Wrexham voluntary services council wins Welsh Government backing to move into the ‘cloud’

Association of Voluntary Services Wrexham (AVOW), has received backing from Communities 2.0, the Welsh Government’s digital inclusion programme. The support will increase the organisation’s efficiency by improving office functionality, administration services and upgrade existing equipment.

Communities 2.0 has supported the organisation with an investment which will help it to save costs, modernise its IT infrastructure and move to cloud computing. It has also provided technical expertise and advice. Communities 2.0 is a Welsh Government programme which is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

AVOW is the Voluntary Services Council in the County of Wrexham. It provides a lead for the third sector in the County. The organisation acts as a focal point for charities, organisations and third sector enterprises whilst liaising with the statutory sector.

Located in Wrexham town centre, AVOW is ideally placed to serve the community and its premises provides rooms for hire, printing services, training facilities and equipment hire as well as advice, guidance and support to the third sector. The new technology, which has come in a £4,000 investment, will radically improve AVOW’s network and office functionality.

AVOW has recently collaborated with three other County Voluntary Councils (CVCs) in North Wales to look at embracing new technology, by way of Office 365 cloud-based services. It is intended that these three CVCs will part-migrate onto the 'cloud', enabling appropriate information-sharing in real time, resulting in better service delivery and, in time, provide an innovative approach to the way the Third Sector shares information and resources.

Victoria Milner is Business Development Manager of AVOW. She commented:

“We were able to access funding with the help of Kevin Roberts and his team from Communities 2.0. This funding will enable us to up-date the PC's within the organisation for a smoother transition to "Office 365" which will in turn massively improve the flexibility of the workforce and will ultimately offer opportunities to the wider Third Sector.”

Communities 2.0 project director Cathryn Marcus commented:

 “Communities 2.0 is delighted to be able to add its support to these essential new developments for AVOW. The investment will help the organisation to support voluntary organisations in Wrexham so they can continue to deliver essential services in the community. The new technology will safeguard the investment and ensure that the Association of Volunary Services Wrexham is equipped to face future delivery challenges.”