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Streetwise is an independent young people’s charity offering free confidential information, advice and counselling to young people aged 13 to 25.
The national award-winning charity has been in operation since 1991 and is based in Newcastle City Centre.
Concept IT has recently started working with the charity, which supports 5,000 young people each year, providing it with a range of managed IT solutions.
Challenge
As a small charity working on a limited budget and with potentially vulnerable service-users, the team at Streetwise needed to ensure the security and cost-effectiveness of their IT solutions.
HR and operations officer Lorraine Murray had worked with Concept in a previous role and we were one of five firms to tender for the most recent contract.
Solution
Concept IT provides Streetwise with managed IT services to cover all their staff and equipment, which includes anti-virus protection and backup of their data; as a charity, the impact of a cyber attack would be catastrophic.
Due to the confidential nature of the charity’s work, security is off the utmost importance and we also made sure all data held was GDPR-compliant.
We also made sure to provide options that fit the charity’s needs and budget, meaning as much funding as possible could go towards our services, keeping its service delivery as effective and cost-effective as possible.
Lorraine added: “We didn’t want any surprises; we want to work with a partner who will warn us about anything that’s coming up and solve problems quickly.”
Results
CEO of Streetwise Mandy Coppin said: “During the tendering process, Concept’s ethos shone through; they’re more than just a supplier and we can already see the difference after a few short weeks.
“We worked continuously throughout pandemic and had to shift to a more digital way of working, meaning our IT support was crucial. We diversified into online counselling work through Skype, Teams and Zoom and also hosted live sessions over Instagram.”
“Concept IT are proactive with planning and keeping us up to speed on processes and guidance and new tech.
We’re only a small organisation – but Concept make sure we feel that we’re as important as everyone else.
Their response time is excellent and their validation and checking of processes and systems are fit for purpose.
We’re all looking forward to developing our honest and transparent relationship while educating the team along the way. It’s important that we keep updated by the experts to ensure our services continue to run smoothly.”
Mandy Coppin, CEO of Streetwise