the idea that the software in use was not the issue, but that it might be the fraternity’s business practices that needed improvement. The process, however, helped the team discover that it wasn’t just a matter of accumulated technical debt, but they also had numerous customizations. It was an opportune time to look outside the outdated iMIS system to address additional components of their more modern requirements, transition to less custom work through configurations, and bring in siloed areas of the business.

Sigma Chi leadership focused not only on their standard needs and unique needs, but they embraced and promoted a discovery process that empowered team members to talk about challenges in their day-to-day activities. From there they evaluated the areas where it would be worth investing more in the solution at present and those problems that might be resolved in later stages. Sigma Chi determined that they wanted a carefully planned and deliberate implementation timeline, ensuring a thorough and non-rushed process. This very strategic approach would allow the fraternity to be intentional and take their time with the process.

 

“Fonteva has been one of the smoothest rollouts that I have had in close to 30 years.”

Dale Thomas, Chief Information Officer, Sigma Chi

The Solution

Through the assessment, it became clear to Sigma Chi that their leaning was toward a platform-based Salesforce solution. Michael Church, Executive Director of Sigma Chi, explained, “As Sigma Chi cast our vision for the future of our fraternity over the next decade and beyond, we knew early on that a major investment into a digital transformation was going to be necessary. We knew we would need to partner with an industry-leading firm that could help us supercharge our long-term plan and are proud to have partnered with Fonteva as the first and most important step in this journey.”

Sigma Chi discovered through the process that they could turn to Fonteva for a consultative approach and guidance regarding solutions. The fraternity demonstrated that they were receptive to feedback; and with this input, they were in an optimal position to make business decisions on their side. Furthermore, Sigma Chi leadership also saw an immediate difference through Fonteva’s approach to the implementation. “Fonteva has been one of the smoothest rollouts that I have had in close to 30 years,” observed the fraternity’s Chief Information Officer Dale Thomas.

“We knew we would need to partner with an industry-leading firm that could help us supercharge our long-term plan and are proud to have partnered with Fonteva as the first and most important step in this journey.”

Michael Church, Executive Director, Sigma Chi

The Bottom Line

While some aspects of Sigma Chi’s transition to Fonteva will be addressed in future phases, the fraternity has found that they like that Fonteva has the capabilities to do what they want as timing and priorities align. Church elaborated, “Fonteva’s tools – coupled with the comprehensive vision of the Togetherwork team and their network of products – have provided us the opportunity to meet some of our very aggressive growth goals ahead of schedule and our future has never looked brighter.”

They now have confidence in the platform and the benefit of core functionality and features they need along with the flexibility of a modern system for emerging needs. In other words, Sigma Chi will continue to adapt and grow with their Fonteva solution for where they want to go in the future.

Click here for more information on Fonteva’s solutions for fraternities and sororities.

Download a PDF of the case study.

“Fonteva’s tools – coupled with the comprehensive vision of the Togetherwork team and their network of products – have provided us the opportunity to meet some of our very aggressive growth goals ahead of schedule and our future has never looked brighter.”

Michael Church, Executive Director, Sigma Chi

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