Last year, Indiana passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Critics of the legislation, including Salesforce, said it could be used to discriminate against members of the LGBT community in Indiana.

The law was eventually amended to specify that it could not be used to discriminate against Hoosiers on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, the debate and the national spotlight on Indiana inspired local community leaders to take a vocal stand against discrimination.

An Indianapolis tech entrepreneur and business consultant, Josh Driver, saw an opportunity to use the momentum to create a more positive and welcoming environment in Indiana and beyond. Driver self-financed the Open For Service campaign-an initiative aimed at uniting, rather than dividing.

The initial goal was to promote businesses and organizations in Indiana that welcome all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender, race, disability, political, or religious affiliation. These businesses and organizations can opt in to be registered in the Open For Service directory.

The company also offers several stickers that can be purchased and displayed to show support for the cause. Currently, there are stickers for businesses, individuals, churches, homes, medical facilities, schools, and wedding service companies.

The stickers have become the true public face of Open For Service-a tangible sign of solidarity for those that might feel otherwise unwelcome. Driver recalls the story of a woman that posted a sticker on her front door, not realizing that her neighbor's son noticed. When the boy was kicked out of his home for coming out to his family, he knocked on the woman's door and she has since helped secure him counseling and is working to become his legal guardian.

"I started Open For Service because I don't want people to run," said Driver. "I want them to be able to thrive safely and be able to stay and continue the conversation and hopefully create some type of positive outcome."

Scaling the Business in a Digital World

As word spread about Open For Service, demand quickly outgrew the reality of Driver's spreadsheets and hacked together database. He was approached by Jay Langhurst, a Salesforce employee and a leader in the company's LGBT employee resource group, Outforce.

Langhurst was familiar with Open For Service because he purchased a sticker for his husband's hair, makeup, and special effects company, Neck Up Design, and he wanted to know how he could help. After speaking with Driver, it was clear he needed assistance keeping up with the data maintenance and marketing needs of the growing organization, which now includes more than 5,000 business around the world.

With Langhurst and several other Salesforce employees by his side, including developer Eric Goldman and Salesforce admin Pamala Bowen, Open For Service moved its data onto Sales Cloud, allowing the company to easily connect a single view of the customer using Heroku with Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud.

"I think it's been helpful for Josh because once you get over that initial hump of success you need to pair it up with better capabilities that can allow him to grow in the future," said Langhurst.

The first step was cleaning and verifying that the information in the Open For Service database was accurate. Driver sent nearly 3,000 emails to those in his initial database to confirm the business information was correct.

The emails, delivered through Marketing Cloud, used dynamic content to send personalized communications containing a unique site for each business where the owner could use Google Maps to choose their business and update other details. The Heroku database is continuously synchronized with Salesforce CRM using Heroku Connect to ensure that all information coming from the business is instantly updated in the CRM and from there directly to Marketing Cloud with data stream.

A business registration wizard was built on Heroku to standardize data collection in the future. Heroku also hosts the Open For Service directory and mobile app.

Working together, Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud allows cross-channel journeys to be triggered through Marketing Cloud using the shared data. Open For Service will soon launch an onboarding journey that will be triggered once a business signs up to be included in the directory, guiding the business owner through options for standard non-discrimination policies, webinars, and how to become more involved with the non-profit.

Open For Service is even trying its hand at the IoT. At a local Indianapolis ice cream store, patrons picked up a retrofitted rotary phone and heard a recorded message, prompting them to dial their mobile number into the phone to receive a mobile coupon in real-time that can be redeemed in the store.

The coupon is sent via SMS through Marketing Cloud's Mobile Studio. With Marketing Cloud and Sales Cloud, that mobile number can now be shared across that customer's profile.

As Open For Service continues to innovate in the name of equality, Driver is exploring new ways to help. After the Orlando shootings, Driver mobilized the existing Orlando Open For Service community to place more than 300 stickers in businesses around the area as a visual reminder they stand with the local LGBT and Latino communities after that tragedy.

He's also exploring ways to integrate education and training with the Open For Service mission.

"I think that there is a very real discussion that we haven't spoken about where there are situations where people may not even feel comfortable leaving their home," said Driver.

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