Charities miss out on the Cloud

UK charities are failing to adopt cloud computing because they don’t have the right strategy or skills to take advantage of the technology, according to research from Eduserv, the not-for-profit IT provider for the third sector.

The research, which was conducted among over 100 senior decision makers in UK charities, found half (51%) have not invested in people to support the digital transformation of its services and a similar number (46%) do not have an IT strategy which will support future business needs.

When asked about their plans for cloud adoption, some four in ten charity IT decision makers (38%) said they understood the opportunities around cloud computing but did not have the skills to implement it while a quarter (26%) said they were yet to be convinced of the benefits.

The findings, published today in a report “Creating the right environment for digital transformation”, also establish that the majority (70%) of charity leaders and IT teams are failing to work effectively together to identify future priorities and plan ahead while only half (50%) of charities have an IT function which is seen to work effectively with the rest of the organisation.

Around four in ten of those working in charity IT (37%) said they were unhappy with the priority IT gets in the organisation and just under half of UK charities (47%) plan to reshape IT infrastructure to fit future service needs. A further four in ten respondents (41%) did not think their trustees understood the importance of IT.

Tim Cockle Head of Digital Services of Eduserv said:

“Digital service delivery is the top priority for charities in 2015, yet the majority of organisations do not have the knowledge, skills or IT infrastructure to achieve their ambitions.

“While it is clear charities need to invest in these areas to build the foundations for their digital future, our research also shows there is also a wider need for charities to build a digital-first culture beyond their core IT and digital teams so they can increase the pace of change.

“This needs to start with the trustees and leaders at the top so that they are structured, managed and organised in a way which effectively supports digital transformation.”

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