There
has never been a more important time for voluntary and community
organisations to get on board and embrace the technological
revolution. With the increasing expectation and demand on
VCOs to deliver more and more benefits to the communities
they serve, it is essential that organisations develop robust
communication and information strategies.
New technology enables organisations to communicate with more
people quickly and easily and to reach people that they would
never have dreamed of being able to contact previously. But
it can also save time, money and resources – which begs
the question: why are VCOs not fully engaged with this phenomenal
and highly useful medium?
There are many reasons for the voluntary sector’s lack
of engagement. Senior decision makers often have a lack of
strategic understanding on how Information Communication Technology
(ICT) can actually be of benefit, preferring to concentrate
on ‘real issues’. All too often ICT is seen as
an additional extra to the core business of many organisations,
with leaders reluctant to dedicate enough funding and simply
channelling just enough into the pot to paper over the cracks.
One thing is for certain: if voluntary and community organisations
are to continue to deliver and enhance the benefits they provide
to their service-users in this new environment of change,
competition and increasing expectations, they must run effective
ICT based operations and develop robust ICT strategies.
The Home Office’s ChangeUp programme established the
ICT Hub to help raise awareness of the benefits of ICT for
VCS organisations. The Hub has identified key areas and challenges
facing the sector to which it is now offering guidance and
practical solutions. Strategies need to be put into place
to plan, fund and budget effectively for ICT over a dedicated
period of time.
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Planning is essential for the smooth running of any system.
If a plan is not put into place an organisation’s ICT
can quickly get out of date and not be able to cope with new
and emerging technologies. But crucially organisations need
to budget effectively and ask for adequate funding.
The problem is that funders often don’t realise the
importance and benefits of ICT and that there are other costs
in addition to simply paying for a computer. Things such as
security, backups, software, training, running costs and maintenance
of the system must all be taken into account and VCOs need
to include these in their funding proposals.
Other major challenges are the ever-increasing amounts of
information distributed electronically. Inboxes can get jam-packed
with emails and attachments; people become faced with information
overload, which can be difficult to keep on top of.
Viruses are problematic, costly to overcome and without adequate
security can render systems completely useless. Prevention
is always better than cure and with planning and the correct
preventative measures steps can be taken to minimise the damage,
which again strengthens the need for adequate planning.
Although there are challenges to overcome it’s not all
cause for concern. ICT presents many more benefits and opportunities.
Voluntary and community organisations must wholeheartedly
embrace them to reap the benefits. By enlisting new technology
such as blogs, podcasts and video, organisations can fully
leverage the cheap publishing possibilities of the web.
New developments in ICT now mean ways of communicating organisations’
messages more efficiently and cheaply enable collaboration
and discussion with other organisations and constituents.
Since its creation last year the ICT Hub has seen many examples
of organisations which have adopted these technologies and
developed innovative new ways to reach more people, in increasingly
diverse ways. A recent example is a Primary Care Trust in
the North East that found a new way of addressing teenage
pregnancy and sexual health by communicating in a manner which
would provide teenagers with advice on their terms.
Text messaging is one of the most popular methods of communication
for young people. The trust set up a service to offer sexual
health advice via text messaging; enabling teenagers to get
the advice they would have never dared get previously. By
tapping into a medium acceptable to young people they were
able to reach new audiences and provide information about
many issues that young people would be too embarrassed to
talk about face to face.
There are many more ways that the voluntary sector can get
involved and adapt their communication strategies to include
these innovative new ways of communicating. The ICT Hub enables
organisations to learn from each other by highlighting new
ideas and providing a pool of resources, events, publications,
helpdesk and website. The mechanisms for change are in place;
it’s simply a case of jumping on board.
Nicola Thompson is head of the ICT Hub
Further information
For more information about the ICT Hub visit www.icthub.org.uk
or call it’s HelpDesk on 0800 652 4737
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