New Zealand College of Midwives Chief Executive Karen Guilliland has been so impressed by Global Office's transformation of her organisation that she is telling midwives around the world about what has been achieved.
Since Global Office started working with the College four years ago, the organisation has shifted from doing almost everything manually to working with a range of online tools to stay connected with its members and local communities.
Karen, who is chair of the Scientific Professional Programme Committee for the International Confederation of Midwives, says online services offer huge benefits to midwives who, throughout the world, are often isolated from each other and their professional bodies.
New Zealand midwives can now book and pay online for their professional reviews and postgraduate education, which are run by the College of Midwives. They can also keep their membership registration up-to-date online and receive notifications about their professional reviews and postgraduate education.
The College of Midwives is able to update its website and database, so that it doesn't require assistance whenever changes are needed. "As an NGO, it's fantastic that we are able to do this basic behind the scenes work. We can't afford to get someone to do that for us. Nick and Chris just said here's how you do it, go ahead," Karen says.
She says the transition from a complicated manual way of working to communicating with members online has been much easier than expected, thanks to the Global Office team listening carefully to what was needed and then sitting alongside people when new features were added.
"They have always patiently worked towards practical solutions. They were very quick on the uptake, easy to talk to, and didn't try to blind us with science," Karen says.