Can Cloud Apps Give Candidates an Election Edge?

A recent CNet article about how social media is becoming mainstream in presidential elections got me thinking. While large-scale elections like those for our President involve millions of dollars of campaign contributions – what about the local government candidates and incumbent? How can those with far less resources effectively reach out, raise funds, and get their message to their constituents? What kind of inexpensive, yet flexible tools are available to them to help build these connections without hiring a mass of IT-savvy staffers?

In short, I wondered: How can Caspio help you win a local election?

After a quick perusal of some of the apps and add-ons in Caspio’s arsenal, I decided that, while nothing beats a strong platform and “electability” – cloud database and application tools like Caspio can certainly give a candidate an edge.

For example, candidates can advertise for staffers with Caspio’s online Recruiting Management application. This is a great example of a packaged, ready-made online database application a candidate could use inside a local (or even larger) campaign, without having to hire or source a bunch of technical volunteers.

Of course, a campaign can be taken to the next level with some of Caspio’s add-ons. For example, a campaign can extend the value of its social media presence by building forms inside its Facebook page to capture volunteer or contribution data. And canvassers and other volunteers in the field can capture citizen information and contribution data by extending the Caspio system to mobile devices. This would not only extend the reach of a campaign but also cut down on manual data transfer time and the number of data errors that could get in the way of a campaign contribution being received or a volunteer getting contacted to help with stumping efforts.

Again, technology cannot win an election. However, by leveraging technology as a tool to extend a campaign’s reach – and ease the process of gathering volunteers, staffers, and donations – it can be a huge help. And at all levels, Caspio can be a great, flexible tool to do just that.

Now, if tools like Caspio can give an electoral candidate a huge edge – imagine what they can do for a business looking to win customers, not just votes…