Charities need to make sure that they keep up with changing technology so that they don’t lose the support of donors and volunteers, according to a report into the future of technology.
The future of technology: transforming mid-market business operations, commissioned by software company Access UK and produced by the Centre for Future Studies, identifies five key ‘mega’ trends:
It says charities need to be aware that: “People will expect a real-time web experience and increasingly own the relationship they have with organisations.”
Chris Bayne, CEO of the company said: “The successful organisations of the future, will be those companies who can seize on the technologies available to help adapt and change their cultures.”
Engagement is the new investment
The report also predicts that instead of measuring the return on investment (ROI) charities will be measuring return on engagement (ROE) to measure relationships with supporters.
To do this organisations will need to not only be developing personal relationships with people on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn but tracking how supporters are engaging with them on those platforms as well as on through their current CRM system.
Alex Reeves, a director at Access, said: “We will see a lot more blurring of the lines between business interactions and social interactions and charities will need to be tracking.”
He added that at Access they were currently looking at ways to integrate LinkedIn discussions with the CRM to give organisations a “360 degree view of the donor”.
The mega-trends explained:
Cloud computing
This is the delivery of a computing service over the internet made possible by reliable high speed broadband. The benefits are that organisations can rent software of the web instead of buying, installing and supporting. But it has not been widely adopted as there are still security concerns about storing data on the internet.
Mobile cloud
Individuals are increasingly using smartphone and tablet devices to access services over the internet. This means that in the future IT departments must make sure that resources are securely available across a range of devices.
Mobility
Recent developments in mobile technology such as faster networks business applications need to be made available across the multiple devices on the market.
Virtualisation
The moving of physical services to virtual ones allows users use just one piece of hardware which reduces the amount of energy the servers us and the maintenance costs.
Social media
Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have emerged as a new way to engage with supporters and stakeholders. Users on theses sites also demand greater transparency and accountability from organisations engaging with them on these platforms.
