“The digital revolution has already happened, and we are living in the aftermath”

A really practical report and wonderful set of resources was published by Julie Dodd (@JulieDodd) a few months ago which I would highly recommend having a look at if you work or volunteer in our sector. It is all about how we can make our way along the journey to using digital technology to achieve the outcomes, impact and change which our organisations exist for. The resources have been created and drawn together following interviews with 50 senior leaders and digital experts from both inside and outside the non-profit sector. The New Reality site is a helpfully curated online resource comprising:

• An overview and links to content about each of the 6 key themes:
  • leadership
  • culture
  • infrastructure
  • innovation
  • funding
  • service delivery
• Some really lovely and useful resources, called take aways, which include the poster below, snappy slide sets and a video
• The full report and an executive summary

The following are a few of the insights from the Executive Summary which really resonate with me:

• Digital services will deliver greater value than anyone can imagine (but first we need to address the culture and infrastructure issues that are standing in the way)
• Until sector leadership stops delegating responsibility for digital we’re not going to get very far
• You don’t need a digital strategy. “Having a digital strategy will soon seem as ridiculous as having an electricity strategy”
• A tried and tested process for delivering transformation already exists – it’s just not being used
• The next stage of digital for non-profits is not fundraising and marketing
• We need to think beyond web to a broad range of digital technologies to achieve maximum impact

I’ve been meaning to write here about The New Reality resources for some time (thank you to Paul Webster for bringing this to our attention), and I started working on this post while at Local Gov Camp in Leeds. Local Gov Camp is an unconference bringing together people who care about public services, which has a strong focus on digital / tech. I was fascinated to discover that people who work in local government seem to have many of the same concerns and challenges as people in organisations in our sector, though our starting positions are different. Perhaps there is potential for developing some solutions together.

Below is one of the take aways from The New Reality: 20 ways to achieve digital transformation in our sector (also available in pdf). I’d love to hear what you think about The New Reality research, the resources and what support you would like from Dudley CVS in relation to digital transformation. Leave a comment here or get in touch with us on twitter (@dudleycvs) or Facebook.