The ability of digital and IT specialists to work together in the future is critical for every charity that wants to embrace the potential benefits digital has to offer.
The trouble is, according to research contained in our new report Delivering Digital Transformation, only a minority of charities have thought about how this relationship should work and where the responsibilities of digital and IT teams lie.
Download the report now.
In order to help charities move forward on this important issue we have gathered insight from 100 digital and IT leads in UK charities to find out how digital and IT teams can work together to successfully manage and deliver digital projects.
For digital leads, the report uncovers five areas for immediate action:
- A move to greater clarity in roles and responsibilities – there is a de facto divide between IT and digital but most commonly this has evolved over time. This has led to grey areas of ownership which need to be clarified in order to remove the cause of friction between the teams.
- Leading the dialogue with IT – the relationship between digital and IT teams defines the success or failure of digital projects so digital leads need to take far greater responsibility in leading discussions about the kind of IT support needed and finding practical ways of working together.
- Broadening the conversation about digital – to make the next leaps in digital transformation digital leads need to demonstrate the opportunities for operational efficiency and move the focus away from purely communications and fundraising.
- Anticipating roadblocks to change – in mapping out the digital journey for their organisations, digital leads need to become more adept at planning to overcome the broader organisational challenges which will hinder progress.
- Translating the digital vision into operational reality – moving beyond basic digital literacy programmes and articulating how and why the infrastructure in their organisations needs to change to realise the gains they want.
Perhaps the biggest challenge uncovered by our research is the need for charities to move away from a tactical approach to digital transformation which focuses resource on the area of greatest pain to a more strategic approach which has a longer term vision for how the organisation will operate
There is no doubt that charities have already gone a significant way down the road to capitalising on digital opportunities. The challenge is to sustain and accelerate that progress so they remain efficient, relevant and fit for the future – a challenge which we are sure our report will help you with.
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