Highlights of the CRM survey in Civil Society IT magazine March 2009

In Spring 2008, Robin Fisk wrote a series of five articles for Third Sector magazine's Technology column called ‘Greener IT. You can download all 5-in-1 from the link, below right

See how your organisation's IT could be 'greener'

In the second half of 2007, Robin Fisk wrote a series of articles for Third Sector magazine's Technology column called ‘Ten Technologies To Watch' . You can download this from the link, below right

"A career in IT, after a point, brings out the cynic in the best of us.  Every month fresh-faced entrepreneurs bring out the 'next big thing' in IT, some gain momentum and catch the imagination of the market, but most fade away to a chorus of 'told you so' from the IT veterans," says Robin Fisk. "It's true that some new things are just old things in new packaging, but occasionally they make the cut and we wonder how we managed before."  

This series looks at ten technologies at various stages of their development, and whose time may be about to come, and especially how they might be of use to charities.  Clearly, such predictions can look daft with the benefit of hindsight, these may be no exception, so do take advice before investing your lifesavings in them.

"Do you remember your first website?" asks Robin Fisk. "Maybe, like me, you look back with pride and amusement at your unsophisticated attempts to put up your first pages on the World Wide Web, more in hope than expectation that anyone would read them...."

"Progress in PCs and IT been amazing," writes Robin Fisk, "and our ability to absorb and embrace technology has been tested like no generation before us. True, not all innovations gain market acceptance, but once an innovation gets credibility we seem happy to make it part of our lives...."

Robin Fisk offers advice on taking on new staff. "There was a time when if you said you worked with computers, it would engender an image of a white-coated technician with thick-rimmed glasses and biros in his (not her) top pocket..."

Robin Fisk looks at computer viruses past and present. "For a brief period in the 1990s there was a time when the internet was an exciting, open environment where information could be freely and innocently exchanged. Viruses were confined to humans, and Worms to your garden or perhaps your domestic pet...."

"How much privacy are you prepared to surrender for convenience?" writes Robin Fisk "It's a trade-off we are resigned to making as we increasingly trust the internet for our personal and business transactions. We want convenience, they want information..."

In Autumn 2006, Robin Fisk wrote about the new Vista interface. "Microsoft will shortly launch new versions of the most successful computer software ever produced - Windows Vista and Office 2007...."

Robin Fisk offers some advice on avoiding Spam - "The months of September and October 2006 saw an unprecedented rise in spam - 59% more spam was sent in those months, to the point where a staggering 91% of all email is spam..."