Research conducted by World Wide Worx, on behalf of the Southern African NGO Network (Sangonet), has revealed that local NGOs are being sorely neglected by the local IT industry.
Contrary to market perceptions, the survey shows almost all NGOs (99%) rely on IT and NGOs are mainstream IT users.
Discussing the headline findings at an event held in Bryanston, on Thursday, World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck said the industry perception of NGOs as an unsophisticated user base is erroneous. In many respects, he noted, NGOs are more sophisticated users than local SMEs, which are being heavily targeted by the industry, and should be taken as seriously.
The research findings show 39% of NGOs are "average" IT users. Sixty-nine percent of respondents use Microsoft's Windows XP, 94% use Microsoft Office, and 73% use laptops. Seventy percent of respondents use a network operating system, 70% network using cabling, while a surprising 30% use some form of wireless network connectivity, said Goldstuck. This is higher than SMEs and, in fact, closer to the statistics seen in the corporate user base.
Fixed-line connectivity, fax and e-mail are firmly entrenched within the NGO space, with almost 100% of survey respondents using these technologies. Twenty-three percent of respondents use CRM software, with 86% using accounting software, 76% of which use Pastel.
On the connectivity front, 66% use ADSL, while only 16% are still using dial-up. "Had we done the survey a year ago," noted Goldstuck, "we would have found around 40% using ADSL and 24% using dial-up. This is a clear indication that dial-up is dying."
3G too expensive
3G, Goldstuck said, is not an option for NGOs as it is too expensive. The volumes of 3G cards being sold into the market are mostly being bought by corporates, which use it as an add-on access mechanism, thus 3G has not actually contributed towards growing the local Internet access market, he explained.
The survey's cost versus quality satisfaction ratings show that while most NGOs are satisfied with the quality of the technology they use, most are dissatisfied with the price. Eighty-five percent are satisfied with the quality of office software used, but only 55% are satisfied with the cost. While 72% and 73%, respectively, are satisfied with network and Internet quality, only 39% are really satisfied with the cost, indicating that costs are still too high, noted Goldstuck.
A depressing statistic for the local open source market, he said, is that only 20% are satisfied with open source software, but this is partly due to low penetration rates - a mere 4% use an open source operating system, and only 7% use open source office suites.
"The 10% satisfaction rating with the cost of OSS lends weight to Microsoft's argument that open source is not free as you still need to pay someone to implement it."
The full version of the survey will be released at Sangonet's annual conference, to be held in mid-July in Johannesburg.
Share