A South West drug and alcohol treatment charity has chosen Wiltshire IT services and solutions expert Mintivo to be its strategic IT partner to help improve its services.
The Bristol Drug Project (BDP), which provides harm reduction and treatment services for more than 3,000 people in and around the city every year, has signed a five-year deal with Mintivo to carry out a digital transformation and deliver round-the-clock IT support for more than 80 of the charity’s staff and volunteers.
Ben Judd, BDP’s Director of Business Development, said the 38-year-old charity is excited about the possibilities a sleeker, more functional IT system will offer it and believes the efficiencies it brings will mean an even better service for its clients.
He said, “The sector we work in has embraced more modern ways of working as a means of engaging with people who have not traditionally engaged with drug and alcohol services but our IT systems have prevented us from fully taking that step.
“The ability to provide support via platforms like Microsoft Teams can improve accessibility for those who might find it hard to come into services due to work or family commitments.
“Working with Mintivo and getting the most out of the Microsoft licenses that we’re paying for but not using effectively will enable us to offer treatment in different ways.”
The charity has workers based in all but one of the city’s GP services, where patients can be referred for harm reduction help.
Ben continued, “Our current remote work set up is clunky and can mean that some of the work has to be done twice – and that workers have to come back to the office to do it.
“By enabling them to do their jobs efficiently away from the office we can reduce their burden and create more time to do the things they are brilliant at.”
Lacock-based Mintivo, which offers managed IT support, consultancy, cyber security and automation, will help BDP prepare for growth in the future and give it the ability to take advantage of more advances in technology.
According to Ben, Mintivo won the contract partly because of its work in the charity sector with the likes of Dorothy House Hospice, One25 and, most recently, Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
He added, “There are multiple things that impressed us about Mintivo but we felt there is a real desire to want to understand us as an organisation.”
Alex Jukes, Mintivo’s Commercial Director, said, “Being able to work remotely is going to make a huge amount of difference to BDP’s workers because they will be able to get more out of their day by seeing more clients and covering a bit more ground.
“It’s a really exciting prospect to be able to use the experience we’ve accumulated in this sector to benefit this very well-respected charity and we are really looking forward to helping it reshape the way it works and giving it a platform to build for the future.”
