Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

February 08, 2008

Central Desktop Aids Obama's Campaign in Grass Roots Efforts

By Susan J. Campbell


To support its effort to launch a state-wide field operation once thought impossible in California, the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign chose Central Desktop, the Complete Collaboration platform for teams.

California has proven to be one of the more challenging states due to its geographically dispersed population and lack on engaged public in the political process.

The Obama Campaign team relied on Central Desktop along with other technology tools to manage the process of hiring, managing and sharing critical information with thousands of precinct captain volunteers hired to drive their neighbors to the polls for the Presidential primary.

The Obama Campaign team enlisted over 6,000 precinct captains (all volunteers) to take to the streets and the phones to drive their neighbors to the polls to vote for Obama.

"Technology has lowered the threshold of engagement," said Patrick DeTemple, California Data & Systems Manager, Barack Obama 2008, in a Friday statement.

"The Web-based collaboration platform combined with a strong organized grass-roots effort, created unprecedented public involvement that is revitalizing politics in America. Not since Bobby Kennedy has there been such an extensive Precinct Captain operation for a presidential candidate in California."

In the recent elections, Presidential campaigns have been primarily run via TV and direct mail. For the first time in 40 years, the Presidential Primary campaign in California was focused on community involvement and grass-roots efforts.

Central Desktop’s pure Web-based collaboration platform allows organizations to empower internal and external teams to select, connect, share and collaborate on activities and information seamlessly and inexpensively. The technology is as simple as launching a Web browser.
"When the Barack Obama Campaign team came to us, they needed a solution that would be up-and-running in minutes to manage a complex communication challenge for a widely dispersed group," said Isaac Garcia, CEO of Central Desktop, in Friday’s statement.
 
"Each California precinct has an externally facing workspace where information and tasks can be easily shared and disseminated. Each campaign team captain can create and view up-to-date information, coordinate and track projects, tasks and milestones as well as access data and statistics in real-time to help them 'identify, persuade and get-to-vote' as many Californian's as possible."

It is quite interesting that it is the technology of today that took the Obama campaign back to the streets in a grass roots effort. Central Desktop’s capabilities allowed for the combination of two important approaches to community involvement in this essential process. By focusing on technology to get back to the heart of the people, Obama’s campaign was successful in making a difference.
 
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.
 
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers whitepapers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Best Practices for Leveraging Home-Based Agent Solutions for Sales and Marketing, brought to you by LiveOps (News - Alert).
 


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