Canvis a "Extend contract with HeyOrca for a further year & use for three more years until reviewing decision in Council"

Problem statement

Mautic needs a tool through which we can manage our social media accounts, giving many users the ability to write content but few users the ability to publish, and a clear approval workflow which can also include stakeholders.

For the last three years we've used HeyOrca and it has suited our needs perfectly.

We would like to propose that we continue using this tool for the next three years on an annual recurring basis unless there are reasons to change beforehand - we have an agreement that for larger priced subscriptions like this we'll review the options on a three-yearly basis.

The annual price to renew is currently $983.40 USD, a 45% discount from regular pricing.

Detailed proposal

Read more about HeyOrca here: https://www.heyorca.com.

Some of the key features from HeyOrca which I've not found to be reproduced in a cost-effective way elsewhere:

1. Unlimited team members - this is a biggie because we have a large base of occasional contributors. Most platforms make a per-seat charge.
2. Configurable approval workflow including anyone, specific users, or external stakeholders (or a combination of users and stakeholders)
3. Web front-end for stakeholders to review and approve posts prior to them being published (e.g. if we're doing MautiCon or promoting a member or partner, they review and approve the posts)
4. Pretty decent reporting including competitor analysis (I just don't have time to use it, but our new sales and marketing assistant will be)

Some of the downsides / features that aren't quite there yet:

1. There aren't social listening features yet (e.g. follow a hashtag)
2. The community feature is quite basic (where you reply to posts) and only supports Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Tiktok. Read more: https://www.heyorca.com/features/community-management
3. The Mastodon and Bluesky integrations are still reliant on a manual posting process

Benefits / impact

We already use the platform and know it well, and it serves our needs. The recently updated mobile app does give a lot more functionality for supporting events and 'on the hoof' updates than we had before, so that's a positive.

I haven't found comparable platforms which have no limit on team members and have the same kind of features, so switching would result in an increase in expenditure.

Pricing has increased over the time we've used it but I feel these haven't been unreasonable increases:

• 2022: $774
• 2023: $774
• 2024: $894
• 2025 quote: $983.40

Potential challenges

The shortcomings are somewhat unhelpful because we can't do such effective monitoring of our channels, but not a game changer. There's a roadmap here but there aren't any substantiative changes to improve things planned other than direct publishing to Bluesky.

Resources needed

None, as we'd continue to use the same platform. If we moved elsewhere we'd need to cost it up and migrate all our accounts which could be a bit disruptive.

Suggested timeline

The renewal happens on 24th May so we'll need to discuss this in the Mid-Q2 council meeting.

Additional information

Proposal to be presented by Ruth Cheesley on behalf of the marketing team.