Folks, I teach a technology workforce development program at NPower NY and consult for NGOs in the Security space. I agree with Taran's eloquent observations below and I would add a dimension. Having worked with a few U.S. technology capacity developers, I have observed a similar tension (intra-org as well as inter) between:
A) revenue imperatives (albeit on an NPO scale) and the overheads of traditional tech consulting - aka Taran's "bureaucracy;" and B) effective, cheap, cottage consulting solutions. I (and most of the names I see on this forum) fit in A. Students who graduate from my program are practicioners of B. A recent, unrigorous study of services delivered by technology consultants (A from above) to small and mid-sized Manhattan NPOs reveals Paretto is alive and kicking. 80% of A's daily activities map well to core competencies of B. And as Taran noted, B delivers these services at fractions of the cost of A, because of the lack of administrative and consulting overheads. The caveats here are from Consulting101 - expectations and sustainability. A network design project scoped at $50k is unlikely to be fulfilled by four volunteers and lunch money; but they can make a ding in it. And keeping B viable and visible may require a role for A; but B can leverage unique strengths and carve out a sustainable niche. It's been done before (the eRider network). With the right combination of strategic plans and tactical, cost-benefit based solutions, turf wars are unnecessary. There are symbiotic roles for A and B. For case studies from my program and how it is integrating into traditional tech consulting roles, feel free to contact me off-list. Thanks, -SG _____________________________________________ Instructor, Technology Service Corps NPower NY - "Putting technology know-how in the hands of Non-Profits" 145 West 30th Street, 8th Floor New York, NY 10001 p. 212.564.7010 X267 f. 212.564.7009 e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] w. http://www.NPowerNY.org/tsc ************************************************** Is your technology support understaffed and overworked? Hire a Tech Service Corps graduate! Tech Service Corps graduates are trained specifically to meet the technology needs of the nonprofit sector. Visit http://www.npowerny.org/TSC/needaffordabletechassistance/ or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. ************************************************** ---Begin Paste--- Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 02:16:38 -0500 From: Taran Rampersad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [DDN] Cedar Pruitt's departure from DDN <...snip...> On the flip side, not every person or organization who walks in can be trusted with money even in small amounts. Consider that at this same hospital, there were quotations for $1 million Guyanese dollars ($50,000 US, but it caught your attention) to network the same hospital. On one Saturday, with a cost of lunch ($3,000 Guyanese; $15 US) for the 1 lady and 3 gentlemen involved, plus the cost of the cable, connectors and switches, the hospital got the start of a functioning network. Why? Because they finally unleased their IT department. By looking at quotes for $50K US, they thought it had to be difficult and perhaps beyond the level of their department. They couldn't believe it was that simple. And most of the time, many of these problems can be fixed with small doses of appropriate funding. So much more could be done that way. But, you see, the level of bureaucracy to obtain funding increases the cost of the funding so significantly that it becomes expensive. Bloated. ---End Paste--- _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
