Case Study: IT Maturity Assessment for a National Charity
Industry: Not-for-Profit / Charity
Service: IT Maturity Assessment
Client: Confidential – National Charity Organisation
The Challenge
A well-established national charity, delivering essential community services, underwent a leadership change. The new executive team recognised that while the organisation was mission-driven and operationally effective, its IT function had grown organically over time without formal structure or long-term planning.
The new leadership team wanted a clear, independent view of IT maturity across both operational practices and technical capabilities, to understand where the department stood and what needed to be addressed to support future growth and risk management.
Our Approach
We were engaged to perform a comprehensive IT Maturity Assessment, focused on two core areas:
- IT Operating Model: Structure, roles, governance, and strategic alignment.
- Technical Domains: Management and maturity of infrastructure, applications, support, cyber security, and lifecycle practices.
Our methodology combined structured benchmarking against best-practice models with stakeholder interviews, document reviews, and an analysis of existing tools and processes.
Key Findings
The assessment identified a number of systemic issues that were impacting performance and risk posture:
- Unclear Ownership & Governance: Decision-making was reactive, and IT lacked representation in broader organisational planning.
- Fragmented Technical Management: Some domains—such as backups and patching—were managed well, while others—like asset lifecycle and vendor management—were ad hoc or undocumented.
- Lack of Performance Metrics: IT service performance was not measured consistently, and there were no KPIs reported to management.
The Solution
We delivered a structured report that provided:
- Current-State Heatmap: A visual overview of maturity levels across ~20 IT capabilities, from strategy and governance to security and support.
- Gap Analysis: Identification of shortfalls relative to both sector norms and the organisation’s size and complexity.
- Prioritised Roadmap: A clearly staged action plan, categorised by effort and impact, allowing leadership to address the most critical areas first.
Examples of priority recommendations included:
- Establishing a formal IT steering group to align initiatives with strategic goals.
- Defining and documenting IT roles and responsibilities.
- Introducing service-level reporting and vendor performance tracking.
- Formalising a device lifecycle plan to reduce support overhead and improve user experience.
The Outcome
The charity’s leadership team gained a clear, actionable view of IT’s current state and a realistic plan to improve over time. The prioritised roadmap became the foundation for budget planning, internal resourcing discussions, and external support engagements.
The assessment gave IT a stronger voice in strategic discussions and enabled better alignment between technology, risk, and service delivery objectives—crucial for an organisation supporting vulnerable communities.
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