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The National Trust

National Trust hires new head of digital Tom Barker who will ‘look to land’ £40m digital overhaul

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By Natalie Mortimer | N/A

September 18, 2014 | 3 min read

The National Trust has hired a new head of digital, Tom Barker, following a recent £40m investment into its digital offering, which will see the charity’s website, app and entire digital infrastructure overhauled.

Speaking to The Drum, Barker, who joined the charity from the BBC’s digital lab project, admitted that the biggest challenge he will face in the new role is making sure the investment comes to fruition in 2015.

“The challenge for me over the next six months or so is landing that because it is a huge job,” he said. “The sheer scale and ambition of the Trust is another challenge; it’s an achievable ambition, but it’s a question of setting ourselves up for 2015 and beyond and we have to invest in a digital offering.

“This is an organisation with 5,000 staff and 60,000 volunteers and it has a huge range of different offerings, so providing a digital infrastructure to support all of those elements is a big ask but I think it’s one they’ve got the right people and partners in place to deliver, but it is a significant undertaking.”

Going forward the National Trust will place a huge focus on offering its members and supporters relevant, personalised information based on previous behaviour and also location.

The new website and app are already well underway in terms of design, said Barker, and the charity will look to new technologies and innovation in the digital space, such as beacons, once the overhaul is completed and fully functional.

“We are a charity at the end of the day and we have to make sure we’re accountable for every penny we spend. This is a huge, very relevant and very important investment that the organisation is making.

“Yes we’re always open to investigating technology and the opportunities there but I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves because we’ve got to get the foundations right first.”

Barker replaces Howard Scott as head of digital, who was acting as a consultant for the National Trust.

Scott is set to leave mid-October, following a handover period, to focus on his consultancy business.

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