Welcome to the Smartdesc November newsletter. This month, we share some useful resources on how to avoid recent Dropbox phishing attacks, how to build an IT Strategy without significant in-house expertise, and how we helped the national charity Mind achieve ISO 27001 certification – in case this is something you are considering at your organisation. We…
What is ISO 27001? ISO 27001 is an international standard for Information Security Management and provides a framework of good practice, including: Risk management Risk-based decision making Proportionate controls A checklist of good practice Why Mind chose ISO 27001 Charities are increasingly reliant on data and technology to deliver their missions. It is important that…
Welcome to the Smartdesc October newsletter. October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, so we’ve included some useful resources on achieving Cyber Essentials, and the key areas charity leaders should be focusing on to improve their cyber security. You can also benefit from free cyber and data protection consultations with one of our subject matter experts.…
We are excited to publish our Charity Technology Leaders Report 2024. From January to March 2024, we conducted our second annual survey of charity technology leaders to understand the sector’s priorities, risks, challenges and opportunities around IT. The report summarises the key findings for charity IT leaders, draws out the main themes and trends, and…
Last week we held our third Quarterly Charity Technology Roundtable, hosted by Microsoft Tech for Social Impact. In this blog, we summarise our discussion on cyber security, including risk management, BYOD, reducing risk of human error and systems gatekeeping. Compliance Frameworks, Risk Management, Reporting It is good practice to define the framework(s) or standard(s) that are…
Keeping on top of the ever-changing licensing needs of your organisation can be a demanding job. Now, more than ever, it’s critical to ensure your Microsoft license estate is lean, optimised, and as cost effective as possible. As Microsoft partners and non-profit specialists, we are qualified Direct Cloud Solution Partners (CSP) who can help you navigate…
The Charity Digital Skills report, now in its sixth year, is widely regarded as an annual barometer on digital maturity, skills and priorities across the nonprofit sector. It’s the digital sister of our own annual Charity Tech Leaders Report which focuses on IT infrastructure, M365 & cloud, outsourcing and cyber security. In this blog, we…
How do you keep your charity up to date with ever changing data protection law, GDPR standards, Subject Access Requests and data breaches? This is just one of the questions we answered in our Information Governance and Data Protection workshop for nonprofit organisations, in partnership with Charity IT Leaders. Andrew Coyle, our Director of Information…
The Covid-19 pandemic completely changed how we use telephones. Most charities are now reducing their ‘landline’ phone numbers to save cost, and are consolidating them into Microsoft Teams. As traditional copper phone lines in the UK are being switched off forever in 2025, now is the ideal time to consolidate your telephony, reduce your spend,…
Since its arrival in November last year, ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. This powerful new chatbot with seemingly endless possibilities took 3 months to reach 100 million users; Facebook took 4 years to reach the same milestone! Microsoft is leveraging some of this technology to introduce AI into Microsoft 365 this year –…
