Written by Beatriz Santos
on 30 April 2019
The number of Non-for-Profit (NFP) organisations around the globe is growing each year. There are more than 1.5 million in the US; more than 167,000 in the UK (only England and Wales); around 60,000 in Australia; roughly 27,000 in New Zealand and 600 in Singapore to name a few.
With this increasing number of NFPs, it is important that we have a look at technology trends for these organisations in 2019.
Everchanging IT
In a time when IT changes very fast, a lot of NFPs find it difficult to keep up to date with these changes and their processes can become rather outdated.
Many organisations are still holding back on IT because of a lack of legacy and culture within the organisation, not because a lack of investment. How do we resolve this problem?
2019 will see the incorporation of the Chief Information Officer role in NFP. Some of the biggest Not-for-Profit organisations have already done it and are embracing the digital age; others will see how their IT departments are changing led by this new CIO role, how their systems will change, and how the people running them will learn with these new changes.
Customer Relationship Management
The role of the Customer Relationship Management is very different from one organisation to another. Today, we are seeing more integrated systems within the organisations, so it makes sense that the way donor, volunteers and clients are taken into consideration would be more integrated too.
NFPs want to integrate all data and processes into one single system, giving them a 360-degree view of the people involved in the organisation from donors to clients. Until now, it’s been difficult to find a system that would accommodate.
As technology evolves, their desired integrated system is becoming a reality. Cross-system integration will be happening in 2019 and will give medium-sized organisations the tools that they need to save time and money and the vision to better understand the most important parts of the organisation.
Everything is mobile
In 2018, adults spent an average of 3 hours, 35 minutes per day on their mobile devices and studies show that this is increasing. With this mobile ubiquity, NFPs need to explore how to use these devices for both internal and external use.
For example, mobile phones will be a powerful tool for organisations giving them the possibility to support staff members that are on the road or in the field allowing them to view or enter data on the go. The benefits of using mobile devices for this are numerous: reducing paper, saving time, and saving money – money that can be reinvested in the main goal of the organisation.
But there is something that NFPs need to do before starting using their mobile devices. They will need to define policies to regulate their use as most of the time they will be dealing with sensitive data.
It is very clear that NFPs will continue, and some of them will start, investing in technology. A good IT infrastructure will allow them to move up in the sector, modernise their processes and embrace all that this new technology has to offer.
2019 is the year to start focusing on what they do best with the help of technology – helping others!
