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By bringing diverse allies together Rainforest Alliance is making a deep-rooted change on some of our most pressing social and environmental issues. Together, they amplify the voices of farmers and forest communities, improve livelihoods, protect biodiversity, and help people mitigate and adapt to climate change in bold and effective ways. The Rainforest Alliance was founded in 1987 and is a global organisation with over 1000 employees across 70 countries.
The Rainforest Alliance is the most well-known for their little green frog on the packaging of hundreds of thousands of products across the world. This is the symbol for their Certification Program, the set of standards and principles that enable the Rainforest Alliance to carry out their vision and mission.
Intro
Legacy Modernisation
ERP
Retail Tech
Certification Platforms
Strategic Advisory
Multi-System Integration
Scalability
Cost Reduction
From Roll-Out to Adoption
The Challenge
Over the years, the Rainforest Alliance invested heavily in bespoke, custom-built software. While these systems once met their needs, they became expensive to maintain, slow to adapt, and difficult to scale.
To support their mission, the Rainforest Alliance set a new technology strategy:
Move away from custom builds
Adopt innovative, scalable off-the-shelf solutions
Ensure business-critical units could operate with agility
Three key applications were identified for replacement:
Ticketing & Customer Support – a global system to handle queries across continents and time zones.
Certification Management – supporting the global certification program and the Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
Trademark Approval – verifying the correct use of logos, seals, and trademarks in a continuous, scalable way.
The Approach
Best Byte guided Rainforest Alliance through our five-step process—from discovery to vendor evaluation—but where the difference was made was in the roll-out and implementation.
We didn’t just stop at helping them select the right solutions. We worked alongside their teams to:
Design the application and infrastructure setup so new tools fit seamlessly into their global landscape.
Configure and implement the chosen platforms with a focus on scalability and long-term usability.
Support adoption by assisting internal teams with onboarding, training, and workflows, ensuring the tools weren’t just deployed but used effectively.
This hands-on approach meant Rainforest Alliance could move with speed and confidence, without being bogged down by the pitfalls of custom development or endless vendor promises.
The Result
By investing in a strong foundation and prioritizing implementation, Rainforest Alliance achieved significant results:
70% cost reduction in yearly operating costs for the Trademark Approval application, while gaining scalability through a no-code solution.
A new ticketing system built on an industry-leading platform, improving both scalability and expert knowledge.
For the Certification Management platform, a projected 50% cost reduction in year 2, rising to 70% in year 3.
Beyond the numbers, the organization gained clarity, resilience, and the ability to scale its impact without being slowed down by technology.
The Takeaway
By investing in a strong foundation and prioritizing implementation, Rainforest Alliance achieved significant results:
70% cost reduction in yearly operating costs for the Trademark Approval application, while gaining scalability through a no-code solution.
A new ticketing system built on an industry-leading platform, improving both scalability and expert knowledge.
For the Certification Management platform, a projected 50% cost reduction in year 2, rising to 70% in year 3.
Beyond the numbers, the organization gained clarity, resilience, and the ability to scale its impact without being slowed down by technology.