Passionfruit DesignPortsmouth and the South Coast

IT and governance, Portsmouth

A sounding board for the decisions, and practical help with the systems behind your work. I support charities and businesses with IT, infrastructure, data protection and governance, explaining the choices in plain English. In Portsmouth, along the South Coast and remotely across the UK.

Illustration of a branching path with several routes, one marked in amber and leading to a flag.

Who it is for

Small businesses, charities and schools with nobody whose job is IT, or with someone who would like a second opinion.

It suits you if you are being sold something you cannot judge, or if your staff are already pasting work into AI tools and nobody has decided whether they should.

What you get

  • A plain review of your systems, your network and what they cost you.
  • Help planning and looking after infrastructure: the servers, hosting and connections your organisation relies on.
  • Help choosing and buying software, and a second opinion on quotes.
  • Honest advice on where AI would help you and where it would not.
  • A clear answer on where your data goes when staff use AI tools.
  • Support with governance, data protection and regulatory compliance, including policies your team can understand and use.

How it works

We talk it through and I look at what you have. You get a short written plan, in order of what matters most, that you can follow with me or without me.

I’ve worked with charities throughout my adult life, supporting people with a wide range of IT skills and confidence. We work at a pace that suits your team, with time for questions and explanations. My experience as a senior academic and charity trustee helps me consider the people, policies and systems together.

What it costs to run

Advice has no running cost. Where I recommend something that does, I tell you what it costs each year before you decide.

I quote each job up front. Tell me what you need and I will tell you what it costs to build and what it costs to run.

Questions people ask

Should we be using AI?

Sometimes. It is good at drafting, summarising and sorting large amounts of text, and someone still has to check the result. I will tell you where it would save you time and where it would not.

Can we use AI without sending our data to another company?

Often, yes. Some AI can run on a computer you own. It suits some jobs and not others, and I will tell you which yours is.

Do you only advise charities?

No. I'm a charity trustee, so I know how far the money has to go, and I work with businesses and schools as well.

Work like this

  • Survey analysis dashboard

    A dashboard of a whole university's National Student Survey results. It was running within three hours of the results being published. It shows each faculty, school and course what its students scored and what they wrote. A university faculty adopted it.

  • Solent Gay Men's Chorus

    A choir and registered charity. I built and run everything they have online: the website, ticket sales and the members' area. The committee updates the site itself, and tickets are sold with no ticket company's fee on top.

For IT people

For private AI work I have used local models through Ollama, with output checked and scanned for personal details.

Let’s talk it through

Tell me what you would like to make easier. It is fine if you are still working out what you need. We can start with a conversation, in person around Portsmouth and the South Coast, or by video call anywhere in the UK.

Have a conversation

Or email hello@passionfruit.design, or call or WhatsApp 07385 509278.