A major survey shows more than half of respondents in the disability sector report that their IT systems don’t work well for their staff and management.

The survey of 385 not-for-profit organisations identified a significant under-investment in IT, with many organisations using systems that aren’t working well enough to provide efficient services.

The report Digital technology for the not-for-profit sector in 2018 , was undertaken by Australia’s Infoxchange, a developer of specialised Case Management for the NFP sector.

The company claims there are more than 60 000-plus not-for-profit organisation in Australia and New Zealand.

Other key findings include:

• Many disability service providers are unhappy with their information systems - with just 46 percent reporting systems that work well.
• Disability service providers are spending on average 36 percent less per full time employee on digital technology than other not-for-profit organisations
• Organisations without an IT plan are four times more likely to report that their systems are incapable of capturing client information.
• The biggest challenges facing not-for-profits include IT budgets, technical resources and internal IT capacity.
• Key priorities for not-for-profits include improvements to websites, client/member information management systems and better use of social media.

Infoxchange CEO, David Spriggs, says increasingly not-for-profits are having to invest in technology for staff to efficiently deliver services.

“Having good information systems to enable service delivery and outcome measurement is still a challenge for many. This year’s survey shows that having an IT plan for the future is the first step in making sustained improvements,” says David Spriggs

“This aligns with our work in the disability sector where the demand to update information systems is high. Survey results show that most disability service providers have not yet made this transition, and are therefore under stress, as reflected in The State of The Disability Sector Report for 2017.”

The full report is available HERE