Charity / third sector
Technology Roadmap
Case study | Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
IT that does its job, so the people protecting wildlife can excel at theirs.
Secure, flexible IT gave Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust better access to systems, stronger resilience, and a clearer path for long-term digital transformation.
CASE STUDY FILM
A closer look at the work behind the outcome
Supporting conservation with IT that works wherever people work
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is one of the largest of the 46 Wildlife Trusts across the UK. With the support of volunteers and members, the Trust manages more than 60 nature reserves and works with local communities, landowners and young people to protect and connect wildlife sites across the county. With eight offices and 130 employees, day-to-day work happens in many different settings. Some staff are office-based. Others are working with schools, community groups, or out in the field. That means communication, access to data, and dependable systems are essential, wherever work happens.
What needed to change
The Trust needed IT that was secure, reliable, and easy to use in remote and rural locations.
A heavy reliance on office-based servers and older infrastructure was limiting flexibility. It made access harder for staff working away from the office, held back performance, and did not provide the level of backup and business continuity the Trust needed.
There was also a wider opportunity to improve the day-to-day experience for staff. Better support and training would help people get more value from the systems they were already using and make technology feel more useful, not more complex.
As a charity, value for money mattered too. Any investment had to support long-term goals without compromising quality, resilience, or sustainability.
What changed
We started with a Technology Roadmap built around the Trust’s operational needs, long-term goals, and the experience of the people using the systems every day. That meant spending time with the Board of Trustees, executive team, and staff to understand where the organisation was heading and what the next five years needed to look like. From there, the first three-year roadmap was shaped around practical priorities, not just technical upgrades. The roadmap included:
A move towards cloud-based access to applications and data
Replacement hardware for ageing devices
Stronger backup and business continuity
Better protection for data and systems
Ongoing support and training for staff
A clear path towards simpler communication and collaboration
This approach meant the Trust could continue progressing through its digital transformation during lockdown, while reducing reliance on old infrastructure and creating a more flexible way of working.
The difference it made
The Trust now has IT that better supports the way its people actually work.
Staff can access systems more easily whether they are at home, in the office, or on site. Day-to-day processes are simpler. Security and resilience are stronger. Backup and continuity are more dependable. The organisation has also been able to plan ahead with more confidence.
A new cloud-based telephony platform is now part of the next phase, helping improve communication between staff, volunteers and external contacts while supporting cost control and future growth.
For an organisation working across multiple locations, including rural settings, that reliability matters. It helps teams stay connected, keep moving, and stay focused on the work that matters most.
Our relationship with Aura has been the major catalyst in providing us with the confidence to approach our digital transformation and to look at improving how we use IT to work effectively. While IT is an essential resource to any business, as a charity we face additional considerations such as budgetary constraints and the need for decisions to go through varying authorisation channels before being approved. It was important too that our IT partner shared our values for sustainability and conservation. We had a vigorous selection process and the team from Aura were head and shoulders above the rest. We have not been disappointed in our choice and I honestly cannot recommend them highly enough.
Tara Puttock, Facilities Manager, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
Technology that supports your people and your goals
When systems are reliable, secure, and designed around how people really work, organisations can focus on what they do best.