ElectionMall Technologies

ElectionMall Technologies, Inc., (EMT) provides high tech campaigning products and services including: campaign management intranets, online fundraising, election security, and targeted e-mail initiatives. Founded in 1999, EMT is among the oldest non-partisan web technology companies serving campaign management. EMT has set up the WebOffice solution for some 30 political candidates, including congressional candidates in both U.S. parties.

“Accessing information in a timely manner is very crucial in any campaign. Campaign management needs to share and respond effectively, in real time, to massive influxes of data. If they don’t do this, it can potentially cost them significant amounts of money. It may cost them votes, and ultimately, it may cost them the election,” says Ravi Singh, CEO and Founder of EMT.

“Imagine the difficulty of coming back to campaign headquarters every night from far flung locations to get key information, verses accessing that same information from any laptop, anywhere, anytime during the long campaign days,” says Singh.

“Plus, scheduling is typically a nightmare for everyone involved in a campaign,” adds Singh.

WebEx WebOffice, customized for campaign management by EMT, provides instant access to schedules and in-depth information via the web, anywhere and anytime, and makes it possible for campaign management to assimilate and analyze incoming data quickly, and act on it fast.

“Our alliance with WebEx,” says Singh, “allows us to tailor fields in the WebOffice Database Manager to very specific campaign tasks, so campaign managers can manage their information readily and intuitively.”

For instance, using WebEx WebOffice, EMT has created customized voter registration databases, absentee voter registration databases, financial databases, and other databases germane to campaign management. “We also show campaign managers creative ways to use the WebEx WebOffice technology — devising additional aids that are specific to their particular campaigning needs.”

WebOffice also provides an online calendar that campaign management, staff and volunteers can share.

"With WebEx WebOffice from ElectionMall Technologies, candidates, campaign managers, staff and volunteers can all access information that’s appropriate to their role in the organization over the web — at their convenience. This is fantastic!"

- Ravi Singh, CEO and Founder, ElectionMall Technologies, Inc

“To have access to all campaign information — at the office, at home, on the road, for everyone connected with the campaign — is fabulous. It’s not stuck on someone’s computer, and inaccessible to everyone who needs it,” says Singh.

Candidates like to see as much information as possible on the schedule — not just date, time, and a notation.

Using WebOffice, EMT can incorporate a brief for every scheduled event to keep the candidate informed. “We also use WebEx WebOffice to store debriefings after a meeting. We have created fields, tabs, templates, tools and even documentation within WebEx WebOffice designed just for the campaign scheduler,” Singh says.

The ability of the candidates, campaign managers and staff to sync information in the WebOffice Calendar with Microsoft Outlook and their PDAs is another big advantage. The ability to share schedules and information, when appropriate, and also to keep certain things private when necessary is important for candidates and support staff.

“The WebOffice Document Manager allows candidates to post, review, approve and distribute press releases and speeches online — keeping track of the versions and updating them as events unfold. This instant, shared access to documents that may need to change minute-to-minute depending upon breaking news and events, is a true advantage for campaign press managers,” Singh notes.

Candidates and staffs can also use the WebOffice Document Manager to manage campaign marketing materials — such as flyers, campaign signs, and direct mail — keeping everyone in the loop as these timely and frequently changing documents are reviewed, approved and printed for distribution.

WebEx WebOffice from EMT also provides customized linkage between its own site and the candidate’s public web site. So, candidates and their staffs can automatically update information on their public web site — such as press releases and statements — directly from their WebEx WebOffice from EMT campaign management site.

Conversely, they can also access their site directly from their own public web site, using a password. On the road, staff members don’t have to remember or find out what the URL of their WebOffice from EMT is.

Candidates use WebEx WebOffice from EMT for keeping track of their finance committee and its progress in meeting goals. WebOffice’s security and permissions systems allows designated databases to be privately blocked — so volunteers and even the campaign manager wouldn’t have access to the finance committee information, unless the candidate or the WebOffice administrator grants that permission. “So, candidates can really keep everyone focused on their own assignments,” Singh explained.

”EMT uses the WebEx WebOffice Task Manager to get rid of lots of campaign chaos,” Singh says. Candidates can use the Task Manager to assign tasks to their campaign managers who, in turn, can assign tasks to volunteers. When each task is completed, everyone can see it crossed off on the task list online. Candidates don’t have to keep asking their managers and volunteers: ‘Did you do it?’

The candidate or campaign manager can also set a time limit, or deadline on a task, or multiple tasks, so when the time limit has expired, it generates a report.

EMT employs the WebEx WebOffice Contact Directories for the campaign phone banks. With it, EMT clients can take a Microsoft Excel file and automatically pre-populate their contact directories. They don’t have to worry about typing in all this information.

With WebEx WebOffice, campaign managers can set up campaign branded email accounts for staff and volunteers, who might otherwise have to use their own personal email accounts.

“Even after the campaign is over, WebEx WebOffice from EMT will allow candidates to retain and access all their valuable information. It won’t be in storage, or on someone’s PC, or on a floppy somewhere. It won’t be lost in some campaign office, or the candidates won’t get hijacked by one of their techies. They just won’t have to worry about it,” Singh says.

“We are very happy to be working in partnership with WebEx WebOffice,” Singh says.