Adam Fisher, The CIO Partnership presents 'Threat or opportunity? Charities & IT both face tremendous change', at the Eduserv Symposium 2013: In with the new.

1. Adam Fisher
Not for Profit Practice Lead
Threat or Opportunity?
Charities and IT both face tremendous change

2. uncertainty,
ambiguity,
complexity,
bottom vs
topline,
need for agility
Barriers to progressWinds of change are blowing across IT and Charities
both must steer a difficult course to turn these into opportunities …
increasing
security,
scrutiny,
compliance
demographic
change,
new expectations
of both IT and
Charities
new technologies,
methodologies,
accelerating and
disruptive change,
big data, cloud,
BYOD etc

3. Barriers to progressCharities have special characteristics
• What constitutes a “good” charity? Admin costs are rarely a useful
indicator, metrics are hard to establish
• Fundamental characteristics need to be understood and managed:
Private sector (ideally) Charities (to some extent)
Tangible, common goals with
straightforward metrics
Many and varied aspirations, with subjective
measures
Authority at the top, limited consensus Complex governance, consensus important
Limited stakeholders & speedy decisions,
consistent processes
Many and varied stakeholders, decisions
may take time, processes vary

4. Where has the CIO been?
Typical characteristics of a “retained IT” function
Where has IT been?
typical characteristics of Charity (and other) IT functions c.2000
Backend
Data centre
Networks
Applications
Backup/DR
Security
Core
Strategy
Architecture
Relationships
Suppliers
Data
Projects
Frontend
Connectivity
Service and
support
User devices
• Focus: bottom line, efficiency, effectiveness, standardisation
• Culture: reactive, risk averse, control
• C-level access: limited, little strategic input
Typical budget/effort priorities

5. • Focus: top/bottomline balance, value add,
strategic alignment
• Culture: agile, partnering, innovative, informed, shared risk
• C-level access: IT representation at top table
Typical priorities
Where has the CIO been?
Typical characteristics of a “retained IT” function
Where is IT headed?
massive technology, commercial and governance change across all sectors
Backend
Data centre
Networks
Applications
Backup/DR
Security
Core
Strategy
Architecture
Relationships
Suppliers
Data
Projects
Frontend
Connectivity
Service and
support
User devices
No more “tin”
- moves to
cloud,
external
providers,
S/I/PaaS,
outsourcing
moves to
cloud, mobile
devices,
external
providers, self
service,
always-on
apps
becomes

6. Where has the CIO been?
Typical characteristics of a “retained IT” function
How should Charity IT adapt?
some ideas for turning threat into opportunity
• Develop deep knowledge and understanding of the sector
• Deep dive into data stewardship, management, analysis, BI
• Align IT strategy with philanthropic mission
• Short term:
• evolve data governance to deliver single source of information
• partner with marketing/fundraising to exploit social media and digital channels
• smart procurement for hosting, cloud services etc.
• governance, support and security in place for a mobile stakeholder base
• Medium term:
• revise governance to better suit partnering and sharing of technology
• slim down IT team, emphasis on change management, analysis, consultancy
• transform data into wisdom and value
• integrate services from multiple partners, suppliers and technologies
• Long term:
• success in the short and medium term will build the credibility needed to place IT at
the top table – influencing and adding value to the mission

7. • Many strong forces are at work to radically change the way all
organisations go about their business
• Although charities have many distinct and discrete characteristics, they
are not exempt from the threats these forces could pose
• A great opportunity exists to add value to all charity stakeholders, by
changing IT focus and the surrounding culture
Conclusion
potential new outcomes for Charity IT