Reinforcing the ramparts against website hackers 1

In this case study, we look at how mental health charity Rethink approached the implementation of video conferencing technology.

A three-way knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) between the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA), the University of Reading and a qualified graduate helped the disability charity to shift all its business from manual to electronic systems during 2006-7. Dr Paul Naylor, KTP adviser, explains how.

Up until August 2006, the UK’s biggest debt counselling charity delivered help via a telephone helpline that was staffed 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday. If the caller needed advice beyond what the helpline adviser could provide, an appointment was booked with a debt counsellor, but this could take several weeks. Increasing demand on the helpline created bottlenecks in the process, and in 2004 a survey of users showed that three in five felt the appointment process needed to be improved.

The Google grants programme has been operating in the UK since April 2004, and is now available in 26 countries. It is run on a voluntary basis by Google staff as part of the company policy that employees spend 70 per cent of their time on their day job, 20 per cent on a different project, and 10 per cent on a third.