Goals for 2011
Help available to VCOs to understand their current use of ICT and identify options for update and improvement.
Develop tools, models and resources to embed the appropriate use of ICT Health Checks in community development activities.
Key tasks now
Work with current providers of ICT Health Checks to identify key issues to be addressed and possible models for future development
Share current knowledge and resources amongst relevant organisations
Work with ChangeUp Consortia to identify possible models for developing the use of ICT Health Checks
What is the problem?
Many VCOs know they need help with their IT needs but don’t know where to start.
They just want someone they can trust to take a look at whatever hardware and software they have and tell them what to do with it. They may be thinking about making a funding application, or they may be suffering regular problems and have no idea how to stop them.
They want someone who will:
- Make an honest assessment of the current setup, without trying to sell them something;
- Make appropriate suggestions for their needs and understand the financial constraints they face;
- Provide a simple report, without using technical jargon, that will offer guidance on what to do next.
Suspicions often arise because some businesses offer them as part of their marketing activity – a chance to come and familiarise themselves with what you do so that they can see what they may be able to sell you. There are social enterprises that can deliver ICT Health Checks, however, and several funders and umbrella bodies in the region have used them as part of larger development projects. As well as identifying individual needs they can also help point to wider needs, such as training or specific funding initiatives.
ICT Health Checks could offer a relatively low cost, flexible way of addressing immediate concerns for individual organisations, as well as helping to build a much better picture of the specific needs of the sector and the ways of addressing them.
What is the solution?
ICT Health Checks are used by a variety of organisations across the country to help diagnose technical problems and suggest ways of addressing them. The exact details vary according to who is delivering it and in what context, but they include a review of current systems and recommendations about how address any problems identified.
Surrey Community Action, for example, has funded ICT Health Checks for a number of its member organisations as part of its ongoing ICT Development Project. In 2007/8 it commissioned four companies – including social enterprises – to conduct health checks and is now working on a second wave of checks based on feedback form the first exercise.
ICT Health Checks are also used by the social enterprise being developed at Slough CVS, in part for market research, and SCIP and The Really Helpful IT Company alongside Net:Gain and other funded programmes.
More work is needed to develop the model for how to conduct an ICT Health Check, as well as identifying opportunities to fund them. This could include work with funders, as a means of deciding whether an application that includes IT investment will actually deliver what is required.
