Internet

Prior to the ubiquity of the Internet, large scale technologies, i.e., enterprise level systems were million dollar ventures that were never considered by non-profits. Government were the only ones who had the funds to build major enterprise systems to account for social services expenditures. Never mind social outcomes or clinical information, governments focused on financial systems and only the most elementary service tracking mechanisms.

With the arrival of the Internet in the mid 90s, organizations began to send information via email. It soon became apparent that there were privacy and security issues with this method of reporting and communications, but it opened the door to electronic reporting and the concept of a “network”. By the end of the 90s the Internet had pretty much replaced the fax machine as the operating reporting vehicle, though occasionally we still hear of major security lapses via faxes being sent to the wrong numbers.