Description

Carolyn Woodard explores the operations essentials of nonprofit IT with Johan Hammerstrom, CEO of Community IT. 

If you are new to managing technology at your nonprofit, or you oversee an IT vendor without a technical background, it can be hard to know where to start. Before any conversation about transformation or AI, there are basic requirements your organization needs in place just to run, and none of them require technology expertise.

Johan walks through ten essentials that keep IT meeting the business needs of your organization, from making sure every staff member has a working device to naming an IT owner who accepts the responsibility. 

His larger point is that most IT problems sit downstream from business processes. If you already have processes for hiring staff, signing contracts, approving invoices, and building a budget, IT just needs to ride along. 

He also shares a client story about an online booklet that stopped working, with no one left on staff who knew who built it or where it was hosted.

This episode covers:

• The ten operations essentials: 1. a working device for everyone, 2. IT in onboarding, 3. IT in offboarding, 4. defined core tools, 5. a clear way to get help, 6. tracked hardware, software, and licenses, 7. documented admin access and license keys, 8. documented vendors, 9. IT in the annual budget, and 10. a named IT owner.
• Why settling on core tools (a "tech stack") such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is important, and telling new staff clearly how you use all your IT tools including communication tools like Teams, slack, or Zoom, prevents confusion. 
• How tying IT into signing authority and invoice approval keeps vendors from slipping out of view. A quick look in Quickbooks at which vendors your organization is paying, and for what, is a good place to start.
• Why regular device replacement belongs in the annual budget, and in grant proposals when a new program will add staff.
• Why the IT owner needs management experience and authority more than technical skills, why the role should never rotate through volunteers or interns. And why it needs a succession plan. 

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Start a conversation :)

• Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/
• email Carolyn at cwoodard@communityit.com
• on LinkedIn 
• on reddit/r/nonprofitITmanagement
• on the Community IT website

Thanks for listening.