CIO Survey

Technology and connectivity too expensive

A recent survey shows that NGOs still consider ICT to be too expensive.

01 August 2007

Research conducted by World Wide Worx, on behalf of the Southern African NGO Network (Sangonet), has revealed that South African non-government organisations (NGOs) are being sorely neglected by the local IT industry. Contrary to market perceptions, the survey shows that almost all NGOs (99 percent) rely on IT and that NGOs are, in fact, mainstream users of information technology.

World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck says that the industry perception of NGOs as an unsophisticated user base is erroneous. In many respects, he notes, NGOs are more sophisticated than local SMEs, which are being heavily targeted by the industry. He says that NGOs should be taken as seriously as SMEs. The research findings show that 39 percent of NGOs are “average” IT users. Sixty-nine percent of respondents use Microsoft's Windows XP, 94 percent use one or other version of Microsoft Office and 73 percent use laptops.

Seventy percent of respondents use a network operating system, 70 percent network their businesses using cabling, while a surprising 30 percent use some form of wireless network connectivity, says Goldstuck. This is higher than the adoption rate by SMEs and, in fact, closer to the statistics seen in the corporate user base.

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