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RedBit Development

Accelerating national food distribution with Azure solutions

Helping Canadian families in need

Located in Burlington, Ontario, RedBit is more than a software consulting, design, and engineering company. This cohesive team of creators and thinkers start their process with a big-picture vision from the perspective of the audience, the business, and the brand experience. That same dedication to process enabled them to help a national food rescue charity to scale up their operations in weeks.

Since its inception, this food rescue charity has redistributed over 200 million pounds of food, 16 million in 2019 alone. As the pandemic impacted the nation’s economy, requests for food increased 40 percent. The moment to expand nationwide arrived with the opportunity to distribute $4.5 million in federal funding for pandemic relief.

Food rescue can help end hunger in Canada and make a positive environmental impact. Redistributing food from those with too much to people in need for 35 years, the charity prevented the emission of 800 million pounds of greenhouse gases.

When their online matchmaking platform that connects food donors and social service organizations failed to scale beyond a few hundred users, the CEO reached out to RedBit, intent on reaching and expanding their capacity quickly.

Accelerated transformation

Following a needs assessment, RedBit recommended a customized Azure solution that dramatically accelerated the charity’s 2020 plan to expand nationwide.

Moving from one to four servers and integrating modern technology like Azure Functions enabled the charity’s platform to meet the growing demand while transforming the user experience. Customizing the common data model to the organization’s needs and expanding their use of Microsoft’s Power Platform, RedBit chose to integrate with the common data service using the REST APIs for the mobile app and their volunteer connect feature.

A massive accomplishment

In only three weeks, RedBit scaled the charity’s matchmaking platform, expanded it to enable non-food donations like hand sanitizer and toilet paper, and launched a native mobile app integrated with Dynamics 365 that helps donors donate food. Additionally, in just one week, RedBit created an online grant portal enabling the equitable distribution of federal relief funding to charities across the country.

“We’re a small business that makes a big impact on our customers, especially non-profts who want to leverage technology for social good. Winning an Impact award for our eforts was an immensely proud moment for everyone on the team and a powerful way to recognize all the hard work, especially during the early days of pandemic. And from a business and marketing perspective, the Impact award has been a beautiful gift.”

- Hazel van der Werken-Small Head of Operations, RedBit