Five Guidelines for Preparing your Organisation for ICT

Those organisations who are serious about investing in ICT, need to take a good look internally. Here, from US community technology specialist Terry Grunwald, are five guidelines that describe how to get your own "house in order" - before thinking about the technology choices you need to make. See also Changing the culture of organisations.

1. Identify your Assets

• Hardware, software & office equipment
• Internet access: Broadband?
• Facility assets: space for workstations, servers, other equipment, internal wiring
• People assets: tech skill sets, tech champions, info hounds, board interest, access to volunteers and mentors
• Community Learning Assets: training curricula, trainers, train the trainers
• Provision for Technology in Organisational & Agency budgets

2. Do some Reality Checks

• Take the Learning curve seriously: Understand that community workers can be technophobes
• Costs: Expect comparison with critical service delivery needs
• Access: Realise that you will have a problem unless all key participants have it "on their desk"
• Do you understand the areas of vulnerability: viruses, computer bugs and crashes
• Political reluctance from key decisionmakers: "Not invented here"
• Political fall-out : the transition can be difficult and somebody may get blamed

3. The solutions? Plan!

• Learning Curve: Provide for training and follow-up support
• Costs: Be prepared for all costs (See the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) matrix developed by Summit Collaborative). Include all TCO items in budget. Find low cost options
• Access: Will it be All-at-once or staged
• Vulnerability: Budget for protections and establish protocols
• Political reluctance: Involve key players at early stage
• Political risks: Set up for success

4. Be prepared for all kinds of changes?

• How you communicate (internal & external)
• How you write
• Who your audience is
• How you present yourself
• How administrative tasks are accomplished
• How information flows
• What your priorities are
• Even, your strategies
• Your mission should NOT change

5. Understand why technology - especially the Internet - should make you uncomfortable

• The decision-maker is no longer fully in control
• ICT can fragment the power relationships. Changes the way info flows. Info wants to be free. Much harder to control
• Reduces hierarchies. Allows interdependence.
• It’s a Meritocracy: it is clear who contributes, who follows-up, who delivers
• Makes you look outside your traditional "sandbox": media, legislators, new audience - especially youth, new partners ... also new supporters

More here on developing a technology plan for an organisation