Local ICT support for charities
view printable versionThe need for trusted local advisors
by Tony Okotie, High Peak CVS and Digital Umbrella
In common with other local infrastructure organisations, High Peak CVS is a generalist voluntary sector support organisation offering a range of services (including training, funding information and advice, general capacity building) to local groups and organisations.
Many of the organisations we work with are very small. Colleagues from our development work team build relationships with organisations, often providing support and services to groups and keeping in touch with them over the long term.
This is not about creating a dependency culture: as groups develop and change, their needs and issues change, and they come back to us requiring information, advice and assistance on lots of different subjects.
I remember that one of my colleagues, who works with particularly small and marginalised community groups, received a call from a learning disabilities support/self-help group, run by the people with disabilities themselves - did she know if (or how) you could get additional support with taking your theory driving test?
One of the group members was studying for his test, but he was concerned about his literacy. Now, this is not the usual sort of request that we get (it’s more often funding…..funding….funding), but Sandy researched it and supplied the answer (the answer was “yes”, there was help with the test available, check out the driving test online if you ever get asked!).
The group was happy and their member went on to pass their test, a big personal achievement for him.
Why did they come to us with help around that issue? It was, after all, far removed from what we do. We think it is because we are seen as “trusted local advisors” by local voluntary and community groups: because of the relationships we build, and because we aim to be approachable, they feel that they can ask – and believe the answers and advice they get, even if it is not really the answer they expected.
What’s this got to do with IT?
At the Ruralnet “Collaborate 2007” conference, William Hoyle from Charity Technology Trust talked about the progress they were making on the CTX programme (a software donation scheme).
As part of his presentation, William showed a Google map showing the location around the country of groups that had accessed CTX - there were lots of geographic “clusters” of activity.
I think there are three possible reasons for the clusters: luck, groups talking to each other…and the advice / information given by “trusted local advisors”.
William went on to say that through CTX, the sector has had £4.75 million of software / hardware donated – it’s a fantastic scheme, and one that we’ve signposted to lots of groups, but my point is that groups have to know about it in the first place.
As Digital Umbrella (the IT services social enterprise of High Peak CVS), we have worked with a large number of small voluntary sector organisations across Derbyshire and other parts of the East Midlands.
What we have found is, although the ICT Hub has developed some fantastic resources, workshops and conferences, most of the small groups that we work with either aren’t aware of the Hub, or haven’t accessed their services directly.
This was borne out in the recent third sector ICT strategy for the East Midlands (still in draft stage –www.ITEM3.org.uk) where, overall, less than half of organisations surveyed had heard of “the Hub”, and “lack of knowledge about options” was the second highest challenge to organisations making better use of ICT.
That’s why I believe that “trusted local advisors” are important - to promote and explain what IT can do, and to “hand hold” in many cases. Many (most?) smaller organisations aren’t able (because of time and / or resources) to proactively research options, suppliers etc, and this is where we can add real value.
But we need to be in a position where the organisations trust in our advice. I like the adage “you don’t know what you don’t know” – and so you need someone to lead by example, explain, show, demonstrate, deal with the fear factor etc. Call it IT development work.
There are, of course, many different models and services that could be encompassed under the “trusted local advisor” or IT development work banner, but for me it’s about providing health checks, consultancy, advice – and linking people up to suppliers and helping through the procurement process. For those that understand the Business Link model, it is about providing “IDB” functions- Information, Diagnostics, Brokerage.
However, there are many challenges in this “trusted local advisors” model: I think it is very difficult to charge directly for this kind of service, so sustainability is key.
If you are a business or social enterprise, there is always the challenge of impartiality – you may be able to provide free advice and support, but there may be suspicion (from the client) that it is just to get them to buy services from you in the longer term. As Digital Umbrella some of the services we provide are free at the point of use (nothing is truly free!), and some are chargeable – so we face that challenge every day.
Then there is language. I think that “IT development worker” is more understandable (and more defined) than “CircuitRider” – and that is after running a project called “Derbyshire CircuitRiders” for two years to do exactly what I am advocating here.
Unfortunately, CircuitRiding is a generic term used to cover lots of roles, including technical support. That’s not to say that IT technical support projects aren’t needed – in fact quite the opposite – IT development workers and IT technical support workers need each other and need to work together.
So, how do you become “trusted”? Our experience is that is about time, getting recommendations, proving your worth, having a good reputation, and not being afraid to be a “critical friend” with groups (we’ve suggested to a couple of groups that they DON’T need a website for example – and we run a website design social enterprise!)
Jackie Carey, regional ICT champion for the West Midlands said in a recent presentation “good ICT helps us do things better…and do better things”. I firmly believe that the key to helping more small voluntary and community sector organisations improve the way that they use ICT is getting trusted local advisors close to the point of need – into the sub regions and districts. There have been, and continue to be, some really good examples of this, but coverage is patchy across the country – something that needs to change.
Useful websites
• Circuit Riders – http://www.lasa.org.uk/circuitriders/
• CTX programme - enables eligible charities to gain access to donated
technology products from Microsoft, Symantec and other manufacturers - http://www.ctt.org/ctx/about_ctx/default.asp
• Direct.gov.uk – Public services all in one place: making the most of
electronic communication and resources from central and local government and
agencies http://www.direct.gov.uk/
About the author
Tony Okotie is regional IT Champion for the East Midlands, and works at High Peak CVS in north-west Derbyshire, managing all of the CVS information, training and IT projects. Tony is a strong advocate for the use of IT as an enabler, communication and campaigning tool. Over the last three years, Tony has led the development of Digital Umbrella, the new “brand” for all of the CVS’s IT services, which is now being run as a social enterprise and aimed at helping 3rd sector organisations make the most of ICT in delivering their mission.