Digital Umbrella, our IT services 'wing', offers a range of services to help voluntary and community organisations across the area make best use of ICT (Information & Communications Technology) in their work:

  IT Champions – awareness raising, impartial advice and consultancy. Help to demystify what computers can do and how to make best use of them, through one-to-one consultancy support, awareness raising workshops and small conferences.

  Technical Support – fixing and upgrading your computer equipment. A service provided by social enterprise Purplezebra across the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales area.

  IT Training – a range of flexible IT training, including one to one and small classroom sessions, available close to you.

  Website Design and maintenance.services for voluntary and community groups, run as a social enterprise.

 Net:gain – a one year support and mentoring programme for VCS organisations, including workshops to help organisations identify IT opportunities.

High Peak CVS has developed this range of projects to help voluntary and community organisations across the area make best use of ICT in the delivery of their mission. All of these projects are now grouped under the Digital Umbrella brand, which has its own website.
We are passionate about encouraging and developing the understanding and use of Information Technology by the voluntary and community sector so you can use it in the delivery of your mission - campaigning, collaborating, communicating, being more effective and efficient.

We believe that IT is not just a means to an end – it is a powerful tool that can have positive benefits. The role of Digital Umbrella is to help organisations harness it!

IT Champions

Do you need help to demystify what computers can do and how to make best use of them?

• Unbiased advice on new or replacement equipment
• Advice on 'best value'
• Help with IT-related funding applications
• Free consultancy and needs analysis
• Help with IT strategies
• Advice on developing a website, networking, email, VPN, video-conferencing, anti virus measures and more...
• List of approved local IT suppliers that understand the needs of the sector and can be trusted.
  

Technical Support

This service is being provided by social enterprise Purplezebra across Derbyshire.

• Telephone and on-site technical support
• Data backup and restore
• General fault-finding and repair
• Hardware and software installation
• Optimising systems for better performance
• Protection against virus, spyware and hackers

This support service is co-ordinated by staff in a call-centre office based in Pleasley Mills near Mansfield. Call the centre direct on 0845 270 2085 for more information.

IT Training

•  Do you need to improve your IT skills?
•  Want to learn how to do more things with your computer?
•  Don't have the time to go to a formal class?

Then IT training from Digital Umbrella is for you!

High Peak CVS, with funding from College of the Peak and Derbyshire Learning + Skills Council, ran a pilot project during 2006, offering ICT training to voluntary and community groups across the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales. Due to its success, this project has now been extended until at least March 2008

The project delivers in a number of ways: tutor Mark Davies visit organizations to work with staff and volunteers on their own computers. Mark helps people improve their IT skills in applications such as Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Publisher.

Mark also runs a number of small, one day classroom based sessions on a range of IT subjects – for example computers for the terrified and publishers for beginners. These are an excellent, cost effective, way to gain new skills or brush up on existing knowledge. Search our training database to find the list of current sessions.

For those that aren’t confident in using the internet, Digital Umbrella is now also an approved UK Online Centre, enabling us to deliver the 'First Time Online' package – again, details of the sessions can be found on our training database.

To discuss your IT training needs, contact Mark on 01663 735350 / mobile 07850 363263

Website Design Service

Do you need a website or need to redesign your existing site? Some of you will already be aware that High Peak CVS run a website design service for voluntary and community groups, through Digital Umbrella. If you want a website designing, please give Tony a call - 01663 735 350 or email.

• We have close links, knowledge of and accountability to the local community and voluntary sector.
• We have a proven track record in the area of web design, with an experienced project team with considerable technical skills
• We have specialist knowledge and experience of the ICT needs of the sector
• We have a thorough understanding of how a website can be an invaluable tool in providing information and how it should be structured to present information in an approachable, coherent form
• High Peak CVS has a core commitment to valuing diversity, as expressed in its Equal Opportunities Policy. We are familiar with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and their approval ratings. We are very sensitive to the need to design websites so that their appearance, layout and structuring make them easy to use and maximally accessible, including linking to specialist functions such as page translation.
• As an emerging social enterprise arm, any surplus generated from our website design activity we will add to the sustainability of the organisation and the voluntary sector within the High Peak .
• We can provide statistics on visitor traffic
• Design packages start at just £900 for simple websites.

For more information about the High Peak CVS website design service, provided by Digital Umbrella (our IT services team) and to view our current portfolio, visit the Digital Umbrella website.