Accountants resisting online applications
As one who has recently made the transition to online accounting system from having the software based on a third party's PC; one who charged us every time data was entered and even for fixing any data entry errors, I'm sold on the idea, especially for small organisations.
But the accounting profession is about as conservative as you can get - its what we pay them for and when they get "creative" or "innovative" we ALL get into deep trouble - so you might expect some resistance when you rush in with the idea to your CFO, accoutnay, auditor or treasurer. AccountingWEB.co.uk has the lowdown Accountants bring Cloud summit down to earth [Read more →]
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December 9, 2009 No Comments
Computer illiteracy – its everywhere
This morning my colleague Simon Riley sent me a link to this story. Here's what you need to learn to be computer literate [Read more →]
December 3, 2009 No Comments
IT use self assessment tool
Connecting Up Australia has created a capacity benchmarking tool for organisations wanting to know how they measure up in IT capability alongside comparable other organisations in the sector
"Are We There Yet?" lets you benchmark your technology capacity against almost 1,000 nonprofits who completed their detailed survey in October 2008. As more and more nonprofit organisations use the AWTY benchmark tool online, the richer the benchmark data will become.
They are about to add a section that also allows you to benchmark your efforts to be 'green' and environmentally responsible.
The real point of 'Are We There Yet?' is that it helps you answer the question of 'What Now?' Once you complete the survey they direct you to resources that will help you get to the next stage.
So how does this work?
1. Click the 'Are We There Yet?' button at the bottom of this page.
2. Complete the benchmark survey and click Submit. The Organisation and Email fields are optional but we'll need your email address if you want your report emailed to you.
3. After you hit the Submit button, your detailed benchmark report will be displayed, showing how your nonprofit organisation compares to other nonprofits of a similar type and size. You can print this report or email it to yourself by clicking the relevant button.
4. Click Next Steps at the bottom of the page and read some cases studies about how donations obtained through the Donortec program have assisted nonprofits.
5. Click Directory at the bottom of the Page and see the service providers and products that other nonprofits in your category are using. (The top grouping are those most commonly used but they are not in set order because these change over time.)
There are so many efforts under way to help NFPs gain more from their investments in IT, many of them little more than harangues about how others are doing this or that, often with the implication that you should to. "Are We There Yet" at least has a go at helping you figure out where your start line is.
If you give it a whirl, leave your evaluation of it in the comments for the rest of us.
December 2, 2009 No Comments
Website user tests – How many do you need?
At last week's E-engage Your community event in Wellington, former Yahoo! and TradeMe user advocate Natasha Lampard talked about user testing of your website and how to do it well. One of the key steps is actually to have people outside your organisation actually test your actual website.
Then the question arises of how many users should you get to test? The good news is that Effective User Testing Doesn’t Have To Be Extensive [Read more →]
November 18, 2009 2 Comments
E-engage your community – putting IT to work in an organisation
Disclaimer: as a trustee of the 2020 Communications Trust I am trying to find a way to scale up this conference and workshop programme to a national level.
Wellington IT Trust is mounting another E-engage Your community event in November for non-profit organisations to make better use of their IT investment. This is a great way to gain some practical knowledge about the role of IT in meeting your real-world objectives and mixing with a bunch of smart people who have the answers to almost all the questions you might have that start, "how the hell do we .....?" Engage Your Community - a web conference for community organisations [Read more →]
October 29, 2009 No Comments
