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IT support can be an essential tool for any business in keeping them safe and ensuring they can continue to operate at all times. However, this is even more crucial for charities who work on limited budgets and have to make every penny count.
They are in a position where they must demonstrate impact on a constant basis, so they need to maximise their reach and keep their costs as low as possible.
Technology is the cornerstone for many modern charities in order to enable fundraising, donor management and volunteer coordination, but without the right IT infrastructure in place, this can be impossible to manage.
In this article Luke Watts, Managing Director at RoundWorks IT discusses the role that IT plays for charities and why having the correct support in place is so crucial.
What Are the Importance of IT Support for Charities?
The Digital Challenges for Charities
The digital world has made life a lot easier for many charities as it puts them in a position to collect funds and reach wider audiences quicker and easier than ever before.
The constant connection brought to us by the internet means that they can streamline operations, organise their structures and deliver their services more effectively, but all of this comes at a cost.
As charities are reliant on the donations they receive for their running costs, they are often left with a number of IT challenges. Many are working with outdated hardware and software that are slow, inefficient, and vulnerable to cyber threats because they are not in a financial position to upgrade them.
IT investments are usually sidelined in favour of frontline operations until it becomes absolutely necessary. This weak IT infrastructure combined with sensitive data from donors means they are significant targets for cybercriminals, and many can fall victim to hacking.
Other businesses might be able to afford their own in-house IT team, but charities are forced to operate with minimal IT knowledge. This means that when issues occur, it can be difficult to identify the problem and resolve it. There is also no one on hand to make sure that systems are being fully updated, and cybersecurity measures are in place.
Charities are also having to navigate some modern complications such as GDPR laws, and the relatively new phenomenon of remote and hybrid working, which can be particularly difficult without adequate IT support.
Cost Effective Solutions
It is easy to think that IT support is expensive, but with the right IT support plan in place, it is possible for charities to actually reduce their expenses over time. A failing IT infrastructure can lead to significant costs in replacing equipment and software, or recovering from an outage, and these are often unexpected and hard to budget for.
By outsourcing IT support to a trusted provider, charities can benefit from preventative care that will stop those smaller IT problems growing into bigger disasters.
There are also flexible pricing structures so that the charity is only required to pay for what it needs, and there may be discounts available for nonprofits when using certain tools.
Better Collaboration
Most charities run thanks to the hard work of volunteers, trustees and staff but these might be based in different locations. This can be difficult to manage and inefficient if the right technology is not in place.
An IT support provider can make sure there are cloud-based tools in place that will allow multiple users to access important documents no matter where they are in the world and communicate effectively with the rest of the team.
By making remote working easier, charities are in a better position to expand their reach and attract new volunteers to their operations.
Cyber Security
Cyber security is a huge challenge for all charities. As many now accept donations through online sources, they will have huge amounts of sensitive data to protect. Cyber criminals are aware of this and also know that most charities do not have adequate protection in place, making them a very easy target.
If a cyberattack takes place, the data of their donors is at risk, they may be unable to accept any further donations and be in a position where they are not able to provide the crucial service they are based around. There is also significant reputational damage that might make people reticent to donate in the future.
By having the right IT support in place, it is possible for charities to protect themselves from these kinds of risks. They can put proactive monitoring and cloud services in place to make sure that documents and data are safely encrypted to protect the people they work with and ensuring they comply with data protection regulations. They can also ensure that software is in place to help create the first line of defence against an attack.
Should a cyberattack happen, it can be extremely difficult to manage and get operations back on their feet without professional IT support. Having someone with expert knowledge on hand ensures that charities are able to react quickly to minimise the damage.
Staying on Top of Things
Sometimes charities might invest in technology and software, but if they do not keep it up to date, it will rapidly present its own set of problems. As cybercriminals learn, they will find gaps in software and loopholes that allow them to target markets and charities.
Software providers are aware of this and are continually working to issue patches that will prevent this, and so charities are required to actively update their systems on a regular basis, but very few of them do.
This is because they are already stretched within their working day and things like software updates are not typically a priority.
Professional IT support can ensure that there is a regular update and maintenance schedule in place so that all software is as up to date as possible, ensuring that it is safe, secure and working efficiently.
These days, charities do not need to struggle with a battle of outdated IT security concerns or technical inefficiencies. A flexible and scalable IT support solution is now available to ensure that charities can function more effectively and protect themselves from harm.
