In this episode of Executive with a Cause, host Tammy Ven Dange chats with Alex Reynolds, General Manager of IT and Transformation at Australian HR Institute (AHRI).
How can a resource-limited organisation manage transformation alongside Business as Usual (BAU)? And when should they take the leap into a multi-phase digital transformation? In this episode, Tammy chats with Alex Reynolds about managing an IT function without a traditional IT background, big-picture thinking and the universal pain of data migration.
Coming from a non-IT background, we hear how Alex upskilled and her approaches to learning which questions to ask when operating within unfamiliar terrain. Alex also provides great insights into lessons learnt, including the value of clearly documented processes and how hiring a Business Analyst would have improved outcomes for implementation. Another key lesson was applying big-picture, long-term thinking to transformation, a difficult balance for most NFPs when managing current needs with limited funding.
We hear how these limitations saw AHRI approach systems and upgrades in silos until a data breach initiated a shift to the cloud. Finally, we learn how organisations with smaller teams can still manage implementation alongside BAU and the tips and tricks to undergoing this.
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IT in Plain English
This week, Tammy answers the question, ‘what is a firewall?’. Smaller organisations reliant on 100% cloud-based operations may be able to rely on their vendor’s services. However, for those with their own servers or hosting virtual ones, you may need to evaluate your organisation’s risk.
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Topics from this episode:
- 0.00 | Introduction
- 01.12 | AHRI
- 02.25 | Managing individual and organisational memberships
- 05.03 | Digital transformation
- 13.02 | Upskilling
- 15.50 | Big picture planning
- 26.56 | Balancing BAU with implementation schedules
- 35.47 | Customising systems
- 39.00 | Future planning
- 43.47 | Closing lessons
- 48.12 | IT in Plain English
Quotes from Alex in this episode:
“We’re here to support HR professionals through their careers. So from early journey all the way through to retirement. And as part of that, we offer products and services to support that, which includes training, certification and professionalisation of the HR industry within Australia and some major events and smaller networking and local events for HR professionals. We also provide resources, templates, and really practical tools to help HR professionals support their organisations and their employees.”
“It does create some complexity, both from a marketing perspective and being able to differentiate the difference between individuals and organisation and the value between those two membership types. And then also, the products and services we offer. We often think of conferences and learning and things like that in an individual sense from a membership perspective. But AHRI has the additional complexity of making sure that we actually also support the organisations, so how we package those products and talk to our members about those kinds of things.”
“We developed a transformation program. And we looked at some big key areas, including membership, our digital piece, and our learning strategy. And what underpinned a lot of that to start with was the digital piece and the fact that over the last ten years, which isn’t new to most organisations, we actually hadn’t made a lot of investment in terms of upskilling our teams, but also investing in the right technology, to really take us into the future.”
“When I first started in the IT space, probably the difficulty for me or the bit that I found the most challenging was what I would call the hard IT, which is really around networking, Wi-Fi networks, security, all those things that require a really deep technical knowledge. But I was given the support and belief that I could actually manage a technical team and work on that capability, rather than actually having to be a deep technical specialist myself.”
“Understanding we didn’t have any documentation around what our systems were and what we use them for. There were different departments using different applications. So there was no security in place at all.”
“I gained a base knowledge. And then I could ask more questions, just based on the fact that I did have some understanding of what the differences were or what I really love.”
“So trying to build up my knowledge to be able to ask the right question. So I’d understand what the decisions were two or three steps down the line, rather than just an immediate decision.”
“Up until that point in time, we actually outsourced a lot of our IT support. But because our data breach was in relation to our CRM, which the IT provider was not responsible for, it became apparent that we really needed to take control of our own digital ecosystem, if you like, and really understand it, and wrap our arms around it to protect our members and also to protect our staff.”
“We didn’t consider what the implication or broadly what the implications for the website would be, or a member portal would be. So we made these decisions in isolation. Then a few years later, we actually invested a huge amount of money in a new website, without again thinking back to actually, will this work with our current CRM?”.
“So we made those decisions based predominantly on cost, but also on an immediate need without actually taking that step back and really considering all the requirements that we were looking for.”
“But rather than going back through what our original requirements had been, we were able to streamline those and align them with what was going to be a return on investment for us. And the fact that we had moved to a virtual digital online space also played a significant part in that because we quickly realised our current Learning Management System was not set up for digital delivery. It was not user-friendly. Yet, we were wanting more and more of our members to interact with us or go through our learning programs”.
“Making sure we picked a system that ticked off some future principles for us as well. So we weren’t just putting in a system without thinking about what the consequences were, for 12 months, 18 months, or two years down the track. That we’d actually pick a system that would align with what we wanted to do in the future and have that functionality there ready for us”.
“It’s not uncommon for Not for Profits to try and run Business as Usual and projects, whether they’re digital or not, simultaneously”.
“Every vendor will tell you that if you are making a major change to your system, the quality of your data is not to be underestimated“.
Links & Resources
Credits
Thanks to our Producer, Nick Whatman, and the entire team at Lonsdale St. Studio. Thanks also to our Digital Content Creator, Laura Kleinrahm.
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today she helps NFPs with strategic IT and data decisions with her business, Roundbox Consulting.