Nonprofit Spark – Creating standards for using your computer hardware and software – 09/24/12

Summary: A few weeks ago, I interviewed Andrea Berry of Idealware about choosing donor software. She provided very useful advice about that but I did not get into issues about how making sure the database is secure, how you determine who has access to it, and even more broadly, what kinds of rules nonprofits should have about appropriate use of computers and software, how they'll handle information located on both personal and work computers and so on. So on the heels of that interview, I decided to call my friends at CliftonLarsonAllen (http://www.cliftonlarsonallen.com)to find someone I can talk to about standards for using technology. I'm pleased to say that I discovered Randy Romes, a principal at CliftonLarsonAllen, who specializes in information security. He works with clients to test their systems, do risk and security assessments, and he helps executives understand complicated IT issues and challenges. He is a nationally recognized expert on technology-related issues with hundreds of public engagements, interviews and published articles. I think you'll find that we make IT issues easy to listen to and ponder as you apply what we discuss to your own organization.