New IT system a "game changer" for Citizens Advice

Tuesday 06 July 2021

A busy local charity whose ageing technology forced it to close temporarily at the start of Guernsey’s second lockdown now has a 21st century IT system.

Citizens Advice Guernsey CEO Kerry Ciotti described it as "a game changer", as she paid tribute to the businesses who have helped bring the community-facing charity back from the brink of a lockdown shutdown.

"We’re so grateful to Resolution IT for all the work they’ve put in to this project," said Mrs Ciotti."They managed to understand our needs better than we did and have gone the extra mile to create something that’s a perfect fit for us."

Citizens Advice appealed for help in January after temporarily closing its office and suspending all advice services, as its telephone and IT systems could not support home working.

Pictured: Citizens Advice Guernsey is located at Bridge Avenue and is open on weekdays at the above times. 

The charity received instant offers of help from Resolution IT and Sure, devising a temporary fix that saw volunteer advisers working remotely from their homes for the first time less than a week later.

Attentions then turned towards finding a long-term solution. 

"This was all a bit daunting for us, but we have been so well supported," said Mrs Ciotti. "For example I know that Jake de Carteret from Resolution IT, who has spent many hours with us in the office, has then carried on working in his free time to find the very best solutions to meet our particular requirements.

"When you see that level of determination and professionalism you start to think 'yes, this really is going to work.'"

Pictured: The charity appealed for help after it was forced to ceased operations following the lockdown-enforced closure of its branch on The Bridge. Citizens Advice was able to re-open remotely less than a week after the charity had to call a time following numerous offers of support from the local business community. 

Resolution IT CEO Olly Duquemin said the firm had completed a substantial cloud migration so that volunteers had "a modern way of working.”

Meanwhile, the pandemic had hastened changes to the charity’s business model, as it has for many in the third sector, creating a growing need for funding.

"We’re so grateful to Skipton, whose support has made the roll out of the new system possible, but we still need help with future running costs. We’d love to hear from any local organisations that would like to find out more about how they can get involved in helping us to help islanders."

Citizens Advice Guernsey gives free, confidential and impartial advice to around 4,000 Islanders each year, which is around eight percent of the adult population. It also collects anonymous data and compiles statistics that identify the issues that are troubling islanders, and give those reports to the States Committees.

Pictured top: Citizens Advice Guernsey’s Deputy CEO Ali Marquis and CEO Kerry Ciotti are joined by Jake de Carteret and Luke Williams of Resolution IT as they prepare for the launch of the charity’s new IT system.