The charity sector has undergone significant transformation in recent years, with digital acceleration, shifts in working models, and increasing pressure on internal IT resource acquisition and retention. This has necessitated a rethinking of IT Service Management (ITSM) within the sector. In this article, charity IT specialists, Smartdesc, and ServiceNow’s nonprofit team ServiceNow.org share their advice…
In today’s digital age, charities need to continually adapt to leverage technology for greater impact. The digital maturity of a nonprofit plays a pivotal role in enhancing operational efficiencies, expanding reach, giving them a competitive edge and ultimately fulfilling its mission. In this blog, we explore the five key stages of digital maturity for nonprofit…
On 25 January 2024, we held our quarterly Charity Technology Roundtable in partnership with Microsoft Tech for Social Impact. We focused on the topic of getting IT resourcing right, discussing areas around: How are charities tacking the IT resourcing challenge? What models exist for for hybrid / co-managed IT team structures? How can hybrid / co-managed…
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…
The EU GDPR has been established data protection legislation in the UK and EU since May 2018. In the UK, the EU GDPR was replaced by the UK GDPR following Brexit in January 2021. Since Brexit, the UK Government has spoken about diverting away from the GDPR to a “more pro-growth and pro-innovation data regime…
Last week we hosted the first of our Quarterly Charity Technology Roundtables, with Microsoft Tech for Social Impact and Charity Finance Group. In this blog, we summarise our discussion on managing IT budgets, staff retention, and measuring the value of IT, and provide information about our upcoming events. Recruitment & retention Colleagues were aligned that…
Big changes are afoot in the world of internet connectivity, and telephony, across the sector. Traditional copper phone lines in the UK are being switched off forever in 2025, meaning your organisation may need to switch its internet connection(s). The COVID-19 pandemic already transformed how businesses use telephones; across the country plastic desk phones gathered…
Welcome to the Smartdesc February newsletter. This month we focus on how charities can protect themselves against phishing attacks and offer the following resources: Guides on common charity cyber attacks and measures you can take to prevent them Phishing Simulation Service and Cyber Security e-Learning, tailored to charities Further resources from EasyDMARC and Charity Finance Resources…
Email is not secure 91% of all cyber attacks begin with email. Despite all the advances in cyber defence, good old-fashioned email still provides an open door for attackers to knock on. Email is your biggest security risk by a long way. Finance staff frequently use email and they deal with money on a daily…
Charities are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals. According to the Cyber Security Breaches Report 2022, 19% of charities reported they had been attacked in 2018. This has now risen to 30% of charities reporting attacks in 2022. But why are charities targeted? And what can they do to mitigate against cyber threats and reputational…
