IT governance, voice over IP, shared benchmarking and
leadership were among the topics discussed at the Charities
Consortium IT Directors’ Group’s annual conference this
month.
The 50 IT directors and managers present heard a keynote
presentation on leadership by Colin Pillinger, who led the
ill-fated Beagle 2 Mars probe project.
Pillinger was "very inspiring", said Charities Consortium IT
Directors’ Group chairman David Clayden, IT director at the
Salvation Army.
"Pillinger overcame so many obstacles and difficulties from the
establishment. That was an excellent example of leadership," said
Clayden.
Leadership also featured in another session rated by Clayden as
outstanding. Using a cut-down Myers Briggs personality chart,
consultant Robina Chatham demonstrated that IT directors have a
propensity to lose themselves in content, making it harder to
communicate with the board.
Hampshire County Council’s "bold and imaginative" approach also
impressed Clayden. Hampshire IT director Jos Reese explained how he
rid himself of his IT budget altogether, outsourced his IT and
provided a real service for his end-users.
The RSPCA gave a presentation on its successful implementation
of voice over IP.
In common with other user groups, IT service management is
moving up the agenda, and a session on the IT Infrastructure
Library (ITIL) approach to IT service management has inspired
Clayden to consider running a one-day session on the subject.
"It is difficult to decide whether to take ITIL seriously or to
use the essence of it," said Clayden. "Some approaches, for example
BS7799, can take on a life of their own."
Clayden added, "Most of the value of the conference was not in
the sessions, but in between. We shared a lot more information than
in the past – there was much cross-fertilisation."
Information sharing was most evident among the 21 charities that
joined this year’s benchmarking group. All had monitored a standard
set of measures and key performance indicators over a period of six
months using internal and external reference points on a variety of
metrics.
"We use the benchmarking to demarcate where we are
underperforming, where we are effective, and where we have de-
ficiencies and need support," said Clayden.
What is the Charities Consortium IT Directors’
Group?
Founded in 2000, the Charities Consortium IT Directors’ Group
has more than 80 members, all heads of IT for charities with more
than £25m annual turnover. A spin-off from the Charities Consortium
Finance Directors’ Group, the group aim is to seek commercial
benefit from informal meetings.
The group, which meets quarterly, shares experience and has
driven good deals from suppliers. There is burgeoning benchmarking
activity, where members compare themselves in terms of finance,
quality, service, support and response time both with each other
and externally.
Disaster recovery is also an important self-help service
activity and members offer each other their facilities in case of
disaster.
The group’s current chairman is David Clayden, IT director of
the Salvation Army.
For more on the group,
click here
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