An Upgrade and aTransformation
East Kent Mencap shares the vision, values, and standards of the well-known national charity — but its connection is as an affiliate, being an independent small charity in its own right, both in administration and in funding. So whilst the name is "big," budgets certainly aren't, especially given the large swath of South East England that its activities have to cover.
As CEO, Jason Gerlack has recently overseen the acquisition of a large donation via CTX: Microsoft software that will transform the day-to-day working practices of many of the charity's staff. Highly enthusiastic about the possibilities ahead, Jason is clear that the donations have allowed his charity to make ambitious plans that would otherwise be unattainable.
"To start with, I should say that for an organization like ours, having updated software in order to modernize is a fantastic objective in itself," he says. "But this donation will help us work so much more efficiently. We'll be able to expand the way that we use a three-server system, which will minimize risk in case of failure. And it will allow people to home work, to hotdesk or to work in different places — but still to have the same opportunities on the network."
Jason cites a few immediate advantages: ease of communication; direct access to everything on the network; the ability to share confidential information. For a charity like his, with staff working across the community, widely spread in various locations, such an opportunity is clearly going to make a big difference in terms of organizational efficiency. At the most basic level, it will simply make life far easier for hard-pressed East Kent Mencap staff.
