Despite a tidal wave of web-based projects, accounts stay firmly grounded, says John Tate

In February and March this year I have had the opportunity to speak to a good number of professionals in the sector. Firstly, in Leeds at the CFDG regional members meeting where I talked about finance systems. Secondly, speaking to postgraduates at the CASS Business School Centre for Charity Effectiveness and thirdly, while chairing the annual CFDG IT conference in London.

There were a number of highlights at these events. Firstly, in Leeds it was interesting to see the level of resistance among FDs to web-based accounting systems. While a few of the delegates present were considering looking at a web-based solution, the majority were very reserved about implementing such a system. It appears that a major shift to web-based applications in the finance space will not happen anytime soon if the Leeds delegates are a representative sample of charity FDs.

Switch then to CASS Business School Centre for Charity Effectiveness. There were around 90 students – most of whom work in the civil society sector. I have been talking to students on the postgraduate program at CASS for several years and they are always a lively and interesting bunch. Part of my lecture includes a discussion on IT projects in which the students and their charities are engaged. In previous years, new finance and CRM (customer relationship management) systems always received particular focus. However, in the last couple of years, projects around the web are gaining increasing momentum. This year the shift was impressive – with the vast majority of projects that the students talked about being web-based. Some talked about using the web to collaborate better between charities, beneficiaries and donors. Others, using new media to raise money, increase awareness of their organisations and communicate with their other stakeholders. Texting, Twittering, Facebook and blogs were all tools being considered and in many cases implemented. Remote/mobile working was also a topic of much focus and many charities have or are putting the technology in place to encourage this to happen. 

Finance systems bypass the web wave

 

There appears to be something of a tidal wave of web-based projects underway in the sector. So it seems rather odd that with so much focus on the internet, finance systems seem likely to remain firmly off the cloud and on local area networks and PCs. Maybe the reasons for this are well founded? Finance systems need to be managed in a secure environment and opening these up to the internet can be seen to increase the risk of unauthorised access to data. Also, broadband access is not 100 per cent accessible/reliable and this can put people off going to a web-based accounting solution. Finally the functionality of many web accounting applications is still rather basic and may not meet the complex needs of a charity. However these points also apply to other charity systems such as CRM applications. So are finance directors wise to be cautious or are they sticking their heads in the sand?

The answer is probably a bit of both. The press/web continues to uncover stories of commercial and charity organisations who have suffered a serious breach of security via the internet – so things do go wrong. However if correctly managed these is probably no more risk of a security breach with the web than with office or manually-based systems. When discussing the rate of adoption of web technology at CASS a number of students raised the age issue. The real growth of web technology has happened in the last decade and many senior people in the charity sector, FDs included, were brought up and started their careers in the pre-web era. Perhaps, then, part of the reluctance to adopt web-based finance systems is a lack of real understanding of how the web works and what it can offer?

Whether FDs are right or not to regard web-based finance systems with reservation, your organisation may well be embarking on one or more significant web projects. Even if you are not 100 per cent up to speed with the web, the basic principles of investment/project management still apply. There is no reason why a web-based project should be treated differently from any other investment.

So make sure the costs are carefully budgeted – both in terms of the technology and people investment. Make sure too that a cost/benefit analysis has been carried out and that the figures stack up. Finally – ensure there is a well-thought-through project plan with regular review points through the process.

John Tate is IT advisor to the CFDG and a visiting lecturer at CASS Business School