There are 7 guiding beliefs that underpin what 3rd Sector Digital does. These are reflected in our products and services, the way we work with our customers - indeed, in the very way we think about the world.

In one sense these beliefs are a glue that bind 3SD and its partners together. But we also hold them open for external discussion and scrutiny. We want people to know what we stand for and what they can expect from us. Here they are:

1. Our products should be easy to use

We always strive to make our software and online services simple and intuitive - even fun. It’s not our customers’ job to worry about technical issues; it’s ours. If we can make it easier to understand and operate our systems, we should do.

2. It’s better to support collaboration than isolation

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, it’s now easy for anyone to work together on the same system. We should help our customers exploit the benefits this brings, allowing organisations and their partners to work on shared platforms and enabling collaboration. However, this should never mean unwanted centralisation or removal of local autonomy.

3. We need to work with, not against, people

All organisations are different, even in the same sector. While we may well encourage and support change we should also ensure our products and services respect the way people work - in particular the divisions of labour across different parts of the organisation and between people in work groups.

4. The user experience should drive the solution

An elegant technical response to the wrong problem is a waste of time and effort. Our technologies should always support business needs, starting with a clear understanding of user requirements. Success needs to be seen from the user’s eyes.

5. We host, our customers deliver

We operate a ‘software as a service’ model for good reasons. Customers generally don’t need to host software themselves these days, nor invest in and maintain data servers. We do that for them, enabling data and applications to be available anywhere over the Internet (secure, protected and regularly backed up). This also ensures software updates can be done easily and that all staff in the same organisation work with the same version.

6. Standards bring efficiency

Where organisations have people doing similar jobs but using different software applications and databases, upgrades and support will always be harder and more expensive. Where an organisation opts for a common solution (particularly a hosted, web-based one), maintenance and support can be provided easily (and remotely), training is straight forward and complexity is massively reduced.

7. Integration brings multiple benefits

Few things are more maddening than having to enter data more than once - because you have separate systems. As well as causing more work, parallel applications and databases also lead to inconsistencies and a failure to gain a rounded view of things (e.g. of customers or donors). Systems that allow for software modules to be integrated and use the same data can enhance productivity while creating better information systems.

If you have any thoughts on these beliefs, or want to know what they mean in practice, please see our website, www.3rdsectordigital.com, email us on enquiries@3rdsectordigital.com, or call us on 0800 019 6875.