Same as it ever was?

Bit of an “I did this and then I did that blog entry today”, so skip a couple of paragraphs to get over that if you wish!

Last week in the blog I said I was just about to dash off over the hills to Preston and that I would report back on how all things ICT are for the third sector in Lancashire. ‘Apologies for the delay’ (as I hear too frequently on my travels by public transport), however I grabbed some “downtime” away from work for a few days.

There is a lot of ‘history’ surrounding the recent fortunes of infrastructure support in Lancashire (which are best left for someone else to expand upon!), which have had some impact on the ICT services available for the county. But despite the rocky road an ICT Working Group for the Lancashire Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector (acronym time – LVCFS) was set-up and has met regularly over the last two years.

So this workshop was a chance for the group to say ‘this is what we are do’ and ‘if you care about ICT provision in Lancashire, or you have ICT needs then come and join us!’. They also gave away a free CD-ROM containing useful guides, resources, case studies, the ICT plan and a selection of Open Source Software (I’ve got a couple of spare copies if you want one for nowt).

Fortunately groups actually attending were higher than the number that had booked (communication is a recognised gap by the group!) and after the nibbles we got down to the business of discussing ICT needs of groups and who / how these could be met.

Rather like the iconic (no – really!) bus station in Preston (unchanged since the 1960s – but now threatened with demolition), what struck me was that I was hearing the same requests aired by groups as I was hearing in my time with Purplezebra back in 2005 and had heard throughout my time in the ICT Hub!

• We need help in writing an ICT plan / strategy
• How do we put together a basic ICT budget?
• Where can we get reliable ICT advice from that really ‘knows the third sector’?
• We need to speak to local, impartial ICT champions / digital enablers / buzz directors / ICT development workers (delete as appropriate) to explain what all the fuss is about social media / blogging / pod-casts etc etc. Then, is any of this relevant for us?
• Some teccies use geek speak and leave us more confused than before they started or leave half-finished or botched installations!

…and I heard similar too from the providers and circuit riders in the room.

• There are not enough circuit riders to go around
• There are not enough paying clients to make a sustainable service
• How do we diversify and offer more than one service
• We can’t find support staff with the right skill set that strikes the balance between having sufficient technical skills to deliver a competent service and the inter-personal skills to explain ICT to non-technical staff

As part of the discussions I asked the questions

• Would having a simple ICT plan help in identifying an ICT direction for your organisation? (I didn’t even use the word strategy!)”

and

• Would you be interested in finding out how a pod-cast could help you reach new audiences?

I was given a clear message

• Maybe, but only after we have sorted out the dodgy printer, the flaky Internet connection, the incompatible software versions, Mabel’s computer that only works sometimes, the volunteers who need basic training, data protection issues with storing client records …..
  

I got the picture. Get the basics and the foundations right and the rest will surely follow – but we really do need to crack this one !

We will not have used Capacitybuilders (and others) funding wisely if in two years time we are still seeing the same barriers put up and hearing the same excuses.

Third sector VCS organisations need access to a range of affordable providers supplying impartial advice and guidance about a range of practical technology solutions from network and hardware maintenance to use of social media. Suppliers (circuit riders, trainers, digital mentors etc.) need offer a range of services and find means to operate in a sustainable way but with their USP (Unique Selling Point) of being in the sector and for the sector, recommended by others.

Whilst we ponder how to address these, I was given a couple of other thoughts (positive this time!) to ponder on train home – from groups who had already had the ‘light bulb moment’.

• “We get the need and importance of the I (Information) and we have invested in the T (Technology) to make it all happen, what we need help with is the C (Communications).” I see this as a way that social media can play a part as it offers so much by way of collaborative communications – although with a word of caution as communication could simply mean getting past their faulty Internet connection.

• “Although ICT involves a financial outlay it is not a COST to our organisation, it is in fact a SAVING in the long term.” Wise investment in hardware / software and training in social source now, is predicted to have longer term savings in real terms and improvement in organisations effectiveness and efficiency.

Same as it ever was – hopefully not for much longer.

With apologies again to Steve for ripping off his idea again (but it works so well), here are Talking Heads asking the question.