Case Study: Canadian Diabetes Association achieves $250,000 in three-year savings and enhanced security with BlackBerry

Canadian Not-for-Profit Association Helps Save Costs by Centralizing Users on BlackBerry Solution

The Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA), a national not‑for‑profit with about 350 employees and 20,000 volunteers operating in 150+ communities, found its BYOD approach was driving up costs and limiting control, security and timely hardware upgrades. CIO Nigel Carpenter determined that lack of centralized control over data plans, device management and upgrades made BYOD neither cost‑effective nor aligned with the organization’s privacy and operational needs.

CDA moved to a corporate‑owned BlackBerry solution—deploying BlackBerry smartphones, PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry Enterprise Server—and migrated users to a BlackBerry‑only policy. The change improves remote device management and security (OTA updates, remote wipe), is projected to save roughly $250,000 over three years, and sets the stage for a BlackBerry 10/BES10 rollout plus mobile CRM and Clothesline donation apps; 100 devices are already in use.

Canadian Diabetes Association

Nigel Carpenter

Chief Information Officer