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4. ICT

Areas of Support

Figures 4a and 4b show the percentage of all organisations who have:

a) Used external support;
b) Have internal capacity; and
c) Anticipate future support needs;

In each of the specific ICT areas. The graphs are arranged in descending order of anticipated future support needs.

Figure 4a: External Support, Internal Capacity, Anticipate Future Support Needs

Figure 4b: External Support, Internal Capacity, Anticipate Future Support Needs

The main areas where organisations have used externalICT support are:

• Developing websites (32%)
• Basic ICT support (23%)
• External support contracts (18%)

The main areas where organisations have internal capacity for ICT are:

• Using ICT for communicating with clients/members (55%)
• Identifying ICT needs (50%)
• Basic ICT support (48%)

The main areas where organisations anticipate needing ICT support are:

• Developing enhanced ICT skills and confidence (25%)
• Developing websites (23%)
• Development of databases (22%)

Websites and basic ICT support are the most commonly accessed areas of support for voluntary organisations. This mirrors findings from the focus groups, where many organisations either relied on in-house skills or sought to contract an external support provider ( e.g. website developer).

Organisations anticipated a greater need in the future for more advanced support, including: enhanced skills and confidence, websites, databases and developing ICT strategies. The development of management and performance systems is also an area where very few organisations reported previously using external support, but is an area where many more say they anticipate needing support in the future.

Internal capacity was particularity low for e-commerce and, unsurprisingly, the development of bespoke software.

Internal Capacity & External Support Costs

Figure 4c shows that the cost of internalICT support is less than 10% of annual turnover for the majority of organisations.

Figure 4c: Internal Cost of ICT Support

Figure 4d shows the cost of externalICT support for each financial size of organisation. For the largest organisations, the vast majority spend over £5,000 on external ICT support, while others report a range of yearly spend, perhaps indicative of the different capacity and use of ICT.

Figure 4d: Cost of External ICT Support

Figure 4e shows that the majority of ICT support is paid for, with only 21% of organisations reporting more than half of support being provided free of charge.

Figure 4e: ICT Support Received Free of Charge

Figure 4f shows that the vast majority (81%) of organisations reported that external ICT support was providing value for money. Only 5% of organisations reported that external ICT support had not been value for money.

Figure 4f: Value for Money of External ICT Support

Figure 2g shows that different organisations report requiring external ICT support with varying degrees of regularity. 30% of organisations report requiring external support only once a year, while 28% require it once a quarter, 20% require it up to once a month and 20% require it more than once a month.

Figure 4g: How Often External ICT Support is Required

External Support Provision

The table below shows which agencies and organisations have provided external ICT support and the average quality score of that support.

* A list of specifically identified providers is presented in Appendix A

More than a third of organisations used private companies for external ICT Support with the quality of support rated highly.

Very few respondents sought support for ICT issues from the public or voluntary sectors.

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