Government Technology Volume 9.3

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FLEXIBLE WORKING

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TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT Bringing public sector IT into the 21st Century

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Dear Reader,

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hnolo www.governmenttec

Spring seems to have arrived, finally, and with it a Budget and a new fiscal year.

Alistair Darling has delivered his Budget against the backdrop of an economy slowly emerging from recession.

The report claims that government departments can make ‘efficiency savings’ of £11billion – without cutting a single job and without damaging frontline services. Will this be possible? E-mail me your thoughts.

As always, value for money is important for local authorities and government departments but how do you ensure this? Throughout GT’s pages we try to guide you through pressing issues and introduce you to some of the services and products available to facilitate delivery to citizens up and down the country.

FleXIBle WoRKING

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ing public sector IT into

l GoVeRNmeNT Bring TRANSFoRmATIoNA

the 21st Century

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Enjoy the issue.

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Government Technology Online If you would like to subscribe to Government Technology magazine please contact Public Sector Information Limited, 226 High Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 0208 532 0055, Fax: 0208 532 0066, or visit the Government Technology website at: P NEWS P FEATURES P PROFILES P CASE STUDIES P EVENTS P AND MORE

8 www.governmenttechnology.co.uk PUBLISHED BY PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION LIMITED 226 High Rd, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055 Fax: 020 8532 0066 EDITOR Sofie Lidefjard ASSISTANT EDITOR Angela Pisanu PRODUCTION EDITOR Karl O’Sullivan PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Reiss Malone PRODUCTION DESIGN Jacqueline Grist

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CONTENTS GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY 9.3

7 NEWS 9 TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT The Socitm 2010 National Conference has been designed to challenge traditional thinking about local delivery of public services Nicola Hodson from Microsoft discusses how to bring public sector IT into the 21st Century

13 FINANCE The FLA discusses different investment options for the public sector

16 DATA CENTRES The DatacenterDynamics Public Sector conference will address the challenges faced by data centre managers

21 DESKTOP VIRTUALISATION Desktop virtualisation has a major role to play in making government departments greener and more efficient, writes Patrick Irwin from Citrix

25 DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT Document-centric business process management offers fast returns, says AIIM Europe

33 SERVICE MANAGEMENT See the latest technology for IT service management at the Service Desk and IT Support Show What’s the right approach to IT service Management – Agile or ITIL?

45 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS Chris Holcroft, director of the AGI, discusses geographic information developments in UK public policy

55 SPEECH TECHNOLOGY SpeechTEK Europe will showcase the latest in voice and speech technology

59 SECURITY With increasing amounts of cyber crime and identity theft taking place, the safe disposal of sensitive data has never been more urgent, writes the BSIA BAPCO 2010 showcases new technologies designed to improve public safety and civil contingency services Infosecurity Europe will address the complex issues surrounding information security

51 FLEXIBLE WORKING By using flexible working technologies, the public sector can become more efficient with fewer resources, says Jonathan Buckle from Avaya UK Wiltshire Police has adopted a mobile solution to keep them on the beat

8 www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

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A practical strategy for transforming paper processes into connected government

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EMC2, EMC, EMC SourceOne, and where information lives are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. © Copyright 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

£25bn wasted annually on poor procurement practices, says IoD he public sector wastes at least £25bn a year because of a failure to reform outdated procurement and outsourcing practices, according to a report by the Institute of Directors.

The report claims that at least £15bn can be saved from annual procurement spending and £10bn from public organisations working together more efficiently.

The UK’s annual procurement bill is £220bn, which represents a third of all government spending and is the equivalent of £3,500 a year per UK citizen.

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The institute called for wholesale reform of the public sector within a year, arguing too many staterun bodies “do their own thing” when it comes to money.

Colin Cram, the report’s author said: “There has been much improvement in procurement under the leadership of the Office of Government Commerce. However, public sector procurement remains a legacy of its past and a prisoner of its structures.

A step change is long overdue in the way public sector procurement is organised and managed.”

Single smartcard to give residents access to local services single ultra-smart card has been launched which will allow residents to access local authority services, such as libraries, leisure centres, travel and school meals, using a single card. It is also designed to encourage residents to spend more within their own local communities by offering discounts and vouchers from local traders.

The Credit Union ‘Branch in a Box’ Community Smart Card System was launched by smartcard software specialists Augusta at their new European headquarters in Swansea.

Augusta chairman Lord Erroll, who also heads the All Party Internet Group

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in the House of Lords launched the card. He said: “Augusta has a vision for a single interoperable card that can be used to access a wide range of public and private services within a community.

We want to help people feel a greater bond with the local community, with special privileges for local residents, while at the same time supporting activities such as learning, travelling, work, leisure, banking and benefits.”

He also said it would enable local authorities to replace a multiplicity of cards for community-based services with a single card which could be issued to everyone over the age of 16 within the area.

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NEWSINBRIEF Newspaper launches cloudbased election discussion forum Telegraph Media Group (TMG) has launched a website supported by cloud technology which will follow public opinion during the general election.

The Debate 2010 web site, powered by Salesforce. com, will enable users to debate topics, post ideas, vote and comment on issues related to areas such as healthcare, education, crime, the economy and foreign affairs. Popular opinions that appear critical will be sent to MPs and political parties.

Debate 2010 is based on the technology used in the crowd-sourcing project employed in the US during the Obama-Biden campaign.

Online help for people with learning disabilities A new online resource hub to help people with moderate and severe learning disabilities find employment has been launched by Care Services Minister Phil Hope and Minister for Disabled People Jonathan Shaw.

The new resource, called ‘Valuing People Now’, is part of the government’s ‘Valuing Employment Now’ strategy, which aims to increase the number of people with moderate to severe learning disabilities in employment by 2025.

Phil Hope said that the new resource will provide tools and support to help individuals into real, paid, valued jobs. “We’re committed to removing the barriers individuals with learning disabilities face when looking for paid work as well as promoting good practice,” he said.

£30 million for new Institute for Web Science The government has announced its intention to create a new Institute for Web Science to make the UK the focus of international research into the next generation of web and internet technologies.

The role of the Institute will be to undertake research and development, and act as a bridge between research and business, helping commercialise these new technologies. It will also advise government on how semantic technologies can be used in the public sector and how public procurement can be used to speed their adoption.

It will be headed by Sir Tim Berners Lee, the British inventor of the World Wide Web, and leading Web Science expert Professor Nigel Shadbolt. £30 million has been set aside for the Institute, which will bring together the best minds from around the world to deliver the benefits of advances in web technology to businesses and individuals.

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

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NEWSINBRIEF The Royal Navy launches iPhone app The Royal Navy has launched a new iPhone and Facebook application designed to attract potential recruits.

The application sets a series of challenges which simulate real-life situations encountered

by Royal Navy Engineer Officers.

Various training exercises and tasks are bundled into five interactive ‘missions’ requiring quick thinking and decision making. Tasks include engine maintenance, preparing for a simulated missile attack or re-wiring radar systems, according to the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy is the first of the UK’s armed forces to exploit the potential of the iPhone.

Council website gets top rating

Britain increases investment in space technology he government has announced the creation of a £40m International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) to support the UK’s ambitions in space exploration.

Announced at the opening of the new UK Space Agency, the centre will also provide a central hub for all future UK space activity and ensure the UK maintains its world-leading space capability. Funded through public and industry investment, the ISIC will establish centres of excellence in the

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UK to exploit the data generated by Earth Observation satellites, use space data to understand and counter climate change, and advise on the security and resilience of space systems and services.

A National Space Technology Strategy to make sure the space sector delivers its potential, overseen by an industry-led steering group, has also been announced, while a new Space Leadership Council will also be established.

A council website designed to make it easier for residents to access council services and information has been hailed as one of the best in the UK for the third year in a row.

East Sussex County Council’s website – www.eastsussex.gov.uk – has retained its ‘excellent’ rating and received four stars from the Society of IT Managers (SOCITM).

In its ‘Better Connected’ report, SOCITM praised the quality and clarity of site content, navigation and search and commented on the ease with which the most popular information and online transactions can be found.

E-auction strategy to save £270m A plan for e-auctions which aims to save the public sector up to £270m by the end of 2011/12 has been published by the OGC’s Centre for e-Auctions.

The Forward Plan for e-Auctions sets out a rolling schedule of e-auctions for the next 24 months, which will influence over £900m of public sector spend.

In addition, the OGC has established an online facility dedicated to e-auctions, which will include on-line forums and access to best practice guidance. The site will be continually developed and enhanced based on user feedback and requirement, and will include regular updates on upcoming e-auctions.

Remote diagnosis technology saves six lives new videoconference-based system to remotely diagnosis stroke patients is believed to have saved the lives of six patients in its first five weeks of live operation.

The idea is that if a patient arrives at an East of England hospital suffering from symptoms of a stroke but there is no consultant available, they can be remotely assessed by a consultant able to see them from their own PC at home rather than being driven to another

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hospital and lose critical treatment time.

The system is delivered in the form of a ‘COW’ (or Computer On Wheels) using technology from videoconferencing suppliers Impact and Iocom, meaning the remote consultant doesn’t need specialist hardware to access images.

The cart displays high definition images over the NHS secure N3 network system detailed enough for a doctor to view a patient’s MRI scans on the screen of their laptop computer.

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

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TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY Top thinkers and doers share experience at Socitm National Conference, 22 April in Birmingham THE SOCITM NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2010 will showcase some radical thinking and experience to help delegates focus on the painful and fundamental choices that lie ahead for local public services. The conference programme has been designed to challenge traditional thinking about local delivery of public services, and consider how we might achieve more and better outcomes with less, examine how we might use data and information more intelligently, and to identify what role new technologies might play.

The starting point for this, and indeed the whole initiative Socitm is developing under the banner ‘Tomorrow’s Public Services’, is that old ways of working that have held sway since the mid 1970s, and are characterised by scaled back government, competition and privatisation, are unsustainable. They simply cannot deliver the level of savings required in the new landscape of financial austerity or to address the growing demands of, for example, an ageing population, carbon reduction, and finite resources.

SPEAKERS WITH EXPERIENCE The conference’s morning plenary sessions will encompass vision, challenge and leading practice. Keynote speaker Michael Frater CBE will begin by telling delegates that the success of tomorrow’s public services depends not on expensive re-organisation or copying the private sector – much of which serves the customer pretty poorly anyway – but on switching our focus to people and information.

Speaking from experience of chief executive roles at several councils (Redbridge; Telford & Wrekin; Walsall; Nottingham City and most recently, Surrey County Council), he will urge delegates to give front line staff a greater role in designing services. Take this courageous step, and they will come up with systems that are simpler, leaner and more effective than much of what the experts delivered in times of plenty. Ensure that high quality information – to support service delivery and decision-making – is readily available, and then the high costs incurred with failed calls and ill-informed decisions can be reduced.

Recognise that all this is depends on simple systems that work, so it is incumbent on IT management to step up and demonstrate how the technology is going to deliver the goods.

Expect these ideas, and some of the others emerging around the future of local public services, to be challenged by Colin Talbot, Professor of Public Policy and Management at the Manchester Business School and a specialist advisor to the Treasury Select Committee.

Author of the Whitehall Watch blog, Professor Talbot provides incisive and entertaining analysis of goings on in the ‘Whitehall Village’ as well as the wider world of public service management.

A view from across the pond comes next.

Like local authorities across the developed world, Fairfax County in Virginia, USA, which covers an area of 400 square miles and is home to one million residents, has been hit by the double whammy of recession: falling revenues and rising demand for services. David Molchany, Deputy County Executive, will explain how, in 2009, the County government was facing the prospect of eliminating a revenue shortfall of $650 million (on a budget of nearly $6bn) for the 2010 fiscal year. The County determined that it would tackle this painful process as publicly as possible, empowering the community with information and asking them to share the responsibility of the difficult choices to be made about resource allocation and, yes, tax rises and potential cuts to services.

Starting from the point of view that public service customers are stockholders in government the County embarked on a comprehensive engagement programme. As well as traditional methods of consultation, the County used the full panoply of web 2.0 and social media tools to both educate its customers about the role of government, its services and revenue sources, and engage them with the difficult decisions to be taken.

The FY 2010 Adopted Budget was balanced and the $650 million revenue shortfall was closed with cost savings coming from a mixture of tax rises, efficiency cuts to individual budgets, and staff pay freezes.

Back in the UK, Marie Snelling, assistant director – Customer Transformation at the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, is leading pioneering work around a truly customer-focused approach to service delivery that will also bring about achieve significantly reduced cost. Techniques relatively new to local government, including customer insight, customer segmentation, customer journey mapping are all feeding into the process.

In the afternoon delegates will have the opportunity to make their contribution to the developing vision for Tomorrow’s Public Services. A series of facilitated workshops will enable delegates to exchange experiences, opinions, ideas, and solutions with fellow managers from local government and other public services.

CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON A key component of the Government ICT Strategy published in January 2010 is the introduction of cloud computing, specifically the Government Cloud (G Cloud). There is a huge amount of buzz in the industry today about the potential of cloud computing to drive down costs and improve services. However, we know from experience that implementing the latest technological revolution is rarely

HOW TO BOOK The Socitm National Conference takes place on 22 April at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole (nearest station, Birmingham International).

Book your place online at www.socitm.net. Delegate fees Socitm members: £195 (2nd and subsequent delegates £150). Delegate fees non-members: £225 (2nd and subsequent delegates £180). that straightforward. This session will explore the challenges facing Delivery Managers in meeting these local demands from the cloud.

THE COUNCIL OF THE FUTURE Socitm Consulting has been developing a powerful set of ideas around ‘The Council of the Future’, part of Socitm’s wider vision for Tomorrow’s Public Services. The session will explore how thinking about how local public service delivery is being driven by political, economic, legal, social and technological factors, and these drivers might lead the council of the future to look like. Is it one picture or a number of possibilities/options? What kinds of organisations – public, private and third sectors – will be commissioning services? How will the local authority relate to and use the capacities and capabilities of other organisations, communities, groups and individuals to deliver services? What new approaches to information handling are required? How, and which, technologies can enable real change?

More and more local authority services are being delivered with the involvement of charities and other not for profit organisations.

Central government directives and local concerns for delivering more services for the same or less cost are driving us into more collaborative working with organisations we haven’t had that much to do with to date.

It’s not that we don’t like each other – we just don’t know each other that well. What are the issues that each stakeholder brings to this party? This session will explore the opportunities and the constraints for effective joint working, and help you establish a framework for future collaboration between local government and third sector organisations.

Dealing with customer enquiries incoming through phone, e-mail, personal visit or website is a major cost for local authorities, and yet few councils actively manage their customers to improve their experience and deliver savings. This workshop will look at opportunities to use customer insight to manage enquiries and channels more effectively, to get customers to shift to cheaper channels, and to reduce avoidable contact.

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Written by Nicola Hodson, senior director, Microsoft UK Public Sector

TRANSFORMATIONAL GOVERNMENT

A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER Over the past couple of years the public sector has been associated with one failed IT project after another. But there is an appetite among senior public sector officials to shed this bad image and bring public sector IT into the 21st century TODAY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ARE faced with a dual challenge when it comes to IT implementation. First and foremost it must support political and business objectives.

These include implementing economic recovery programmes, modernising government processes, delivering services directly to the citizen and creating more jobs, while encouraging and enabling environmental sustainability. Secondly any government agency must maximise the impact of IT with reduced budgets. Therefore any IT project must broaden access to technology, consolidate redundant investments, facilitate transparency and accountability, help ensure interoperation with line-of-business systems and ultimately deliver IT innovation.

MODERNISING GOVERNMENT IT Government agencies have sometimes been criticised for having legacy IT systems which more often than not are more of a hindrance than a benefit. Unfortunately technology is not something which can be implemented and forgotten about as it consistently changes.

For too long the public sector has relied upon a paper based approach to records management which meant the sharing of information became pretty impossible. As a consequence information becomes less accessible and often duplicated between departments. In order to improve data management, government departments must look to implement IT systems which allow a collaborative way of working where information can be shared across multiple geographies

In order to improve data management, government departments must look to implement IT systems which allow a collaborative way of working where information can be shared across multiple geographies and with citizens where appropriate Clearly as we move closer to a general election, public sector services will be under close scrutiny. There are many Labour IT projects which may be culled if the Conservatives win a majority but one thing is clear: the focus of any future IT project must be around improving services for the citizen.

We believe the principles of citizen services are: • To provide services and information delivered when, how and where appropriate for the citizen • To focus the design and delivery of public services on improving outcomes for the citizen • To provide data to citizens to drive involvement, collaboration and early interventions • To deliver an intelligence led approach to public service engagement with citizens.

By focussing any IT implementation around these four principles, government departments will transform themselves from a reactive government, to one that is proactive and knowledge driven and has the citizen at its very heart.

and with citizens where appropriate.

However the security of this information is paramount. In the past, the public sector has been criticised and in some cases fined for not looking after citizen information correctly.

Data breaches in the government have been a regular occurrence over the past couple of years, however these are on the whole not down to IT but human error. If citizens are to trust the government with their data, then information security and training staff on information security procedures must be front of mind for any department. This is the single most important challenge for the government as it looks to move away from an on-premise data centre approach to a cloud computing approach as the fear of the potential risk will slow adoption and thereby dampen the benefits that the cloud approach brings.

Cloud computing may enable information to be accessed more easily by multiple departments, but that doesn’t mean it will be right for every need. For example cloud computing is not the most effective strategy for delivering real time information or applications.

Adopting an approach that allows for both on-premise data centres and cloud computing will enable the public sector to increase efficiency and ensure the right technology is in place – it’s not a case of one size fits all.

Furthermore, reducing energy consumption in the public sector will become paramount in 2010. The Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen brought green issues back to the top of the agenda and the public sector must ensure it invests in sustainable technology moving forwards.

THE ART OF COMMUNICATION Central and local governments should be the heart and soul of the community and yet if you asked a local resident when they last interacted with their local councillor, I’m sure they wouldn’t be able to remember.

Government agencies have, over the years, lost the art of communication – both externally and internally. Communication has changed radically over the past five years and the public sector must embrace new ways of interacting with its citizens. In business, customer relationship management is about knowing your customer inside and out and communicating with them in a way they understand. It’s also about using the insight you have in to a customer to adapt your approach to liaising with them so that they remain happy. The relationship should be no different between the government and its citizens.

Today people interact over social networking sites, mobile phones and email. However very rarely do government agencies use these communication mediums to speak with citizens.

This has to change and quickly otherwise the public sector runs the risk of alienating key audiences particularly the under 35s who use digital communication by default.

THE FUTURE A transformation in public sector IT is inevitable. However the government must ensure it has the citizen in mind for any such change. Improving outdated IT systems will help, but there also needs to be an attitudinal shift in the public sector.

It must embrace new ways of working and communicate more effectively internally and externally. Only then will the public sector overcome the challenges it faces.

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FINDING THE RIGHT FUNDING Be sure to investigate all your funding choices before investing, says the Finance and Leasing Association WHEN THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO invest in new equipment or other assets, it tends to go for one of two extremes. It either enters into a deep, long-term relationship with the private sector through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) or a Public Private Partnership (PPP), or it tends to go it alone.

There really isn’t any need for this dichotomy of approaches. Through leasing the government can work with the private sector when investing in most types of assets. So why does the government often choose to work with the private sector on some of its largest investments, but less often on smaller ones?

PROVIDING PUBLIC SERVICES PFI/PPPs can help the public sector when making large-scale investments in providing public services. In a PFI arrangement assets are built, owned and maintained by the private sector operator. The operator also uses the assets to provide a service to the public sector or general public. In a PPP the public sector

owns part of the assets and may have more involvement in how the assets are used to provide services. Over 500 PFI/PPP projects are in operation, with another 200 in the pipeline.

Forming working relationships with the private sector through PPP/PFI doesn’t guarantee success. The key question, according to the National Audit Office (NAO), is whether the PPP/PFI can deliver something better than could have been obtained through a different procurement route. Despite some failures, which tend to attract a lot of publicity, the NAO has found many examples of successes.

LEASING AS AN ALTERNATIVE Most investments by the government are on a scale too limited to make it attractive as a PFI/PPP arrangement. However, while a deep, long-term relationship with the private sector might not be appropriate, leasing can offer a more suitable alternative. The public sector rents the equipment from a leasing company, typically for up to five years. It then either

returns the equipment at the end of the rental period, or extends the period of the rental.

Leasing is already used in the public sector, particularly for vehicles and medical equipment.

The Office of Government Commerce agreement operates a pan-government framework for the lease of cars and carderived vans, which it estimates is worth up to £270 million over a three-year period.

The NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency has a national framework for operating leases, which is intended to help NHS bodies to procure leases more cost efficiently and effectively.

The NHS spends in the region of £500 million a year on operating leases, covering a diverse range of medical and support equipment.

WHY LEASE? Private sector leasing companies may be able to buy equipment for less than a local authority or central government department. The leasing company will often offer asset service and repair, which takes the headache away from

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those delivering public services. Leased assets can simply be handed back at the end of the agreed period, allowing new equipment to be leased. Finally, at the end of the lease, private sector leasing companies are also experts in selling equipment into second hand markets.

Taken together, these benefits mean that by working with the private sector through leasing the public sector might be able to reduce the cost and increase the quality of public services.

Despite these potential benefits, however, most local and central government equipment is bought outright rather than leased. Of course, for some equipment, purchasing may deliver better value than leasing. But too often, leasing is given scant consideration by decision-makers.

Consequently the best-value deals are missed.

COMPARING COSTS In most cases it can be argued that the cost of the government’s borrowing is less than that of leasing companies. However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that cheaper funds automatically makes purchasing more attractive than leasing. Only by comparing the total costs of equipment purchase, operation, and disposal can a proper comparison be made.

The situation has changed in recent months with the blurring of boundaries between the government and the major banks, which are also many of the largest leasing companies.

Any type of partnership between the public and private sector requires a degree of trust between both parties. In leasing, an important way of achieving that trust is to use a leasing provider that is signed up to the Finance and Leasing Association’s (FLA) Business Finance Code of practice.

FLA members will ensure that customers are well informed before they enter into a new agreement, so that the full costs are clear. They will ensure that agreements are appropriate for the type of assets being financed. This means, for example, that they won’t offer a seven year lease on equipment that is unlikely to be useful for more than five years.

FLA members are required to have effective procedures for handling complaints. The FLA also operates conciliation and mediation schemes for business finance agreements, although these are very rarely needed.

Just as in PPP/PFIs, the key question for leasing is whether it can deliver something better than could have been obtained through a different procurement route.

In many cases, the answer is that it can.

When it comes to investment in equipment, whether in the largest deals or smaller ones, it’s not always necessary to go it alone.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 020 7836 6511 E-mail: info@fla.org.uk Web: www.fla.org.uk

Just as in PPP/PFIs, the key question for leasing is whether it can deliver something better than could have been obtained through a different procurement route

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

DATA CENTRES

THE CHANGING NATURE OF DATA CENTRES Upgrading legacy infrastructure, reducing energy consumption and staying on top of changing public policies are some of the challenges faced by data centre managers that will be addressed at the DatacenterDynamics Public Sector conference WHEN IT COMES TO THE GOVERNMENT’S ICT strategy the plans for data centres could not be more ambitious. In the ICT strategy report issued in January laid out plans to rationalise the number of data centres from hundreds down to 10-12.

The report said the situation had come about because: ‘Budgets and procurement decisions have been devolved to many different levels, meaning that while procurement decisions have been taken in the best interests of each individual organisation at a specific time, at the ‘big picture’ level this has resulted in a proliferation of data centres.’ This is not only costly in itself, but also makes it difficult to: • achieve large, cross-government economies of scale • meet environmental and sustainability targets • protect against natural disasters or human-initiated incidents • provide consistent security controls across government • deliver ICT systems that are flexible and responsive to demand in order to support transformational government • take advantage of new technologies in order to deliver faster business benefits, and • procure in a way that supports and encourages a dynamic and responsive supplier marketplace.

The rationalisation plan came about following a research and consultation process between the Government CIO council and Intellect, the IT trade association.

‘The intention is to consolidate public sector data centres (whether in house or outsourced), firstly in central government (including non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies), and then moving into the wider public sector,’ the report said.

POOLING RESOURCES The need to rationalise Britain’s vast government computing infrastructure has led some data centre managers to make almost sacrilegious proposals. Instead of replicating hundreds of identical data centres for every council and every government department, why not simply pool resources?

In theory, if all the metropolitan councils for one region run very similar applications, couldn’t they all be hosted on one giant machine that can be virtualised?

Athough it is accepted that within the public sector there are cultural issues surrounding aversion to change there is evidence of growing

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maturity and a realisation that costs could be cut without budgets being slashed. The strategies of some of these beacons of good practice differ, but their examples are educational.

In the UK, the move to colocation is a slow evolution. A number of councils in the west of London (such as Hillingdon, Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent and Ealing) have started working together to share experience, but despite the raging consumption of their IT departments still haven’t taken collaboration to its fullest conclusion.

“We’re not driven towards colocation just yet,” says Roger Bearpark, head of ICT at Hillingdon Council, “but it might be a boon to us if we were to work with other local authorities.” Though Bearpark claims that Hillingdon is not likely to run out of space and power anytime soon, he says: “We need to be smarter about how we manage data.”

At the height of its power consumption, the council data centre got through 30kW hours. Now it’s down to 1.5kW hours – that’s a phenomenal reduction.

But some boroughs take the opposite approach. In Lancashire, for example, Preston Council has a contract with SunGard and took things further by asking the disaster recovery firm to run its data centre operations as a shared service. SunGard has 20 recovery locations across the UK, all linked by the SunGard National Network (SNN).

VALUE FOR MONEY As a member of the North West e-Government Group (NWeGG), the council was able to get good value for money from the arrangement, reports Allan Orient, ICT business continuity and community manager at Preston City Council. “Price was obviously an enormous consideration for us in our decision making,” he says, “and that comes from buying as part of a consortium.”

Buying groups (such as the consortium to which Preston belongs) and shared data centres bring about considerable price economies, explains Rob Thomson, SunGard’s marketing director, but sometimes the incentive is more of a financing issue.

Shared services become more of an operational expenditure (OPEX) rather than a capital expenditure (CAPEX), making the new project less likely to fall foul of budget approvals processes. Using a third party with experience of running colocation contracts can make the approval process a lot easier, since they’ll have been there before and learned to overcome all the objections.

THE BIG CHALLENGE “Many government organisations are looking at OPEX rather than CAPEX, so they’re increasingly likely to come to us,” says Thomson. Given that the nature of the applications given over to a colocation

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DATA CENTRES

contract, such as accounting, are not interactive in nature and unlikely to be troubled by latency, physical distance from the council is not a problem when choosing a host for colocation.

The big challenge, he says, is in finding a local authority that has the right fit and is at an identical stage of evolution to collocate with. “Sometimes it’s like trying to get all the horses lined up at the start of the Grand National,” says Thomson.

“There could be scope for someone to develop a matchmaking service for government departments that are looking to colocate. I’m sure there’s a gap in the market,” he says.

The OPEX versus CAPEX was central to the decision-making process of Edinburgh Council’s decision to bring all the local government departments, including bodies as disparate as the fire brigade, government departments and local authorities, under one data centre, managed by BT. “In Edinburgh, at one stage, all the different public sector bodies had their own data centre,” explains Andrew Unsworth, head of e-Government at Edinburgh Council. “The fire brigade had one data centre, then there were 20 different schools with various incarnations of a data centre, not to mention the libraries and local hospitals.”

Now, under BT’s management, they’re all housed centrally, in one floor of the old telephone exchange. As telephone technology evolved, the old mechanical switches were replaced by more automated systems, and finally software. So there was a lot more room to spare. This created an ideal environment for hosting other people’s systems.

“Edinburgh has a lot of financial institutes and they tend to attract much of the available talent,” says Unsworth. “The skills base to help us operate effectively was not there.”

FINANCIAL ADVANTAGES Consolidating a data centre around a private company also offers financial advantages. “In the public sector, if we wanted to make the investment to modernise our data centre, it would take a long time to get the expenditure decision passed. But BT could make the investment decision a lot quicker.

Not that the users notice. The data centre is invisible to them and there are fewer reasons to be aware of its existence as there are far fewer incidents reported. Changes to the IT infrastructure are a lot easier to roll out now that the user base is uniform.

Barnsley Council’s work offers evidence that IT can be used to help create jobs in the local area and stimulate new businesses. Ken Rutt, Barnsley’s assistant chief executive for information services, admits it started out as being a virtualisation project to reduce costs, but the data centre grew to become a profit generator and a creater of jobs.

The council moved away from a tired old building (a converted magistrates court) into a purpose-built facility in Oakwell, with water-cooled air, two UPSs, two generators and two different links to electricity substations.

The rationalisation and subsequent day-to-day management of the data centre was carried out by a joint company – BullTCL – formed between the council and its historical technology partner Bull.

All Barnsley’s IT staff were transferred to the new company, which was given a contract to run IT for the council for 10 years in a deal worth £110m.

The first action was a rationalisation that helped the council meet its emissions targets. Using VMWare, TCL rationalised its data centre from 170 Intel servers to six.

If the level of cooperation and willingness to change is replicated across the public sector then rationalising the data centres to that magic number 12 may yet be achievable.

But in the short to medium term, data centre managers across public sector organisations up and down the country are dealing with the need to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprints now, while planning for extra capacity. If collaboration within sector or geographical location is not readily available, the need to take into account the government’s ICT strategy complicates ongoing data centre investment strategy.

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WHERE TO FIND ANSWERS The DatacenterDynamics Public Sector conference being held on 10th May at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel will address the challenges faced by operators in upgrading legacy infrastructure in need of urgent attention and, in the exhibition that runs alongside, demonstrates the latest technology solutions.

Case studies will include how Huntington County Council deployed high-density water cooling, free cooling and energy-efficient UPS systems to improve efficiency; Richard Stern and Steve Phipps University of Hertfordshire’s micro data centre refurbishment which entailed overcoming budgetary and physical constraints in a mixeduse facility; and the challenges faced by John Fricker and Simon Williams at the Land Registry and Ordnance Survey respectively in realising the benefits of their shared services project.

Providing practical management insight will be Brian Waddell from Norman Disney & Young who compares the benefits and suitability of different free-cooling technologies, Geoff Fayers from the University of Brighton who sets out guidance for writing data centre specification requirements, and James Thomas from University College London Hospital that demonstrates how to assess the case for outsourcing using a thorough risk ananlysis.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Anyone interested in attending or participating at the conference should contact Chris Lambert on 0207 426 7834 or e-mail at chris.lambert@datacenterdynamics.com. More information about the event and the latest programme updates can be found by visiting www.datacenterdynamics.com/manchester

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DESKTOP VIRTUALISATION

CHANGING DESKTOP DELIVERY Government IT departments can achieve costs savings, become greener and better equipped by using desktop virtualisation, says Citrix’s Patrick Irwin WHOEVER WINS THE GENERAL ELECTION this year, the theme of government over the coming months and years will be one of spending cuts and deficit reduction. The 2010 budget, set to be unveiled at the end of March, will provide a blueprint for Labour’s answer to the debt crisis. Should they lose power later in the year, the Conservatives are expected to be even more ruthless in wielding the axe on the public sector.

The spiralling budgets of government initiatives have been a theme in the press, but they are not alone in challenging the perception of public sector IT. Stories of data loss, laptops left on trains, disks going missing as well as stressed and unhappy staff, all devalue the efforts of government to modernise IT and plan for the future.

It is crucial, therefore, that policy is dedicated to deliver solutions that can enact savings, enhance the security of sensitive data and raise efficiency in departments that may

have suffered from redundancies, through solutions such as desktop virtualisation.

2010 is likely to be the inflection point for desktop virtualisation, changing the way desktops are delivered to the end user. It has been estimated that desktop hardware and software acquisition expenditure typically accounts for only 20-30 per cent of the total cost of a device, while the remaining 70-80 per cent consists of ongoing IT management. Desktop virtualisation removes the need to repeat numerous,

maintenance tasks to ensure all desktops within an organisation are up to date with the latest patches, updates and upgrades.

TIGHTENING THE PURSE STRINGS An annual report by the Society of IT Management (Socitm), which represents public sector IT managers, recently showed that the financial resources available to local authorities’ IT teams are forecast to fall by 11 per cent in 2009-10, with cuts of 20 per cent in capital spending, 16 per cent in departmental spending

It is crucial that policy is dedicated to deliver solutions that can enact savings, enhance the security of sensitive data and raise efficiency in departments that may have suffered from redundancies, through solutions such as desktop virtualisation

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DESKTOP VIRTUALISATION

and eight per cent in central IT spending.

It is therefore vital any savings that can be made through the implementation of technology are realised. The cost savings available to the public sector with desktop virtualisation are impressive. The Department of Work and Pensions, has recently committed itself to the solution. Based on technology from Citrix, this implementation with DWP is the single biggest desktop project in the UK, spanning the DWP’s 140,000 desktop computers based across 1,000 locations – a huge validation of desktop virtualisation technology.

Organisations can reap significant savings from virtually delivering and managing desktops centrally. In practice, it can enable businesses to realise significant savings in IT support and hardware costs, benefit from higher availability and productivity, as well as reduced electricity consumption, which will bring carbon footprint levels down significantly.

These potential savings serve to highlight an important point on the future of government IT. Back in 2008 it was announced that all of Whitehall’s computer systems would be wholly carbon neutral by 2020 by utilising various green IT strategies including the ability to deliver Windows desktops as a service to any user, anywhere and on any device. This plan included a pledge to make the energy consumption of government IT carbon neutral by 2012.

As the recession tightened its grip on the minds and wallets of both the public and government, the push for carbon neutrality, in the home, workplace and in government has been silently disregarded and pushed aside. It has been replaced by an overriding concern for austerity and thrift. However, desktop virtualisation offers cost and carbon savings hand in hand. Thus, a wider adoption of the technology is paramount to the enacting the promise of carbon neutrality throughout the entire lifecycle of government computing by 2020.

PRESSURE ON RESOURCES The recession has not only created a squeeze on public sector staffing levels across many departments, but has also increased the public’s need for basic services. As unemployment figures have spiked, the need for social security, careers advice and governmental support has increased sharply. The two factors of a decrease in staff and an increase in demand, led to Socitm to describe public sector IT as ‘stretched to breaking point’ in a recent report.

Although the report cited the financial constraints placed on IT departments as the most pressing concern for managers, the shortage of staffing is expected to increase in the coming months, creating further pressure across public services.

Implementing desktop virtualisation can mean considerable benefits for users, from greater flexibility to enhanced productivity and more

responsive IT support. If you go about it the right way, you can deliver an experience that’s not only just as good as a physical desktop, but even better, with users feeling upgraded, not downgraded. This helps to ease the pressure on government departments and help to ensure that the demand for services can be met.

WHERE TO START The first step of a successful desktop virtualisation initiative is to make sure that users can still do everything they’ve always done at least as well as before, and that the transition proceeds as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. It’s a good idea to begin with simple processes that allow you to get comfortable with the basics of desktop virtualisation before moving on to more challenging areas. Front line staff and operational roles like HR and customer service are a good starting point, with relatively standard, text-based productivity applications and predictable tasks. Latency and bandwidth do not affect performance, and such users are unlikely to need more advanced applications or configurations.

As more applications move to the web, employees who do much of their work online could also benefit from desktop virtualisation. Browser bookmarks, saved passwords, history, cookies and other configurations can easily follow users wherever they log in, regardless of device.

SAFEGUARDING DATA SECURITY The advance of technology has not made life any easier for the cause of government IT security. In the past, private sector IT departments were primarily responsible for their company’s data security. It was a model driven from the bottom up – they were the ones who worried about devices, users, accounts and passwords. If a system got hacked and data was stolen, IT took care of it and only very rarely did this get escalated to the business.

IT’s security-centric culture is changing.

Now, the key drivers for an organisation’s security are determined at board and executive level. The same can be said of government IT security, which has become a major issue for central government, as red faces in the cabinet over high profile data loss cases have led to policy being dictated from the centre. Today’s security landscape demands governance, risk management and compliance.

The problem becomes obvious when looking at where our data lives today – it’s everywhere. Staff store and maintain data in numerous formats. Printed or electronic copies in the office, in cars, in homes, on mobile devices; it is not easy for a government department to rein all of this in.

Data distribution becomes a concern when related to the changing culture in government workplaces. People increasingly expect to be able to use mobile devices like smart phones and if their employer won’t

Patrick Irwin

give it to them, they buy such convenience devices anyway. The risks are obvious: all of the user’s email and associated documents are on a mobile device that could be easily stolen, leaving open access to items that you would have had to infiltrate government buildings to get to just a few years ago.

Virtualisation eliminates the need for users to take data home on a laptop or copy it.

Regardless of where they are or what type of device they have, they can access the same desktop, as well as applications, and data.

We’re even getting into a situation where users could be issued a USB key that automatically authenticates them on the system and brings up the appropriate web resources. It’s there as soon as the user enters their credentials and they don’t even have to remember the website to go to any more. This makes things easier and more straightforward for the user. It gives them a lot of computing capability, while taking away the need to think about the organisation’s security policy and access scenarios.

MAJOR ROLE The concept of virtualisation – abstracting computer resources from physical ties and centralising an instance of the software in the data centre – now applies to a range of technologies including servers, applications, and desktops. Companies such as Citrix have made it possible for enterprises to choose how, and to what degree, they virtualise their servers, desktops or applications, or their entire IT infrastructure.

If government departments are to achieve cost savings, carbon neutrality and data security, then desktop virtualisation has a major role to play.

Patrick Irwin is product marketing manager at Citrix UK, Ireland and South Africa

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DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

BPM EXPLAINED Document-centric business process management offers fast returns, says Doug Miles, UK managing director of AIIM Europe I’VE BEEN ASKED A NUMBER OF TIMES lately, for reasons that I’m sure are fairly obvious: “How can we justify spending money on ECM projects when purse strings are being tightened all around us?” The answer is that you can always justify spending money as long as it saves money ‘over the cycle’, to steal a now discredited statement. The difference in the current climate is that for many organisations the cycle has come down from the usual two or three year payback period to just the one year. And the application that can achieve this is Business Process Management (BPM).

Starting out in the early 1990s as ‘workflow’, and teaming up along the way with EAI (Enterprise Application Integration), BPM has become the meat in the sandwich when it comes to hard-dollar returns from investments in Enterprise Content Management. Early users of document management systems realised that the majority of business processes were driven by paper forms and case notes, passed between different duties, frequently with multicoloured copies for each activity, and with complex conditional circulations. Scanning the paper forms, and managing their circulation electronically rather than physically, produced immediate benefits in terms of faster processes, fewer missed actions, and less lost files.

15 years on, there are still many paper-driven processes, but the concept of a computer defined workflow and an electronic image of the claims form, invoice, or job application is well established. The move from the workflow terminology to Business Process Management reflects partly a much more sophisticated way of modelling and monitoring processes, but also the involvement of non-document orientated applications in the process, as exemplified by the invoice processing application where paper invoices are scanned and circulated, and the data-driven financial system is also involved for order matching and payment processing.

WHAT IS BPM? Workflow provides an easy way to connect people, tasks, and content, but it can still require laborious and extensive programming work to connect applications. Furthermore, workflow solutions can suffer from incomplete or fragmented toolsets. While workflow delivers process automation, it can lack related functionality, such as integrated process modelling. In a complementary fashion, EAI promised to simplify the integration of multiple standalone yet related processes.

But EAI offered little means to route work among and between people, monitor

BPM is more than just the automation of processes and simplification of application integration. BPM is a business management practice that encompasses process automation, process modelling and process monitoring, and adds simulation, process modularisation, service orientation and process optimisation

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DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

personal work queues, or support interactive people-based tasks and decisions. BPM is a convergence of workflow and EAI. BPM is, however, more than just the automation of processes and simplification of application integration. BPM is a business management practice that encompasses process automation, process modelling and process monitoring, and adds simulation, process modularisation, service orientation and process optimisation.

It is based on a number of principles and methodologies such as process-centricity, process excellence and core competencies. A more formal definition reads: “A management practice that provides for governance of a business process environment toward the goal of improving agility and operational performance” – hence the likelihood of a measurable Return on Investment (ROI) from its adoption.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT In fact, in a recent AIIM survey , 49 per cent of those who reported carrying out an ROI exercise on their BPM investment indicated a payback period of less than 18 months with 72 per cent achieving savings within two years. As regards project implementation, over half take nine months or less to BPM enable a process on average, with 75 per cent taking less than a year. It is no surprise, then, that 63 per cent of survey respondents indicated that BPM was imperative or significant to the success of their organisation.

Given the likely restrictions on IT spending as budgets tighten up, producing a return within the first year seems like a very compelling case. However, as with any business change

process, implementing BPM brings its own challenges. The AIIM survey indicated that the biggest management challenges were resistance to change, lack of understanding of what BPM is and underestimating the time it takes to map and agree processes. As regards technical challenges, integration with other systems was by far the largest, followed by unexpected exceptions requirements and overcomplexity of the process and rules engine.

PROCESS OWNERS One of the most interesting findings of the study was that the most likely indicator for a successful BPM project is that a process owner exists. Process owners are responsible for the management of processes within the organisation. They are the people who receive the solutions created by an improvement team and end up being responsible for managing the improved process. The role of process owner does not yet exist for many organisations that have yet to establish a process-centric approach to managing business.

Many individuals participate and perhaps provide management within a process, but no one person owns it. Process owners often have to transcend departmental barriers (as processes do), and maintain a vigilant inspection of the process itself, continuously looking for improvements and opportunities.

This level of scrutiny is fundamental in the early stages of BPM, when the process must be analysed, modelled, and reengineered.

PROCUREMENT STRATEGIES Business process management suites and tools might have a heritage in forms scanning and

document management, they might come from middle-ware and modelling applications, or they might be part of an enterprise system such as SAP. Within the AIIM community, we see a preference for purchasing BPM as part of the ECM suite (36 per cent), but if we add together dedicated BPM suite suppliers and best-of-breed BPM tool suppliers, we have 48 per cent of respondents that would more likely look to BPM-specific suppliers. We must, of course, overlay on this the level of vertical market expertise expected of a BPM supplier, and this can indicate very strong candidates of each type within specific vertical markets.

To help users implement a BPM strategy in their organisation, AIIM has developed a BPM education programme which consists of 2-day Practitioner and 4-day Master training classes which can be taken as public or private classes, or online – see www.aiim.org.uk/ training. AIIM is the international community that provides education, research, and best practices to help organisations find, control, and optimise their information. AIIM offers training courses in ECM, Electronic Records Management, BPM, eMail Management, and E2.0, both online and as public classes.

Notes 1. A free copy of the AIIM Industry Watch report “Business Process Management (BPM): are we making the most of contentdriven processes?” can be downloaded from www.aiim.org.uk/surveys

FOR MORE INFORMATION Web: www.aiim.org.uk

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

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DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

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INVOICES captures information from incoming invoices – whether in paper or electronic format – applies data verification and validation (for example, against purchase orders) and, finally, transfers them to the payment system.

By automating invoice flow from start to finish, organisations generate huge savings in both time and money. The cost of processing an invoice is cut from pounds to pence, while the payment cycle can be reduced by up to two thirds, enabling councils to comply with the government’s 10-day payment directive for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises).

INVOICES integrates seamlessly with Oracle, SAP and other leading ERP and workflow systems, building on existing technology investments and avoiding expensive consultancy fees.

ReadSoft CLASSIFY & INDEX: Automates the processing of incoming mail to cut operational costs, typically by a third. Instead of staff wasting time laboriously sorting and routing mail manually, all inbound documents – whether printed or handwritten – are passed through the same system to be automatically scanned (if in paper form), sorted and distributed.

The result is fast, accurate delivery and improved customer service as contact centre staff have the latest information at their fingertips to handle queries and action requests.

CLASSIFY & INDEX is designed to handle all types of paperwork, whether structured (such as application forms), semi-structured (standing

CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES Headcount savings for South Ayrshire Council One of the largest councils in Scotland has chosen ReadSoft DOCUMENTS to centralise and streamline its accounts payable department by automatically processing the 150,000 invoices it receives annually from 7,000 suppliers. ReadSoft’s solution will enable it to reduce the number of accounts departments from three to one, speed up invoice processing, and improve accuracy and efficiency.

Processing time halved for Latin American census The National Institute of Statistics in Peru turned to ReadSoft for faster and more accurate processing of the country’s national census. ReadSoft competed against three other companies and were selected because of their high recognition rate of 99.43 per cent.

Using ReadSoft FORMS, 7.5 million documents were successfully processed in 50 days – half the allotted time. This enabled results to be published within six months instead of the 14 months previously achieved.

Move to paperless invoicing cuts costs instead of trees The Public Office of Urban Planning and orders or change of address notifications, for example) and unstructured (letters and faxes).

ReadSoft FORMS: An intelligent automated forms processing system that saves time and cuts costs. FORMS captures information from all types of form – whether paper or electronic, printed or handwritten – and transfers it to a nominated system in the specified format.

FORMS works on a single computer or an entire network and there are no upper or lower limits to the number of forms that can be processed.

With automatic data capture eliminating

Construction (OPAC) in Greater Lyon, France chose ReadSoft to support its move to paperless invoicing. The department manages 22,000 homes and constructs a further 400 each year. It handles over 25,000 invoices a year – a figure that is increasing by 15-20 per cent annually – and the complex approval process meant suppliers could have to wait 45 days or more before being paid.

OPAC adopted ReadSoft INVOICES, which integrates fully with its ERP system, with the result that it now has complete traceability of invoices along the approval path and has been able to cut down payment delays significantly.

Document automation makes taxes less taxing for Swedish authority The Swedish Tax Authority uses ReadSoft FORMS to process the 450,000 income declarations it receives every month from self-employed workers. Instead of having to enter all data manually, declarations are automatically scanned and the relevant information extracted. Eliminating the laborious and time-consuming process of manual data entry has made it considerably faster to calculate how much tax and VAT is due, and is resulting in savings for the government of tens of millions of Swedish kronor every year. manual keying of information, FORMS enables organisations to make headcount savings or redeploy staff more productively.

Over the years ReadSoft has built a reputation for technological innovation coupled with a deep understanding of our customers’ needs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact us to discuss your needs Tel: +44 (0)1908 688000 E-mail: info-uk@readsoft.com Web: www.readsoft.co.uk

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TAILORED PRINTING SOLUTIONS How organisations can keep costs under control and drive efficiencies with OKI print optimiser THE MAJORITY OF ORGANISATIONS claim to have control over all their expenditure.

Most know how much they spend on their staff, on business rent and rates, and on their phone and electricity bills. Very few, however, have a precise handle on what is incurred on printing. In fact, for many businesses, print is their largest unknown cost.

A recent report from independent market data analysts, IDC found that companies have up to 10 times more output devices than they need, that daily utilisation of output devices can at times be as low as three per cent and that up to 11 per cent of a company’s revenue can be spent on total hardcopy printing, hardware costs and operating costs.

According to Naser Shashaa, programme manager for the Imaging and Hardcopy Devices group at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey: “The majority of IT managers remain unaware of the number of hardcopy devices (printers, copiers, and multifunctional peripherals) in

Selection Criteria, published by leading analyst organisation Gartner in October 2009: “Managed Print Services can help you reduce your office printing spend by between 10 per cent and 30 per cent”.

CUSTOMISED SOLUTIONS The aim of OKI Printing Solutions’ Managed Print Services offering, Total Managed Print, is to provide customised managed print services to the growing needs of small to medium sized organisations as well as public and corporate sectors. Total Managed Print consists of a portfolio of programmes including Print Optimizer, which helps to reduce print related costs and the environmental impact of printing.

Users of the solution follow four basic steps in order to achieve more efficient long-term output management – assess, propose, implement and manage.

An inital assessment is undertaken, using the latest technology tools and conducted

The objective of a managed print services implementation is to reduce the total cost of ownership associated with an unmanaged print environment by assessing the current set-up to gain an insight into existing usage, to manage the volume of documents flowing through an organisation and to minimise the costs their organisation. Less than half routinely track hardcopy costs across the company and only a few have assessed their imaging and output infrastructure with the goal of optimising their hardcopy deployment.”

Fortunately, print vendors are now putting in place solutions that address these issues, enabling them not only to monitor and track their print usage but also helping them to achieve a broad range of core business objectives including cost reduction containment and control, improved workflow, productivity and operational efficiency, enhanced security and reduced environmental impact.

CUTTING COSTS The objective of a managed print services implementation is to reduce the total cost of ownership associated with an unmanaged print environment by assessing the current set-up to gain an insight into existing usage, to manage the volume of documents flowing through an organisation and to minimise the costs.

According to Managed Print Services Vendor

by an experienced OKI project team. The objective is to provide a detailed assessment of an organisation’s printing environment, assist in accurately defining its current costs and assess its actual print requirements.

This appraisal combines a personal approach to understand and review individual user requirements, plus a latest technology rapid scan network audit to develop a detailed, accurate and comprehensive overview of printing volume and types.

This assessment is designed to achieve a clear and accurate understanding of a business’s current situation and existing infrastructure, while at the same time identifying any gaps, providing an expert take on the existing fleet, consumables and printing behaviour and helping the business concerned to get ‘more out of’ their printing.

A proposal, which takes the organisation’s business objectives into account, is then discussed and a tailored infrastructure concept, which matches devices to the ideal location for the end user, developed. Typically, the proposal

includes details of the recommended hardware mix, dedicated on demand consumables supply and comprehensive service and support to be provided. Also included are proposed measurable benefits, for both the short term and the entire contract, including, for example, security benefits, environmental and cost savings and productivity and workflow benefits.

Once the proposal has been agreed by all parties and the contract signed, all of the constituent parts of the solution are rolled out to an agreed schedule across the organisation.

Access to the online consumables ordering process is opened up and the customer’s team and other system users trained on the new fleet.

The ongoing service management process provided by OKI includes: • Comprehensive maintenance and support • Regular project reviews, ensuring that anticipated savings can be reliably achieved • Productivity increases as planned; • Continuation of the Assess-Propose Implement-Manage cycle • Additional enhancements introduced, ensuring that the infrastructure reflects technological advances across the industry as well as changes within the business itself • Maximising long-term benefits and overall success.

KEY ELEMENT WITHIN TOTAL MANAGED PRINT Print Optimizer is just one – albeit highly important – element within Total Managed Print, OKI’s range of managed print services, which together help organisations to optimise their printing infrastructures, bringing instant financial benefits, improved workflows, a significant step-up in secure printing and lower impact on the environment. Like all the best managed print service solutions, the OKI offering provides users with a quantifiable, predictable, controllable outcome for document output costs and frees them from the burden of in-house print management to concentrate on their core business. For those organisations that adopt it, it will revolutionise their whole approach to printing.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01753 819856 Web: www.oki.co.uk

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Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

ITSM Solutions A Service Desk in 5 days!

Join Quadratek on Stand 828 at this year’s Service Desk and IT Support Show, Earls Court 27th-28th April to learn how IBM® Tivoli® Foundations™ appliances can help you affordably transform your IT operations with easy, plug-and-play solutions.

IBM Tivoli Foundations Service Manager is an all-in-one service desk appliance that can help you streamline your service support operations with powerful service request, incident and problem management applications.

IBM Tivoli Foundations Application Manager is a robust, automated monitoring appliance that can help you manage the performance and availability of servers, networks, databases, and Email applications.

Tivoli Foundations – Designed and priced for the Public Sector

Tivoli Password Management Solutions dramatically reduces overheads associated with the management of passwords and user accounts whilst increasing traceability and compliance.

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07775 574807

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Cherwell Service Management – a fully integrated solution HERWELL SOFTWARE is the developer of Cherwell Service Management™ – a fully integrated solution for IT and support professionals.

Designed using Microsoft’s .NET platform and Web 2.0 technology, Cherwell delivers 12 ‘out-of-the-box’ fully integrated ITIL v3 PinkVERIFIED management processes including incident, problem, change, release, configuration, SLA, service catalogue and knowledge.

With a holistic approach to service management, Cherwell empowers IT and support departments to fully align themselves with the organisations they support. Being quick to deploy and easy to use Cherwell delivers true enterprise power for a mid-market price.

Headquartered in Colorado Springs, USA and with European offices in the UK, Cherwell Software was founded and is managed by a team of industry experts – including the former CEO of FrontRange Solutions, the former chief architect of FrontRange’s HEAT® and ITSM™ product lines.

Cherwell Service Management

C

delivers a highly scalable and extensible development platform enabling customers to add new custom built applications through the use of customisable business process templates. Our unique CBAT platform has enabled customers to develop integrated business applications such as CRM, project management, student records, and facilities management systems.

In a recent Total Economic Impact (TEI) study by Forrester Consulting, the financial analysis calculated a three-year riskadjusted ROI of 108 per cent for an organisation, with a total payback period of less than 10 months.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Brinkworth House, Brinkworth, SN15 5DF United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1793 680 280 Fax: +44 (0)800 098 8066 Web: www.cherwellsoftware.com

Multi-site backup and disaster recovery HINKING SAFE’S RecoveryShield software is used by both service providers and end-user organisations to automatically protect sensitive data across multiple sites, ensure effective disaster recovery from multiple locations, and provide secure archiving and long-term retention of electronic records.

Centralised management across multiple domains and security zones makes it easy for overloaded IT managers to enforce data protection and retention policies.

Automated replication provides multiple disaster recovery options, including automatic recovery to virtualised standby servers.

Our de-duplication technology can significantly reduce backup data volumes by 100 to 1, and can be implemented across multiple sites to reduce the costs of private cloud storage.

Advanced compression and bandwidth management enable successful deployment in the

T

OPAS & e-OPAS the Occupational Health Software Solution of Choice for Leading Organisations Why do so many organisations including leading UK and International Companies turn to one OH Software Provider above all others? It could have something to do with wanting a solution which exactly matches their requirements.

To find out how Warwick can provide you with the solution you deserve, allowing you to enhance your delivery of world-class Occupational Health Care contact us for a free on-line/on-site demonstration. Email ohintegration@warwickicsystems.com, visit www.warwickicsystems.com or call 01332 781 882.

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most challenging environments.

Native integration with all Microsoft applications, including Exchange, SQL Server and Sharepoint are standard features.

RecoveryShield is easy to use, reliable, scalable and secure.

We’re a UK company, and we’re passionate about disaster recovery, data backup and archiving.

Thinking SAFE also offers encrypted cloud storage and monitoring services, in case you want to outsource your data protection requirements.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0870 0853 200 Fax: 0870 0849 170 E-mail: info@thinkingsafe.com Web: www.thinkingsafe.com

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

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SERVICE MANAGEMENT

GETTING THE RIGHT SUPPORT Now in its 17th year, the Service Desk and IT Support Show is where the IT service management industry converges to see the latest technology and business services Software, Axios, and Avocent are on hand to demonstrate and discuss the latest thinking and technologies on a one-to-one basis.

KEYNOTE HIGHLIGHTS On Tuesday 27 April at 10.45 – 11.45 am, Ken Goff, principal lecturer at KGM will take a session entitled ‘the Power of Problem Management’ which will explore why problem management should be an essential component of the corporate culture.

At 12.15pm – 1.30pm on the Tuesday there will be a panel discussion entitled ‘10 Killer Metrics – What are they and why?’ which will see experienced practitioners bring their own take on the most important topics facing service desk directors and managers, chaired by Howard Kendall, SDI founder.

Corporate demand for increased agility, lower operating costs and competitive advantage is greater than ever. Ovum’s Stephen Mann will discuss the improvement opportunities available through a session entitled ‘Work Smarter Not Harder! Practical Solutions for the IT Service Desk’ on Wednesday 28 April at 10.45 – 11.45.

AT A TIME WHEN INTEREST IN IT excellence and its value to the business is accelerating, thousands of visitors are expected to pour into Earls Court on 27 and 28 April as the focal point of the service management calendar, the Service Desk & IT Support Show, gets underway.

The extensive exhibition and programme offered at the event all share the same goal – how to deliver efficient, cost-effective service while embracing the explosion of interest for emerging technologies. Key issues around controlling costs, managing staff, and improving service and user confidence will also be explored in detail.

Once the preserve of the service management specialist, the process-led ethos of the industry is attracting greater interest as businesses expand their IT usage. Reflecting the cross-over into the wider business world, the Service Desk and IT Support Show is co-located with Infosecurity, billed as Europe’s largest event dedicated to IT security.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME The educational programme promises to be the best yet, with over 100 sessions presented by blue chip companies including Intel, Comet and Danone, and featuring keynote presentations from Stephen Mann of Ovum and Ken Goff of SDI.

As well as the popular breakfast briefings, new for 2010 is the Simulation Zone that guides participants through real-life scenarios to teach the principles of ITIL and service management. Alongside, the Service Desk Institute is hosting The SDI Zone where you can meet some of ITSM’s leading independent specialists to discuss your people issues and your own management strategies. Meanwhile Hot Topic Roundtables will dissect issues such as implementing a service catalogue and motivating staff through difficult times.

INFORMATIVE BRIEFINGS Breakfast Briefings start each day with Hornbill and SDI launching a new White Paper on Tuesday – ‘Mind the Gap’. This will uncover the scale of the gap between the services delivered by the service desk and those the business really needs. Wednesday’s briefing will debate the findings of the latest service-provider and end-user research on making the RITE decisions, with an expert panel chaired by Vance Brown, President & CEO of Cherwell Software.

Keynotes and panel discussions follow throughout the day with seminar streams focusing on ITIL, service management processes, technology and people running alongside.

On the exhibition floor, leading companies in the sector including Citrix Online, EMC, Hornbill Systems, Pink Elephant, Sunrise

SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS On Tuesday 27 April at 10.30am – 11.15am, Virgin Atlantic will discuss their service improvement programme (SIP). The seminar is entitled A New Era in IT Service Delivery and will be taken by Lara Osgood, SIP Programme Manager and Carl Chambers, IT Service Design and Development Manager, Virgin Atlantic.

On Tuesday 27 April at 1.30pm – 2.15pm, Nicki Burton, assistant director of ICT at Tamworth Borough Council will illustrate how the council’s implementation of ISO 15000 and ISO 20000 has set the pace for local government service management.

On Wednesday 28th at 11.15, Paul Gibbons, technology support manager at BBC Monitoring, will discuss the company’s ITIL implementation through a seminar entitled Power to the People.

On Tuesday 10.30, Rob Gwatkins, IS service desk manager at Comet plc explains how best to introduce ITIL to the general business and improve an organisation’s IT reputation with a session called ‘Don’t call it ITIL! Comet Shines with ‘Common Sense’.

On Wednesday 28th April at 1.15pm – 2.00pm John Fahey, training consultant from STI explains how to assess staleness levels within the service desk and offer strategies to prevent this through a seminar entitled Staleness in Service Desk Staff – How to Spot it and Avoid it.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Web: www.servicedeskshow.com

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

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SERVICE MANAGEMENT

DOING MORE WITH THE SAME OR LESS Marval’s integrated approach to IT service management has been adopted by local and central government departments around the world AS A BOTTOM LINE, ORGANISATIONS invest in information technology to deliver IT business services, faster, more efficiently and at a lower cost, if they can’t do it, someone else will.

To survive, today’s internal ICT department needs to refocus, re-align and act as an ‘internal outsourcer’, be more accountable, demonstrate value and show what a really great job they do. It also needs to change the traditional reactive culture to a proactive culture.

The reality is that many ICT departments already do this and are adapting quickly but are not able to provide the evidence.

What is required is a combination of the right people, underpinned by practical and pragmatic process with reliable and flexible IT Service Management (ITSM) technology.

ITSM represents a significant percentage of IT spend, the delivery of an accountable and cost effective service can no longer be treated as a luxury but as a survival strategy.

Integral to this strategy is development of people, introduction of formalised processes and implementation of technology – specifically integrated ITSM software.

RELIABLE IT Marval’s service management software, MSM, ensures a reliable IT and service infrastructure, increased productivity and adaptability in service provision.

Since its inception in 1989 Marval has delivered the most advanced, feature rich and process based integrated ITSM software on the market, backed by high quality support and ITSM consultancy and educational services designed to improve quality of service, productivity, customer experience and reduce costs. These include product, ITIL and soft skills training, problem solving and culture change.

Purchasing or upgrading your ITSM software, service desk or helpdesk software is a strategic decision that should not be taken lightly. It is a decision which should only be made after clearly identifying your current and future service and support needs. Making the right choices of both tool and supplier are critical components to delivering a first class service.

Choosing the right supplier and product can be a difficult and often confusing activity given the choices currently available.

A number of key considerations should form part of your selection process: • Marval delivers more than just a software tool; it has a proven track record and reputation for delivering successful solutions and service improvement projects, with Marval customers winning nine service

improvement project of the year awards • Marval’s products can support your ambitions to adopt industry best practice and standards to deliver a first class service (ITIL® ISO/IEC20000. ISO27000) • Marval promotes a genuine supplier relationship, with a track record of sustaining long and productive relationship with customers • Marval’s software solution ensures IT governance, compliance and accountability is maintained • Marval practices what it preaches. It is accredited against the worldwide standard for ITSM (ISO/IEC 20000) • By choosing Marval as your supplier you will be dealing with an organisation that is an active ITSM practitioner and a respected and acknowledged industry innovator • Marval provides you with a ‘one stop shop’ for your product training, consultancy and technology • Marval understand what it takes to become a world-class service team So why choose MSM – Marval’s ITSM and Service Desk Software Solution?

MSM has been successfully implemented and relied on worldwide by organisations across many sectors including local and central government, emergency services and healthcare. It is used for internal and external support and by providers of outsourced and managed services.

INTEGRATED SERVICE MANAGEMENT MSM provides you with everything you need for a fully integrated service management solution that can be used by your whole organisation. It is fast, flexible, easy to use and deploy, and puts you in total control of all your IT and related business activities by providing you with extensive, accurate and up-to-the-minute management information for making informed decisions.

It makes your staff more productive and your processes easier to manage, ultimately saving you time and money. It keeps your customers informed and satisfied, and demonstrates what a great ‘value for money’ service your IT service and support staff deliver.

Marval Software solutions are designed to meet changing market requirements and reflect advances in technology. As a result, Marval’s product portfolio has developed into two distinct options; MSM Client Server Solution (with web functionality) and MSM 100 per cent Web Based Solution, offering a real choice with products designed to meet an organisation’s current and future needs, ITSM

maturity, budget and operational preference.

MSM provides the ultimate combination of ITSM process automation, continual service improvement, functionality and flexibility, delivering a comprehensive ISO/IEC 20000 and ITIL v3-compatible solution out-of-thebox. Valuable staff resources and time do not have to be spent tailoring or building a solution; it is all there, ready to be switched on. From day one, your team is productive, focusing on improving the service delivered to the organisation and its customers. Entry-level systems can be fully operational within a day.

TRUST THE EXPERTS Marval is an acknowledged expert in the ITSM arena; it is co-author of ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000 and actively promotes business awareness of industry best practice and providing costeffective and high-quality ITSM consultancy and educational services. Knowledge transfer is guaranteed, which will ensure your business receives real benefits from Marval’s services.

If you want to deliver a first class and more accountable service, demonstrate what a great job you do, deliver and manage your IT infrastructure and services faster, more efficiently and at lower cost, do more with the same or less, contact Marval today to find out more.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0)1536 711999 E-mail: info@marval-group.com Web: marval-group.com

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

SERVICE MANAGEMENT

COUNCIL RECOGNISES THE VALUE OF IT SERVICE Consistent efficiency gains as ISO/IEC 20000 becomes ‘business as usual’ TAMWORTH BOROUGH COUNCIL’S ICT department has built up an enviable track record over the last few years. Showing increased savings year on year, not least through a conservative approach to headcount, the department has nevertheless managed to significantly increase its performance.

Behind this success lies the energy that the team, and assistant director of ICT Nicki Burton, have invested into shaping some very effective working processes, supported

by Sunrise Software’s web based IT service management platform Sostenuto.

The fully centralised service desk provides support for 450 staff across headquarters and eighteen remote sites, as well as 30 elected members working from their homes. As one of the early BS 15000 accredited organisations, the Council has now converted its accreditation to the more recent ISO/IEC 20000 standard.

FROM BS 15000 TO ISO/IEC 20000 Tamworth Borough Council became BS 15000 accredited in 2004. “After attending an awareness day, this felt like the right standard for us,” says Nicki. “Its benefits seemed to outweigh those of others

SOSTENUTO Following a procurement process involving the evaluation of different ITSM software solutions, based on ISO/IEC 20000 criteria, Tamworth selected Sostenuto in 2008.

“After carrying out some site visits, talking to partner councils, and seeing various demonstrations, it became apparent that of the products evaluated, Sostenuto was the most cost effective and provided our specified functionality,” says Nicki.

“Good change management capabilities were important for us and I have to say, this was one of Sostenuto’s strong points. Being ITIL aligned, Sostenuto enables us to track a full incident lifecycle as well as deliver a significantly more effective change management service.

It has provided us with an ideal platform to meet our ISO 20000 obligations.”

Risk Assessment is also an area that the standard puts a lot of emphasis on, and Tamworth has configured the change management module to capture risk-related information as well.

“This way we can understand service and functionality impact as part of the overall assessment of the change,” adds Nicki. “This

The relationship we have with Sunrise feels more like a partnership than a client/supplier dynamic. They have always responded to our feedback 100 per cent, and gone out of their way to support us in our ISO/IEC 20000 undertaking such as ISO 9000 and Charter Mark.”

After carrying out a gap analysis to determine what would be required, and basing a new strategic direction on these findings, the Project Team invited BSI (the national standards body) to visit the Council for an initial assessment. The entire assessment process took three months.

More recently, following an 18 month migration period, Tamworth has achieved accreditation for ISO/IEC 20000, which has superseded the BS 15000 standard.

Nicki and her team have opted for sixmonthly visits from BSI, which helps keep them closely aligned with the standard’s requirements. “At their last visit,” says Nicki, “the BSI inspectors commented that the ISO/IEC 20000 standard had truly become ‘business as usual’.

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allows decisions to be made more effectively during Change Advisory Board meetings.”

Tamworth has also set up Sostenuto to underpin its ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation for information security. This allows for security incidents to be logged and reported on.

Nicki has allocated resources to manage the development of Sostenuto in line with evolving requirements. “The system now looks completely different from the way it looked when we started out,” says Nicki.

“This is testament to the software’s flexibility and configuration-friendly architecture.”

NEW PROCESSES As a relatively small team, Tamworth ICT took a down to earth approach to the standard, as Nicki explains: “We began by looking at how existing processes fit BS 15000 at

the time, and any new processes had to demonstrate appropriateness. Being a small team, we have grouped together some of the functions defined in the standard to make it fit with our existing structure.”

“We used to be good at logging calls but not so good at closing them and informing users,” says Nicki. “Now our approach is a lot more proactive and we work to agreed response times. For example, we are able to see the ten top calls thanks to our reports, and if any of these are training related, such as “how to set up tables in word” for example, then we

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

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SERVICE MANAGEMENT

ABOUT SUNRISE SOFTWARE You may be considering an ITIL compatible solution, which will allow you to manage your service desk more proactively. Or you may be looking to introduce comprehensive reports, which will provide you with all the information you need to help you both increase the quality of your service and deliver substantial cost efficiencies.

The chances are you would prefer to work with a vendor who is well established, with a brilliant track record of delivering successful ITSM projects in the public sector.

Founded in 1994, Sunrise Software is a leading independent provider of Service Management solutions for internal and external facing IT service operations.

Our customer base includes over 1,000 blue chip and public sector organisations,

including names such as The Arts Council, the NHS, Müller, CSE Global, Kingston Borough Council, Craven District Council, and Selby District Council.

Sunrise is widely recognised for excellent service, and product innovation is fundamental to our longterm vision. Consistently in the top two service desk software suppliers to local government for the past five years (source: SOCITM Software Index), Sunrise work in partnership with you to make sure that your project is a resounding success.

Our award winning web based IT service management platform, Sostenuto, can be adopted as part of a phased project, providing a cost effective starting point, with the potential to be extended when you are ready.

organise resolutions which can include self-help documentation or sign-posts to training.”

Communication with internal customers has improved massively, thanks to regular awareness training sessions and service reviews. “We operate pilot groups which enables us to test new initiatives and encourage feedback to ensure things are right before corporate roll-out,” says Nicki.

“We also set up regular meetings with suppliers, in order to review their performance,” Nicki continues “Thanks to the reports on third party incidents produced in Sostenuto, we are able to manage service issues. This way we make sure we are getting the best possible value for the council.”

RESULTS The Council has submitted its ICT function to benchmarking through the years, through the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM), and more recently through the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). It also gauges its performance using online user surveys and random sampling by the service desk, which has shown excellent results.

As well as happier customers, Tamworth ICT has achieved year on year savings, thanks to better supplier management, and the negotiation of contracts based on performance.

These outstanding results published to the management team and elected members via a performance dashboard, have provided a huge boost to the department’s profile.

THE FUTURE Nicki and her team are planning to continue building on Sostenuto. “The relationship we have with Sunrise feels more like a partnership than a client/supplier dynamic,” says Nicki.

“They have always responded to our feedback 100 per cent, and gone out of their way to support us in our ISO/IEC 20000 undertaking.”

The team is currently piloting self service interface Chameleon and incorporating software asset management with ISO/IEC 20000. Both initiatives will bolster its continued drive for better performance and bigger efficiencies.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 020 8391 9000 E-mail: enquiries@sunrisesoftware.co.uk Alternatively visit www.sunrisesoftware.co.uk, or follow us on Twitter @sunrisesoftware

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Supportworks ITSM puts people at the core of ITIL “We now have an excellent service desk that can use the ITIL best practice framework pragmatically and which is supported by a proven system. It is pivotal to improving the IT customer service delivery desired by Rushmoor Borough Council.”

Nick Harding, Head of IT Services, Rushmoor Borough Council

Service Management with The Human Touch Supportworks ITSM puts the customer at the heart of ITIL adoption, so people can implement processes to improve service quality in line with the way the business wants to work.

Join Hornbill on stand 300 for your chance to win a Sony HD Snap Camera - bloggie™

27 - 28 APRIL 2010 EARLS COURT, LONDON

Tel: +44 (0) 208 582 8222

Fax: +44 (0) 208 582 8288

Email: sales@hornbill.com

Web: www.hornbill.com

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SERVICE MANAGEMENT

SHARED SERVICES AND BEST PRACTICE: THE KEY TO EFFICIENCY? Patrick Bolger, chief marketing officer of Hornbill, examines the future of IT service delivery in the public sector

IN THE LAST DECADE, STRATEGIC initiatives like e-Government and the Gershon Efficiency Review set a progressive agenda for technology in government, with the mission of “ensuring that IT supports the business transformation of government itself so that we can provide better, more efficient, public services.”

PROMOTING BEST PRACTICE One of the six principles of e-Government was a commitment to “promote global best practice”, which fuelled the adoption of frameworks such as ITIL and the ISO/IEC 20000 standard. While central government was relatively well versed in IT Service Management (ITSM) frameworks, it took a little longer for other areas of the public sector to embrace best practice. Today, an ever-increasing number of services are being made available online and with IT being placed directly in the public view, ITIL is now widely adopted by all areas of the public sector to manage service delivery and improvement.

COPING WITH TOUGH TIMES Following Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report in Dec 2009, economists stated that “Whitehall departments’ budgets will be reduced by almost a fifth after the next election – a reduction of almost £36 billion over three years.”

In its study ‘Operational Efficiency Program,’ HM Treasury said: “Back office operations and IT, led by Martin Read, recommends better management information, benchmarking and review of costs, and

better governance of IT-enabled change programmes to achieve £4 billion of savings a year on back office operations, and £3.2 billion of savings a year on IT spending.”

It will no doubt be challenging to find such huge savings, particularly when the demand for services in the public sector is increasing and service levels are expected to be maintained and improved. Organisations are looking at innovative ways to maintain service levels and IT service management tools have a critical role to play in delivering efficiencies. Shared Services and ITIL adoption, both separately and combined, can help to drive service efficiency in a number of ways.

Annual surveys by the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm) show that since 2005, Hornbill has consistently been the fastest growing IT service management software vendor to local authorities, with more than twice as many customers acquired in the sector than our closest competitors. In compiling this article I sought feedback from our customers in separate areas of the public sector and asked whether their investment in ITSM would enable them to cope with reduced budgets Central and local government anticipate a fairly significant reduction in IT spending, but many believe that they will not feel the impact during 2010, as budgets have already been agreed. These organisations believe that continued investment in best practice this year will enable them to cope with the inevitable reality of having to achieve more with less during the next four to five years.

ITIL adoption: Plymouth City Council has gone live with seven ITIL disciplines and is introducing improvements to existing and new processes using elements of both ITIL v2 and v3 with Hornbill’s Supportworks ITSM. Disciplines already deployed include Incident, Change, Configuration, Problem, Request Fulfilment, Access Management and Service Level Management. The ICT Service Delivery Team is currently working on Release, Event and Knowledge Management.

“Plymouth City Council is committed to using the ITIL framework. It helps us improve service efficiency, improve system availability, allow prioritisation of services, and ensure better quality assurance,” explains Mel Gwynn, operational service delivery manager at Plymouth City Council. “This enables the Council to save money while better serving citizens. Supportworks ITSM has enabled us to implement ITIL in a phased manner.”

Shared services: Customer Service Direct (CSD) is a public-private partnership between BT, Suffolk County Council and Mid Suffolk District Council. The organisation provides a collaborative infrastructure that can support the councils and the services that they provide to the public.

The shared services model drives efficiencies by uniting resources and expertise. The organisation provides central HR and ICT support functions based on ITIL best practice to the members of the partnership, in a more cost efficient way. At the heart of the support services is a centralised IT desk that uses Hornbill’s Supportworks Enterprise Support Platform (ESP) to support over 6,000 PCs used by employees and an HR support desk supporting over 30,000 local authority staff and a further 40,000 ex-council staff. This model enables the partners to deliver service at a consistently high performance, while also managing costs.

INNOVATIVE USE OF ITSM Despite the bleak projections for IT spending, Hornbill anticipates continued demand for technology that enables public sector organisations to operate more efficiently. The examples above demonstrate that innovative use of service management tools creates efficiencies that enable budget stricken service departments to manage through an economic downturn.

FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information on the benefits of best practice service management and shared services on a single technology platform, visit www.hornbill.com/gov

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Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

Enterprise asset management and asset tracking

Mobile device management and security from Condico

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ONDICO SPECIALISES in mobile device management solutions and services for Government and NGO, including: • In field maintenance • Remote control • Application upload and configuration • Encryption • Tracking • Menu lock down • Remote lock and wipe • Supply of ruggedized devices Ensuring front line staff are properly cared for and can

address any asset management and tracking requirement including, maintenance, equipment, facilities, fleet, ppe and service management.

The systems support modules include resource management and planning, cost control and budgets, stock control and purchasing, sales processing and invoicing. User interfaces are available via any network, intranet or the internet configured to the customer’s requirements. Options include modules for incident and claims management, training management and health and safety records.

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with industry standards. Miquest is fully scalable and will operate from a single to multi-site, multi user total enterprise operation.

The system is widely used by the emergency services and other government bodies, as well as in industry and commerce. Other software applications include an Incident Cordon Management (CoCon) system which tracks all personnel in the designated risk area at an incident, hydrant asset management and audio detection and GPS/GIS identification.

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Epix – your specialist software partner PIX SYSTEMS LIMITED, your specialist software partner, offers a complete software solution that can cut your costs, maximise your performance and improve your profits. In the service management world, efficient control across your entire operation is key to delivering effective service.

That is why Epix have developed a complete and comprehensive software package which provides full visibility. Some of the modules Epix can provide are: Fault reporting – includes call logging, asset summary, fault finding, intelligent diagnosis and real time appointment booking; Real time job control – includes dashboard KPIs, customisable display, action lists, responsive repairs, scheduled maintenance, planned works and scheme work elements; Workforce management –

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includes appointment booking, holiday booking, graphical calenders, real-time view of resources including geographic star rating; Field force PDA – includes real time data capture, electronic surveys, signature capture, work done, stock usage and local data store to allow working in areas of no reception; Procurement – includes links to job control, individual supplier price lists, goods receipting, integration to accounting systems.

Epix can also provide consultancy, bespoke development and links to existing internal and external systems.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0161 477 2343 Fax: 0161 477 5343 E-mail: gtm@epixsystems.co.uk Web: www.epixsystems.co.uk

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provide more time in the field, thereby increasing service levels whilst reducing dead-time.

Condico provides strategic consultancy, directly or through industry partners. From concept through trial to deployment, Condico provides all parts of the mobile solution through to handover to internal or outsourced support teams.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0208 144 6550 E-mail: info@condicomobile.com Web: www.condicomobile.com

Data collection solutions from Honeywell ONEYWELL SCANNING & Mobility is a leading manufacturer of high-performance image-and laser-based data collection hardware, including rugged mobile computers and bar code scanners.

Our product portfolio is one of the broadest in the Automatic Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) industry, providing you with solutions for applications such as asset and document tracking, healthcare, postal, tracking and tracing, and warehousing.

We complement our innovative products with advanced software, service and professional solutions that enable customers to effectively manage data and assets. Honeywell products are sold worldwide through a network of distributor and reseller partners.

Honeywell’s scanning and mobility solutions are designed to help increase productivity. The

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combined product range from hand held products and metrologic can fulfil virtually any customer need. Our innovative barcode scanners and rugged mobile computers deliver solutions to your needs that are designed to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Honeywell International is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. The headquarters are located in Morris Township, N.J., USA.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0)1256 722-20-0 Fax: +44 (0)1256 722-20-1 E-mail: DLhiminfoCE@ honeywell.com Web: www.honeywellaidc.com

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SERVICE MANAGEMENT

AGILE OR ITIL? What’s the right approach to IT service management, asks Megan Pendlebury, head of service management at itSMF UK A LIFECYCLE APPROACH TO BUSINESS considers all aspects from strategising through to day-to-day running of operations. The ITIL V3 Lifecycle model is recognised within service management, but in fact this type of model has been used for many years throughout the rest of the business. In the past IT focus has existed in silos, with the application development and project teams completing their work and then handing over to the service management teams for support with the applications going forward. This often resulted in the more complicated incidents and problems being passed back to the application development teams to resolve as they were the ones with a true understanding of how it worked.

Due to the need for increased efficiencies in terms of saving money and also customer patience, this model will simply not work anymore; there is an absolute need for the development teams and the service management teams to work together. An obvious step perhaps, but surprisingly over the last few years, discussions have taken place about which process was the best to take forward and use across the entire IT department – Agile or ITIL. Yet if you look at the basic fundamentals of both ITIL and Agile they are in fact complementary, both in the way they are used and the principles on which they were built.

SIMILARITIES Agile and ITIL both recognise that the people carrying out the tasks are key to the success.

Agile sees that technical and organisational success needs to be matched with a feeling of personal success, ensuring that staff remain motivated and focussed. ITIL considers the people as service assets both as organisational capabilities and resources, meaning that the service cannot run successfully without them.

Value is key to both frameworks. ITIL values relationships and partnerships over less flexible contracts and highly bureaucratic following of rules; even within an outsourced (and so contracted) service the concept of an SLA allows for this level of working together. The agreement between the customers and the service provider to ensure the services delivered to the business are fit for use (warranty) and purpose (utility). It is by both utility and warranty being considered and worked towards that value can be delivered to the customers.

Agile is built around a manifesto which is based on some basic principles; one of these principles focuses on customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

ITIL and Agile also both agree that requirements and needs will change throughout

itSMF UK CONFERENCE If you are interested in the delivery and support of IT services and the essential concepts behind service management you should be attending this year’s itSMF UK Conference.

Now in its 19th year of providing presentations, workshops, training, vast networking opportunities, and the best collection of ITSM suppliers of toolsets, training and consultancy under one roof, the conference is most definitely the best value ITSM consultancy you can obtain. Whether you are a beginner or highly experienced, itSMF UK guarantee you will gain insight, best practice, knowledge and contacts which in turn will cut cost, improve performance and increase efficiencies throughout your IT infrastructure.

Ben Clacy, head of business development at itSMF UK said: “This year there is a real buzz about the conference as we embrace change and inject quality and variety, this year we promise to

deliver even more business benefit.

Our programme is already beginning to take shape and despite the last two years being tough for companies and particularly IT departments, we have already had a high level of interest from potential delegates and exhibitors. We urge people to book early this year, not only to get the best booking rate but also to ensure you do not miss out on our fantastic event, as spaces are limited.”

The itSMF UK Conference takes place on 8-9 November at the Novotel London West.

To find out more about the programme, delegate information, etc, please visit www.itsmf.co.uk/conference2010.

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

SERVICE MANAGEMENT

the lifecycle of an application or service; both have processes built in to handle change rather than stopping it from happening. To manage change in a controlled way allows flexibility without allowing the scope to creep outside of project tolerances. These two examples, value and control, are just two of many principles where the approaches can be seen to have similar goals.

BECOMING AGILE Agile development was put together based on the idea that small, highly motivated teams could carry out all the steps of development (define, design, develop, test and deliver) in a rapid way, meaning that all the stages are carried out in one go rather than having stringent sign off gates between each stage.

In ITIL terms, rather than carry out a big bang approach to implementing the processes all

in one go, an Agile implementation project team would work closely with the customers to ensure an understanding of the goals, and would then use an iterative, not over-engineered process to implement what was needed.

By using a traditional approach much more time has passed before the customers themselves are able to appreciate any value (the value is only seen in the Operate phase of any lifecycle) whereas when using the Agile approach value is delivered periodically.

The iterative approach could be aligned to a maturity scale or CMMI. You may be starting from a maturity level of 0 or the ‘hero culture’, but then you would move through the levels until you have a fully matured and improved service. To use an example to illustrate this we could look at implementing change management. The first stage may be to write the processes down and implement the

infrastructure needed to run the process. The second phase may see the controls being put in place, and the third would be about improving what was there. At each stage there has been a strategy, design and a transition through to operating the change management process.

The Agile approach lends itself to using virtualised models to allow for quick implementation and expansion rather than installing infrastructure for each implementation. Many organisations are moving towards a virtualised model for both cost savings and environmental reasons, but are not necessarily embracing the fact that it allows them to redesign their approach to development and other projects. An Agile IT department is additionally likely to utilise technologies for self-service, allowing the user base to not only log their own requests and incidents but also to manage the process themselves. The users managing these processes themselves for the more common requests or incidents, leads to the IT staff being able to concentrate on development or troubleshooting the less frequent or complex issues. This should help to increase staff morale and hence increase the feeling of personal success which Agile strives to achieve.

In summary, an IT department working in silos can take longer to fix incidents and problems, can suffer from over-engineered projects that are poorly implemented, and then cause frustration within the IT service management team. Alongside this, rigidity around processes can lead to poor IT performance and ultimately poor customer service to the business. An Agile IT department focuses on the customer needs and satisfaction, is flexible, delivers value in a shorter time period, has a happier staff base and can also save money and be more environmentally friendly. From a CIO and from an individual within the team’s point of view, it’s clear which of these two models is far more likely to be the most effective.

TABS FM – facilities and service systems ABS FM REPRESENTS a mature, user focused approach to Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) software. Our flexible portfolio of modules, web extensions, mobile systems (with ‘Push-to-Talk’ technology) and additional services, ensure that we offer effective management and communication software solutions for a diverse range of clients.

With over 17 years experience and collaboration in this rapidly developing field, our industry knowledge ensures the provision of a complete software solution for both internal facilities/estates management and also for commercial providers of FM services to multiple clients.

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With an intelligent system architecture, Tabs flexible modular design utilises state of the art Microsoft technology to support deployment as either a PC based/Citrix or web-based application. Companies like Microsoft are promoting the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS) and this hosted

approach may suit many clients, viewing their system as a revenue rather than a CAPEX item.

Time, performance and efficiency are key drivers for our clients and the advanced development of our mobile solutions helps them keep on track with increasingly demanding targets. Our recent inclusion of Push-to-Talk and tracking technology further enhances our product to improve communication and reduce costs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0844 556 0488 Fax: 0844 556 0489 E-mail: sales@tabsfm.com Web: www.tabsfm.com

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

A SENSE OF PLACE Effective use of geographic information can make a tremendous contribution to the delivery of public services and now plays a substantial role in public policy, finds Chris Holcroft, director of the Association of Geographic Information

Image courtesy of the Ordinance Survey © Crown Copyright 2010 MOST OF US NEVER think of geography or ourselves as ‘geographers’, but the question “where?” is always present in managing and interacting operational data in the public and private sector.

‘Location’ or ‘place’ really does matter.

When you think about it, virtually no piece of business or public sector information exists without a position locating it to a place on the world’s surface, be this a house, a business premise, a telegraph pole, a man-hole cover, a path, a parliamentary constituency, a railway line, the position of an ambulance and so on.

Over recent decades, as information has become digitally encoded and stored, its positional importance, compounded with the need for better integrated management processes has fuelled the rise of computerbased Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Geographic Information (GI).

The public sector was an early adopter of this technology and information, but to date this has been fragmented and has not attained its true potential.

A VALUABLE MARKET Today, the value of sales and services in the UK Geographic Information market is estimated to be between £650M and £900M per annum depending on the source. That said the ‘valueadd’ is significant. Ordnance Survey data, for example, has been claimed to underpin £100Bn of British economic activity. Today,

very few branches of industry and public administration are not touched by GI and GIS somewhere and its importance is growing.

Effective use of GI and GIS can make a tremendous contribution to the delivery of private and public services and is central to effective administration. Baroness Andrews, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, CLG, articulated this point in the UK Location Strategy1 which was published in November 2008: “Good maps and location intelligence can help determine how quickly our ambulances turn up, where a policeman patrols, how we act in a national emergency. Knowing more about where we live can help us make the best decisions. But across the country there is still too little sharing of the best practice and we are wasting time and money trying to find the information we need.

The Location Strategy will ensure we make better use of information already held so we can use it faster and with less expense.”

THE UK LOCATION STRATEGY The UK Location Strategy placed GI and GIS squarely within government policy and made it a vehicle to deliver not only better public services through better data discovery and sharing but also to deliver the mandatory EU INSPIRE Directive which had emerged over recent years. Since then we’ve seen the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in late 2009 make some profound ‘making public data public’

announcements concerning the supply of certain Ordnance Survey data free-at-thepoint-of-use to help make government more transparent, empower the citizen, foster innovation and grow the digital economy.

In the public sector, the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) reported in 2006 that there are thousands of public sector information (PSI) holders in the UK; in local authorities, emergency services, trading funds, and central government departments. Most of this PSI is geographically referenced.

The challenge remains that a lot of geographical information is still often held in silos, often duplicated and not easily shared by public bodies for the purpose of better governance.

The UK Location Strategy, through its executive body the UK Location Council, plans to deal with many of the obstacles to maximise the use of geographic information for the benefit of the nation.

It will do this in part by building a national ‘metadata service’ infrastructure that will allow public and private sector users to search and locate geographical information to exploit and share. It will also allow, and indeed expect, users to publish information about their own geographic information (metadata) holdings too for the benefit of others. This can help break down walls. It has the potential to usher in a new era of better data sharing, cost savings and assist more effective decision making. These are highly pertinent benefits at this time of financial constraint in the national economy.

INSPIRE – THE EU DIMENSION INSPIRE is short for Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community.

It seeks to create a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). In other words, a uniform way to identify, classify, store and share geographic/location information across public bodies. SDI creation is now a global phenomenon and considered central to enabling 21st century policy making. Outside the EU much success in this area is being recorded in North America, China, Japan, Korea and Australia.

The initial catalyst for creating a spatial information infrastructure in Europe was environmental. Environmental impacts do not respect borders. Flooding, coastal erosion, extreme storms, pollution and others can impact many nations concurrently and mitigating those needs joined-up up thinking and thus joined-up systems. INSPIRE plans to be better able to formulate, implement and monitor environmental policies, bearing in mind these

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Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

Moving mapping apps to ‘the cloud’

ICT efficiency savings with Salford GIS

T THE HEART OF THE government’s ICT strategy is the creation of a common, secure and flexible infrastructure called ‘The Government Cloud’ (G-Cloud) and an ongoing commitment to shared services. eSpatial delivers Web GIS (Geographical Information Systems) running ‘in the cloud’ through software as a service. eSpatial’s Web GIS for the public sector is a highly configurable, off-the-shelf software suite tailored to the needs of local government organisations.

Government departments understand the value of spatial intelligence in decision-making processes, and that it is fundamental to the operation of local government and delivery of services to the public.

A corporate approach is needed for both data and applications in order to target better services, improve

ALFORD GIS IS A totally independent geographic information systems consultancy specialising in the public sector.

Our reputation has been built through repeat business and ‘word of mouth’ recommendations, and a focus on business need.

As budgets come under continued pressure it is important for organisations to maximise the value and benefits delivered through technologies such as GIS. Hence we offer a number of services to help achieve this goal: GIS Lifebelt is a support service for MapInfo and ArcGIS users, offering a choice of hotline support and/or access to a library of online video tutorials enabling more effective use of these applications. Prices start at just £750 per annum for up to 50 users. More information can be found at www.gislifebelt.co.uk.

GIS Health Check is a packaged consultancy service that takes a fresh and independent look at how and where GIS is being used across an organisation. Following

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customer satisfaction, increase productivity and enhance reporting and cross functional transparency.

With eSpatial’s Web GIS customers deliver a truly corporate approach for the delivery, analysis and management of valuable information. We help to answer questions, solve problems and plan ahead by looking at data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared as digital maps.

This solution addresses the government’s Directive of Shared Services, the move to cloud computing in order to save money and improves operational efficiencies.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact: Matt Tuohy, UK Sales Tel: +44 1234 721888 Fax: +353 1 870 8899 E-mail: mtuohy@espatial.com Web: www.espatial.com

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a few days on-site auditing and fact-finding we would present a Health Report setting out areas where we believe savings could be made, workflows could be improved, and opportunities could be maximised. More information can be found at www.salfordgis.co.uk/consultancy.php.

GIS Outsourcing – this might suit organisations with a recruitment freeze who need regular scheduled on-site assistance to support their GIS users, or those just needing a little extra help with one-off projects. Our team of experienced GIS technicians will be quick to understand your needs, get the job done and deliver in your chosen format.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0161 278 2440 Fax: 0161 278 2441 E-mail: info@salford-gis.co.uk Web: www.salford-gis.co.uk

UNI__GIS Study for a postgraduate qualification in GIS by distance learning With almost 20 years of experience presenting distance learning courses to professional standards, UNIGIS offers you access to the premier international network of Universities in GIS education.

Our courses meet the learning needs of busy professionals, or those seeking to enter the GIS industry. We support you with personal tutors, on-line help and optional residential workshops. Our courses are assessed by coursework - there are no examinations.

WE ALSO OFFER: • Flexible entry requirements • Specialist pathways in GIS, GI Science, GIS & Management and GIS & Environment • Course modules supported by key textbooks, software and on-line resources • Flexible study options - full distance learning or distance learning plus residential workshops • No examinations - full continuous assessment, plus credit for prior learning or experience • Networking with an international community of GIS professionals

Find out why the UNIGIS postgraduate courses are so successful: call +44 161 247 1581, fax. +44 161 247 6344, email unigis@mmu.ac.uk, or visit our web site at http://www.unigis.org/uk

Educating GIS Professionals Worldwide

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www.unigis.org/uk

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

massive cross border environmental impacts and the changing climate. The environment remains at the heart of the directive, but environmental factors cross into so many other policy areas it will be used more widely.

INSPIRE is a European legislative instrument to which all EU member nations are bound.

It has the following salient aspects: • INSPIRE lays down a general framework for a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of community environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.

• INSPIRE is based on an infrastructure for spatial information established and operated by the member states.

• INSPIRE does not require collection of new spatial data.

• INSPIRE does not affect existing Intellectual property rights.

• INSPIRE is in transposition phase and will be fully implemented by 2019.

• Data interoperability and data sharing are prime objectives.

• Future UK GI/Location Strategy will have to meet the needs of INSPIRE. • INSPIRE is most relevant to the public sector.

INSPIRE exerts a top-down influence on UK public policy and geographic information, be it strategy, data sharing and address infrastructure. It will be a major part of the UK Location Programme.

Much progress has already been realised with the UK highly influential in the detailed process planning and implementation processes. Significantly the INSPIRE Directive was transposed into the respective laws of the United Kingdom at the end of December 2009.

The nation has now moved into a long term implementation programme for INSPIRE under the UK Location Programme and as part of the UK Location Strategy.

THE UK LOCATION PROGRAMME Like INSPIRE at the pan European level, the UK Location Programme, www.location.defra. gov.uk, a product of the UK Location Strategy, aims to provide a consistent framework to assist initiatives and service delivery through more robust geographic information across national, regional and local government.

Successful implementation of the strategy will be of great benefit to local authorities, businesses and communities through better targeted and integrated services. Significantly the strategy is not about individuals or personal information. It is about objects, their position and information about them.

Implementation involves cross-government funding and cooperation. Stakeholder interest is even wider ranging including private enterprise and the citizen. Defra is the lead department and a dedicated team within it – The UK SDI Programme Team – is conducting the mechanics for both the Location Strategy and the UK INSPIRE implementation.

The UK Location Council provides the

OS MasterMap Topographic Layer © Crown Copyright 2010 governance structure and includes members reporting to Ministers from the LGA, Defra, MOD, BERR/DECC, CLG, The Devolved Administrations, The Association for Geographic Information (AGI), NERC, ONS, Environment Agency, Ordnance Survey, Cabinet Office, Land Registry and OPSI. Two subsidiary boards additionally provide importance steers on data standards and broad stakeholder engagement.

Over the last 12 months many achievements have been made, not least in structuring and funding the project team and governing bodies, outreach and communications activity, plus the transposition of the INSPIRE Directive itself. A useful overall perspective of these recent achievements can be found in UK Location Programme first Annual Report2 which is referenced below.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCATION The Location Strategy is the most significant development in modern UK government concerning the importance of location. For the first time a coherent national framework has been identified. For the first time domestic affairs ministers have officially agreed on the importance of location for good governance.

In addition Gordon Brown has recently acknowledged the importance of geographic information within current policy drivers.

With the burgeoning of geographic devices in modern society – SatNav, Geotagging mobile phones, web-mapping and so on – plus wider use of geographic information

not just by organisations, but also the consumer, government in the first decade of the 21st century has hopefully sat up to recognise and embrace the potential.

Many other policy drivers, for example, the Operation Efficiency Programme, Data. gov.uk, the Pitt Review – following the significant flooding episodes of 2007 – and the pending Marine Bill, have geographical information at their heart. Additionally preparations by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) for the next national Census have also highlighted the vital importance of unified address infrastructure in the UK. There is an oft-repeated truism that 80 per cent of information relates to place.

All things happen somewhere. Geography, or more simply ‘where’ is fundamental to public policy and the move to common public sector frameworks to better obtain, use and share location information can only be welcomed by increasingly financially-constrained public bodies.

References: 1 Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the UK, CLG, November 2008 2 UK Location Council Annual Report 2008/9, Defra, January 2010

FOR MORE INFORMATION Web: www.agi.org.uk

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Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Improve productivity efficiency with secure wireless infrastructure

Congrego: to congregate, share, unite and collaborate

NCREASING THE mobility of your staff, inside and outside your workplace can greatly improve productivity, but it is reliant on wireless technology, which was previously expensive and insecure. Now, the latest wireless technologies, based on the advanced 802.11n standards have changed all that.

LAN2LAN has the experience and expertise to bring you fully secure wireless networks that are easily managed remotely, and deliver a rapid return on investment. A highly resilient, robust wireless platform can securely support the services and high-bandwidth applications that greatly enhance the mobility and productivity of your staff.

Today’s services such as voice and video can now be delivered reliably over WiFi with significant operational benefits being gained by mobilising staff through support for a myriad of scenarios and business applications.

Whether it’s laptop-trolleys, hotdesking, Voice-over-WiFi, guest/ public internet access, RealTime-Location-Services, bar-code scanning, or wireless bridges, there

AN2LAN HAS introduced Congrego, a new solution that takes a social networking approach to community care and disaster recovery. Congrego represents an industry first in terms of applying the principles of wellknown social networking media such as Facebook, My Space™ and Twitter™ to highly specialised community service areas in a totally secure environment.

It is designed for us by government agencies and support organisations as a way of helping people to communicate and collaborate with one another as they cope with the affects of a traumatic experience – anything from flooding, a terrorist incident, military combat, a compulsive disease or a serious long-term illness.

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are now very few organisations that would not benefit from a strategic WiFi deployment.

LAN2LAN’s N3 accreditation, the component of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT), enables us to design, supply and maintain wireless infrastructures for government agencies and departments, connecting remotely via the Public Sector Broadband Access (PSBA) infrastructure to provide remote support services.

Our specialist team at LAN2LAN has developed a well-tested methodology, which will take you effortlessly from initial planning through to final delivery. LAN2LAN has formed a strong partnership with the Aneurin Health Board by helping with the delivery of wireless and innovative services into their infrastructure estate.

NTELLIGENT SECURITY keeps your business productive without locking down your network. Simply managed, from a central point, next-generation security makes your network stronger and business easier.

The conventional view is that security is a necessary cost that eats into profitability. The reality is that a secure network allows you to deploy more productive and cost-saving applications and services, which drives competitive strength and profitability. The importance of an easy to manage secure network environment is heightened by the requirement to deliver Connecting for Health and e-government initiatives.

The ISO27001 standard adds another dimension of opportunity to a security deployment, ensuring that the

Based on secure IBM Collaborative Software, Congrego is very easy to use and can be rolled out rapidly and securely.

A number of county councils are currently participating in pilot programmes of this new solution.

FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information about Congrego visit our website www.LAN2LAN.com/congrego For more information about LAN2LAN Contact: Tony Morreale LAN2LAN Limited 5 Genesis Business Park Woking, Surrey, GU21 5RW Tel: 0870 787 4001 E-mail: tony.morreale @LAN2LAN.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION Find out how we can help you introduce wireless securely into your infrastructure by enhancing existing services, systems and applications, visit www.LAN2LAN.com/wireless

Security – open up by locking down with IS027001 Certification I

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organisation’s assets, information and reputation are not at risk, because they have not applied the right level of security controls and procedures.

LAN2LAN has been helping organisations achieve and maintain the ISO27001 certified standard since it was introduced. We know the language, the process, the pitfalls and the rewards.

It can also contribute to your disaster recovery and business continuity planning, taking into account BS25999, the British Standard for DR and BC. Talk to us about how it is achieved, quickly and with expert management and control.

FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information about intelligence security visit www.LAN2LAN.com/security

Mobility – improved working with secure business applications HE PACE OF MOBILE technology innovation is accelerating and the industry is moving beyond using smartphones just to deliver baseline access to email, voicemail and text messaging. Spurred by the demand for ubiquitous connectivity, businesses are eagerly embracing a Unified Communications (UC) model that melds mobility with a new class of collaborative applications, enabling remote, travelling and telecommuting workers to have their desktops at their fingertips – literally.

The success of your organisation depends on your people having access to the information they need whenever they want and wherever they are. To maximise the productivity of your mobile workers it’s essential that they have access to everyday critical business applications. While push services can keep them in touch with their messages there will still be times when they need to pull information from

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the back-office systems – from updated price lists to the latest project schedules or patient records. To do so, they have to be able to connect securely.

Mobile internet access provides simple connection to the office network. But given the inherently insecure nature of the internet, you need to make sure that the data transferred from your network remains confidential.

We have the know-how to deploy and optimise mobile solutions and services which will integrate with any backend systems and allow you to build critical business applications for access on the move from your mobile device.

We can ensure secure access to your company applications, whatever the platform, by delivering true mobile working with peace of mind.

FOR MORE INFORMATION To read more go to www.LAN2LAN.com/mobility

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One day event

Thursday May 20th 2010, London De Vere Holborn Bars

& Mobile Technology

Unified communications is a unique networking event that is specifically designed for companies that have up and coming IT projects. For more information contact Ark Group Events.

Expert Contributions from:

John Lynch, Systems Manager, Healthcare Purchasing Consortium Tim Pemberton, Head of communications coordination, British Red Cross Nick Mercer, Director of Business Operations, Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP Peter Birley, Director of IT and Business Operations, Browne Jacobson LLP Dillon Dhanecha, Performance Coach and Change Leader, The Change Studio Mark Briggs, Chief Information Officer, Essex County Council Dr Bill Ashraf, Director of Technology Enhanced Learning, University of Sussex Damien Behan, IT Director , Brodies LLP Researched by:

Sponsored by:

Unified Communications and Mobile Technology 2010

Explores the integration of real-time communication services such as IP telephony, video conferencing, call control, speech recognition with non real-time communication services and mobile technology.

The benefits are not only to provide a consistent unified user interface and experience but business process integration optimisation. Mobility and unified communication is going to become more and more operational putting the onus on delivering a mobile answer not a desktop answer.

Utilising legacy phone systems

Companies have legacy phone systems, but people sit in the office using their PDA’s and handheld devices, the possibility of having a GSM antenna that will sit in your building and it will grab the calls on your PDA and send them out over your phone system is becoming a reality. As most organisations will have negotiated fixed line and call rates, this can have a big impact on cost savings. Networks are going to change, there are new 21st century networks coming along with much cheaper price tags.

Video calls and travel costs

Video is coming of age. IP based video will remove the need for numerous ISDN lines, giving good quality HD video calls. With the development of good quality video calls meetings can be held on site saving travel time and costs. This will also benefit of the development of client relationships by adding the personal touch.

Register Now! Tel: +44(0) 20 7549 2500 Fax: +44(0) 20 7324 2373

Web: www.unifiedcomms2010.com Email: events@ark-group.com

Written by Jonathan Buckle, head of public sector, Avaya UK

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

FLEXIBLE WORKING

EFFICIENCY THROUGH FLEXIBILITY Many organisations are becoming more efficient with a limited set of resources thanks to flexible working FOLLOWING THE EXPECTED CHANGE of government, the widely held belief is that public sector spending is set to be further squeezed.1 This will put even more pressure on public sector organisations to deliver top quality service with fewer and fewer resources. Just as is the case in the private sector space, public sector organisations need to tighten customer service levels and ensure satisfaction; this can only be achieved through absolute staff efficiency, and the processes and systems that support them.

To maximise efficiency, workers need to be more experienced and more available, so that service to customers can be delivered quickly and effectively. However, such proficiencies are typically found only amongst a happy, loyal workforce, and the development and retention of such a group of individuals can be very challenging when budgets are tight and there is pressure to reduce costs. Organisations, therefore, need to put in place systems and technologies that will incentivise and motivate staff, whilst simultaneously boosting productivity levels and business, all without breaking the bank.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE Many organisations across the public and private sector are turning to flexible working technologies such as videoconferencing or remote access to office functionalities, which can help staff better balance work and home life, whilst ensuring maximum utilisation.

Flexible working can also ease the pain of talent drain and recruitment challenges by providing organisations with the ability to staff important roles with non-traditional employees such as remote or part-time workers and retirees, translating to improved competition within the public sector. It also gives the private sector the ability to fill vital roles from a wider geographical pool, adding diversity, skills and expertise to its service network. In difficult times, this is a competitive advantage, when remuneration alone is not a sufficient draw.

However, better communication methods and facilities can also provide an economical advantage. For example, Public Sector Network (PSN), have pledged to deliver integrated communications across the public sector, and predicts this will deliver more than £500 million in savings per year by 2014.

However, in times such as these, organisations need solutions that can be deployed incrementally, often maximising the life and effectiveness of existing investment.

For instance, by combining an existing infrastructure, such as VoIP, with newer technology, like Unified Communications (UC),

Jonathan Buckle

employees can work as effectively remotely as they do in the office. UC technologies – such as presence or extensions to mobile applications which enable remote staff to work seamlessly regardless of location – could enable employees to work a rolling set of hours and equip them with the ability to work from anywhere they happen to be, effectively extending business hours as experienced by the public without requiring employees to work a single extra minute. Statistics show that seventy-one percent of businesses are willing to invest in such communications technologies if they can see a justified return for their investment.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY Organisations should take stock of their current internal and external communications and plan to invest in the areas which will have most impact on financial and other efficiencies. Research, commissioned by Avaya, showed that during the most recent recession, the effects of which are likely to resonate throughout the public sector up to the general election and beyond, the level and quality of communication within organisations, and between the public and private sector, have worsened significantly; 55 per cent said internal communications have deteriorated, 52 per cent said that communications with their own customers have suffered, and 41 per cent said that communications from suppliers have

worsened. While public sector businesses need to consider this issue in order to remedy their profit woes, public sector leaders view this trend in the broader context of their organisation’s role within the community or sector that it serves, and the impact any current inefficiencies may be having, both directly on that group and also upon the wider economy’s ability to recover.

Public sector organisations must ensure that every communication is carried out efficiently, with a long term view of increasing good will, value and satisfaction.

By incorporating flexible working options into their working, public sector organisations will be able to live the dream of first call resolution, becoming even more efficient with a limited set of resources. Introducing such policies and technologies not only benefit those using them; customers see the advantages too. Increased access to experienced and knowledgeable staff allows clients to feel valued.

The social and political landscapes are changing, as is the way we work.

Through increased flexibility, and via the technologies mentioned above, the public sector can become more efficient, so it can better fulfil its function – to serve.

References: 1. TechMarketView, UK Public Sector SITS Market Trends and Forecasts 2010

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www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

FLEXIBLE WORKING

KEEPING OFFICERS ON THE BEAT With officers spending a large proportion of their time completing incident-related paperwork, Wiltshire Police needed a mobile solution that could keep officers on the front line in the fight against crime FORMED IN 1839, WILTSHIRE POLICE IS the UK’s oldest county police force. It serves 635,000 residents across 1,346 square miles and employs over 2,200 people. Its motto is simple: to be the first, the best and to provide safe, satisfied and confident communities.

Orange worked with Wiltshire Police to keep 1,200 officers on the beat, productive and focused on reducing crime by providing them with the tools to perform traditional desk-based tasks on the go.

WHO IS WILTSHIRE POLICE? Wiltshire Police is led by a dedicated team of around 1,200 police officers and 1,000 police support staff. Serving diverse communities that span the urban centres of Salisbury and Swindon to the rural towns and villages across the county, Wiltshire Police also provides support for major events in the UK’s calendar, from Glastonbury and WOMAD to the bi-annual Solstice at Stonehenge.

Regulated by the Wiltshire Police Authority, which scrutinises performance and reports to the community on how the Force is performing, Wiltshire Police prides itself on its strong relationships with local communities and the county’s position as one of the top five safest areas in the UK. WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE? As part of its Policing Pledge, Wiltshire Police is committed to keeping officers on the front line in the fight against crime.

Having highly visible officers engaging with communities, and being readily available, plays a key part in supporting this vision.

But with officers spending a large proportion of their shift at the police station completing incident-related paperwork, Wiltshire Police needed a mobile solution that could help save officers’ time, keeping them productively on the beat.

Any chosen solution would need to provide secure, mobile access to critical data from a range of Government sources, including the Criminal Records Database and the Police National Computer.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION? Although officers still use their Tetra Radios as part of their daily communications, they can now perform traditional station-based paperwork from any location over the Orange network.

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Nine hundred front-line staff from Wiltshire Police have been issued with HTC P6500 PDA devices, providing secure and reliable mobile access to essential databases.

Access to images is also enabled on the devices, allowing officers to perform more detailed personal and roadside checks – without needing to contact the control room. The handset also provides access to up to date law and procedure information together with duties whilst on patrol.

Officers have access to work emails through their mobile device, which is becoming an increasingly popular way for them to quickly and easily interact with residents, colleagues and management.

As a result, officers now have access to the intelligence they need to make more informed decisions when on patrol, and conduct station-based administrative tasks from their mobile devices. However, should the device be lost, they can be immediately, and remotely, disabled making it impossible for any information to be compromised.

“Wiltshire Police has particular challenges to other forces around the country, in that

we have diverse communities scattered across both rural and densely-populated urban areas,” said Marc Pulverman, project manager (Mobile and Remote Working) at Wiltshire Police. “We need to ensure that officers are always available and able to support these communities.

Visibility of officers plays a central role in communicating this message to residents.

By mobilising station-based applications, such as the Police National Computer, we’re able to ensure that our officers’ time is best spent supporting their communities and preventing crime,” he continued.

KEEPING ON THE BEAT Peter Carthew, corporate business manager for the public sector at Orange UK said: “Wiltshire Police is testament to how mobile technology can facilitate a modern approach to policing. By reducing paperwork for officers, they can stay highly visible to the public, and make the most of when they are on patrol.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION Web: www.orange.co.uk/business

www.speechtek.com/europe

HOW GOVERNMENT IS USING SPEECH TECHNOLOGY 26 – 27 MAY 2010 Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, UK

SpeechTEK University 25 May 2010

www.speechtek.com/europe E: europe@speechtek.com speech recognition • text-to-speech synthesis • speaker authentication • voice search • dialogue management speech analytics • video • natural language • VoiceXML 3.0 • unified communications • IVR localisation language identification • multilingual applications • voice-to-voice translation • multimodal applications

Develop Winning Speech Strategies

Hear Transport for London's experiences with automated voice technology that's helping customers make over 24 million trips a day. PLUS how London Borough of Lambeth is using interaction analytics to analyse and improve performance.

Explore winning speech strategies, innovative technologies and new European opportunities at SpeechTEK Europe, a brand new event for the global speech market.

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Conference sessions Keynotes Customer case studies SpeechTEK University World-class solutions exhibition

If you're considering or implementing voice or speech technologies in your organisation - or you're a researcher, designer, developer or provider - you should be at SpeechTEK Europe 2010.

Keynotes Listening to Your Customers: How Companies Can Mobilise Consumers as Co-creators and Innovators Strategist, government advisor and innovator, Charlie Leadbeater, on the phenomenon of social media creativity and harnessing creative consumer collaboration for improved customer relationships The Future of Speech Technology Acknowledged industry commentator and CEO of the German Research Center for AI, Professor Wolfgang Wahlster, on the latest research findings in speech, multimodal and multilingual technologies and what’s about to come to market

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Written by Katherine Allen, business development director, SpeechTEK Europe

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SPEECH TECHNOLOGY

VOICE TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION SpeechTEK Europe launches in London on 26-27 May 2010 and will showcase the latest in voice and speech technology A NEW CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION focusing on voice and speech technology will take place at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in London on 26 and 27 May 2010. SpeechTEK Europe is the sister of the highly successful New York annual event series and aims to showcase the wealth of speech innovators based in Europe, with topics including multimodal solutions, voice biometrics, call routing, and multilingual applications. Case studies from the public sector include Transport for London and the London Borough of Lambeth, and examples of voice technology in action include government applications as varied as e-learning and healthcare.

Europe is at the heart of the global market for speech technology, which has been estimated to reach $78 billion by 2010.

SpeechTEK Europe will feature two packed days of conference sessions, keynotes and case studies plus an exhibit hall showcasing leading vendors and solutions providers, dedicated to bringing European buyers and sellers together in a focused setting.

CONFERENCE KEYNOTES Opening speaker Charles Leadbeater is a leading authority on innovation and strategy, and a special advisor on competitiveness and the new economy to the European Commission. His

keynote will describe the new phenomenon of creativity driven by social media, and explores ways in which passionate, knowledgeable consumers can generate mass creative collaboration, underlining the importance of customer relationships, and of capitalising on communication channels with customers.

Professor Wolfgang Wahlster is director and CEO of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence and a leading expert on language technology and intelligent user interfaces. He will provide an overview of research in European universities and company laboratories in the areas of speech, multimodal, and multilingual technologies, looking forward to technologies that will be available in the market place within two years.

His keynote will help attendees develop plans for the types of applications they will be able to build and deploy in the near future.

CONFERENCE THEMES Conference Chair Jim Larson is co-chair of the World Wide Web Consortium’s Voice Browser Working Group, in addition to writing and teaching about voice technology.

He highlights a particular interest in multimodal applications on mobile devices which will enable customers to not only speak and listen, but also to read and type

EVENT DETAILS AT A GLANCE SpeechTEK Europe 2010: 26-27 May 2010, Copthorne Tara Hotel, Kensington, London SpeechTEK University: 25 May 2010 Conference registration: www.speechtek.com/europe2010 E-mail: europe@speechtek.com Exhibition open hours: Wednesday 26 May 2010, 10:00 - 17:00 Thursday 27 May 2010, 10:00 - 15:00 free entry to exhibition Register at www.speechtek.com/europe and use additional modes in interaction.

“Multimodal applications on mobile devices will dramatically change how we interact with appliances – TV, radio, environmental control – with the internet, and with other people,” notes Larson. “These apps will be easy to learn, easy to use, and much more natural than current voice-only apps or GUI-only apps.

They will always be available, and customers can use them wherever they are, not just at their desktop or in their car.” SpeechTEK Europe features a session on developing Multimodal Applications in which attendees will learn how to integrate web-based services

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Our clients call on us to keep them

ON TRACK

EcKoh hQ hEMEl hEMpSTEad

contact centre solutions

Secure card payments

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ckoh is the UK’s largest provider of hosted speech recognition services, with over 7 years of experience in successfully deploying speech solutions. These allow our clients to efficiently manage their contact centres by replacing the more repetitive calls with an effective and intuitive automated service. Our solutions address high volume service requests including billing queries, delivery tracking services, travel timetable checks or transactional payments at a fraction of the cost of a live agent and on a 24 hour a day basis.

Web and mobile self-service

Our carrier-grade platform has the scalability to handle over 650,000 calls an hour and up to 8,000 simultaneously. Our platform has the capacity to manage even the most dramatic and unexpected call peaks, making it the most scalable and flexible speech-enabled platform in Europe. All of our clients’ automation requirements; from speech, mobile, web to IVR are met via a single infrastructure, protecting them from the need for large scale technology investment now or in the future.

Identification and verification

The Ministry of Justice, Vue Cinemas, National Rail Enquiries, William Hill and TD Waterhouse are just a few of the clients who have discovered why an Eckoh solution makes perfect sense.

Speech recognition solutions

SpEEchTEK 2010 london

Visit us at SpeechTEK 2010 on 26-27 May 2010 www.eckoh.com Email: tellmemore@eckoh.com Call: 01442 458419

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SPEECH TECHNOLOGY

to create ‘mashup’ applications involving speech, and how to develop multimodal applications on a variety of mobile devices.

Larson also highlights the conference coverage of Advanced Speech Recognition Techniques and Experiences, in which developers will give first hand experiences about designing, implementing and deploying call routing applications. He says: “I’m also looking forward to the session on Voice Biometrics which explains how to help minimise fraud and theft by using speaker identification and verification.”

Although most of today’s speech applications only speak and understand a single language, there are particular multilingual challenges in the UK and European marketplace. The conference pays particular attention to developing multilingual speech applications, conducting usability tests in multiple languages, and dealing with cross-cultural attitudes about Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and speech systems.

Other conference topics include Voice User Interface (VUI) design, designing real-world IVR, testing and tuning, new users of text-tospeech (TTS) synthesis, analytics, using video in automated customer service, and e-learning applications. Case studies are a particular feature of the event, so delegates can see for themselves how speech is working in a variety of different environments, how to select and implement the technology, and how to evaluate its performance.

SPEECH TEK UNIVERSITY SpeechTEK University on 25 May will present four workshops targeted at managers, designers and developers of speech applications in Europe.

Each SpeechTEK University faculty member has many years of experience and brings their special knowledge to help attendees learn basic principles and how to apply them. Each workshop will include a series of mini-lectures providing attendees with the theory, best practices, and guidelines needed to solve major problems, followed by the hands-on experience to apply that knowledge in real-world problems.

A full exhibit hall with free registration runs alongside the SpeechTEK Europe conference.

Attendees can get hands-on with the latest technology and services, and meet the people who supply them. “The exhibit hall is an important part of the overall event,” says SpeechTEK’s business development director Katherine Allen. “It gives attendees the chance to evaluate the services they need, and discuss implementation issues first-hand.” Exhibitors are major speech providers with market leading solution including Aurix, Autonomy, Avaya, Convergys Corporation, CreaLog GmbH, Eckoh, H-care Srl, Loquendo, Nexidia, NICE Systems, Openstream Inc, PerSay Ltd, Speech Technology Center, Verint Systems and Voxeo.

The full SpeechTEK Europe programme is available at: www.speechtek.com/ europe2010 along with registration information, details of 40 per cent registration savings, and free entry exhibition tickets.

Professor Wolfgang Wahlster

Professor Wolfgang Wahlster will provide an overview of research in European universities and company laboratories in the areas of speech, multimodal, and multilingual technologies, looking forward to technologies that will be available in the market place within two years THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY

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Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

G4S manages the risks of the ‘information age’ OSS OF sensitive data is commonplace, high profile and costly. The G4S Information Security and Assurance business delivers a range of integrated solutions for the handling and destruction of classified and commercially sensitive media and equipment.

G4S ISA is accredited to the highest possible standards and managed in accordance with the highest possible standards.

It is the only commercial organisation accredited by government and security agencies to carry out complete destruction of the most highly classified material and G4S already delivers these services to police authorities, secure government agencies and private sector industries. For government clients, G4S Information Security and Assurance works with individual functions across a complex organisation to ensure their specific requirements are met in the most efficient and cost effective way within a single ‘end to end’ solution.

G4S Information Security and Assurance provides this integrated information risk management solution through a tailored combination of the following services:

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‘Secure’ – discrete, end-to-end solution in secure destruction of government classified and commercially sensitive media and equipment.

‘Assure’ – specifically designed audits and training in handling and controlling data and information.

‘Procure’ – provision of receptacles, lockable containers and staff to aid and encourage collection of media and equipment within workspaces.

‘Ensure’ – ‘project-based’ clean-up and disposal of surplus media and equipment (re-branding, redundant projects, uncontrolled storage, step-changes in technology).

Confidential waste and data destruction services HOOSE M & J Bowers for all your onsite and offsite paper shredding needs.

We can shred your company’s confidential documents and legal papers. We provide confidential waste destruction services, document shredding, document destruction, data destruction, secure paper collection, removal of confidential waste, confidential waste disposal, confidential shredding and secure shredding.

The Big Green Destruction Machine can either come to your premises and destroy your confidential and sensitive documents while you watch or alternatively we can collect your confidential shredding. We offer a professional, polite, friendly, prompt and reliable service. Sacks and security ties are supplied free of charge. Government offices and local authorities are amongst our customers.

We are also able to offer office and archive clearances. We will

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clear everything left in the office, from unwanted furniture, carpets and cabinets to phone systems.

We also dispose of these items, taking the burden of this away from you. All confidential waste is destroyed by shredding, leaving your business more time to get on with what you do best. We also offer office and paper schemes using our ‘Green Bag’ and ‘Hexagon Cardboard Bins’ services.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0800 0276255 Fax: 01935 841544 E-mail: info@mjbowers.co.uk Web: www.mjbowers.co.uk

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Benefits include: • Fully integrated solution • Externally accredited destruction to the highest standards • Intact reputation • Investor and customer confidence • Environmentally friendly and legally compliant destruction • Reduced business fraud risk • Enhanced governance/controls • Full audit trail David Toone, who heads this G4S business, emphasises this is not a waste management or diversified storage solution: “The G4S Information Security and Assurance business is based on an integrated and proactive approach to managing information risk. We are accredited to the highest government standards and focus on management of information, not waste streams. We differentiate ourselves through the secure destruction of both media (paper, CDs, DVDs, etc.) and equipment (PCs, laptops, etc).

We have aspirational environmental targets of zero landfill, reducing carbon emissions and best use of natural resources.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION Further information can be obtained from g4sis@uk.g4s.com

SITA UK – making sure your waste is secure F YOUR ORGANISATION produces confidential material, you need a shredding and destruction service that you can trust.

SITA UK is one of the country’s leading recycling and resource management companies and we are trusted by some of the UK’s most securityconscious organisations.

We guarantee to securely destroy all documents and data storage passed to us within 24 hours and to provide a certificated audit trail for every consignment entrusted to us.

Our secure containers are delivered and collected direct from your workplace at your convenience, and our fleet of secure vehicles, manned

by BSIA vetted crews, ensure information is safely transported to our secure facilities.

SITA UK also securely recycles all of the paper we collect and we recover energy from other materials such as plastic, reducing the environmental

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impact of this waste.

Over 40,000 businesses already benefit from our knowledge and expertise in managing recycling and resources, and we strive to deliver excellence in everything we do.

Regardless of volume, your sensitive documents, CDs, microfiche or even whole archives can be committed for destruction and will be handled in the most secure of environments to the highest standards by SITA UK. Please contact us now to find out more.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0208 756 5302 Fax: 0208 561 5994 E-mail: enquiries@sita.co.uk Web: www.sita.co.uk

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SECURITY

WANTED: YOUR DATA Today’s computer criminals are highly skilled IT experts who know how to manipulate systems and recover deleted information in order to carry out criminal activities, says Russell Harris, BSIA Information Destruction Section Chairman

GOOGLE A FEW KEY WORDS ABOUT information security and the public sector and you will find an alarming number of recent reports about the potential consequences of inadequate controls. They range from the theft of laptops containing confidential data, patients x-rays dumped for anyone to find, wholesale data losses and even the sale of a PC on e-Bay, complete with its files of medical records.

A common theme running through many of these reports is the lesson that information needs to be protected at every stage, and that includes the way it is disposed of. Failures of this kind are often unlawful as well as careless but prosecutions for breaches of the Data Protection Act generally take place only after the harm has been done. Good data security therefore must aim to anticipate and prevent problems before they occur.

SAFE DISPOSAL The secure disposal of confidential data is an essential element of this work. This extends beyond physical documents to information held on computers and storage devices. Simply deleting files is not an adequate response.

Today’s computer criminals are highly skilled computer experts who know how to manipulate systems and recover deleted information in order to steal identities, conduct fraudulent transactions and even commit blackmail.

Crucially, the careless disposal of confidential data often allows them to do this without anyone knowing the information has been compromised.

The volume of crime that occurs in this way

is unknown, although by some estimates up to 99 per cent of fraud in the public sector goes undetected and the same may be true of offences resulting from the improper disposal of data. Almost any kind of personal information is valuable to criminals, for example, patients’ records, financial reports, payroll information and personnel data.

The unlawful use of such information contributes to an explosion of identity theft crimes that are now estimated to cost almost £2 billion every year. Identity theft allows criminals to obtain goods, credit or services in someone else’s name. Offenders target both public and private sector providers, including the use of stolen identities to fraudulently obtain prescription medicines and state benefits.

COMPLIANCE The law, therefore, imposes legal obligations on any organisation that processes personal information, whether about employees, customers or members of the public. The Act essentially does two things: it tells organisations what types of information they may hold and how it must be safeguarded. It does so through key principles for data protection, including the need for data to be processed in line with the rights of the individual and kept secure.

The data must be accurate, updated where necessary and kept no longer than needed.

These principles also include the use of effective means to prevent misuse by destroying personal information at the point of disposal.

Many infringements of the act relate to the way in which data is disposed of. The problem

can only be overcome by treating all personal information in the same way as sensitive financial or medical records, by employing a professional information destruction service.

Despite the ready availability of this common sense solution, companies and organisations continue to be prosecuted for improper disposal. Many more escape prosecution because their carelessness is never discovered. It is known that only a small fraction of corporate waste paper and data processing products such as hard drives, CDs, memory sticks and DVDs are destroyed annually by professional firms.

By far the majority of such material continues to be disposed of via municipal refuse collection or waste paper reprocessing. Neither method generally involves any kind of secure handling, yet it is inevitable that much confidential data is included in this general waste and therefore a major cause of avoidable risk. It is not surprising in these circumstances that the rubbish bin is a regular source of prosecutions under the Act, just as it has long been a core element of the private detective’s trade.

MEETING LEGAL OBLIGATIONS The law sets clear rules for the destruction of personal information. It should be carried out by a company that guarantees under contract that processing (destruction) is done securely and effectively. The organisation and its chosen information destruction contractor are then jointly liable for any breaches of the Act when dealing with personal or sensitive data. Liability extends to individual managers and data controllers, who could face personal fines up to £5,000 and the prospect of a criminal record.

Another possibility is civil action by a complainant, since anyone who suffers damage as a result of contraventions of the Act is entitled to compensation.

Convicted organisations could also be subject to future spot checks to ensure compliance. Significantly, it is a defence to show that all reasonable care has been taken to comply and the BSIA’s Information Destruction Section was formed to enable organisations to meet their legal obligations.

The section’s remit is to assure good practice by operating to the BS 8470 standard for the collection, transportation and destruction of confidential material and the quality management standard ISO 9001:2000. It defines the subject as the secure destruction of information in all its forms, including paper and computer media and hardware.

The section’s members collect confidential waste at source and provide a fully trackable service up to the point of destruction. The process consists of waste collection by secure transport, inspection, removal and destruction of rubbish, and the shredding, pulping and recycling or incineration of other material. Members of the Information Destruction Section provide free, no obligation advice to enable potential users to address their specific risks and requirements.

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The annual International Conference and Exhibition for all professionals involved in the provision and use of communications and information management technologies for civil contingency, public safety and incident management.

Business Design Centre Islington, London Exhibition: 21 - 22 April 2010 Conference: 20 - 22 April 2010

Toward a new dawn Exhibition

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Over 100 specialist suppliers showcasing the latest equipment, technology and information & data management systems

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Gain expert advice on the use, implementation and management of communication equipment

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Compare and source new products, systems and services direct with the supplier

Conference

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Dual conference streams offer delegates a wider variety of key topics

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Recognised as a vocational training opportunity that can count towards CPD points

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Explore the future post-2014 - what does it hold for next-generaton ICT networks and applications?

For exhibition and conference enquiries, contact:

Lucy McPhail Tel: +44 (0)20 7973 6635 email: l.mcphail@hgluk.com or

Jude Coverdale Tel: +44 (0)20 7973 6671 email: j.coverdale@hgluk.com

Register now at www.bapco.co.uk

A New Era in Security and Safety Management

Look to the Future - Engage with the Pink Fluffy Cloud Taking a close look at where the Public Sector can benefit from the direct convergence between what the Security and Safety Sector and the IT and IP infrastructure players are developing.

Paul Hennings IP UserGroup Director comment’s.

Applications across many Public Sector functions: · Surveillance & CCTV · Access Control, Time & Attendance · Intruder Detection & Alarms · Fire Detection & Evacuation · Integrated Safety Solutions · Audio, Intercom & Messaging · Transmission & Comms Systems · Building Management Systems

As a great advocate of hosted business services such as CRM (customer relationship management), Web building solutions, server-side storage and email marketing as a service. I am only too aware of the possibilities available to the Security and Safety function within the Public Sector should some of these fundamentals be employed.

The terms Cloud computing, Virtualisation and Saas (Software as a Service) are no longer exclusive to the IT arena, but increasingly crossing the divide into ALL areas of business life and within the service sector.

Recently Alastair Hayfield, Research Manager at IMS Research commented “In the year ahead there are a host of new trends that will keep the industry talking and drive market resurgence.” And in bringing together the top ten trends, placed the following at the top of the list:

“2010 will see Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) emerge from the shadows and take the limelight. 2010 will see a raft of companies announce VSaaS solutions.”

In truth Saas and Virtualisation in one form or another has been part of the Security, Surveillance and Safety world for several years, but now the Public Sector are seeing it as a major opportunity and using Security and Safety to further leverage investment in the network infrastructure.

That Pink Fluffy Cloud!

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20 SECT E N

International IP Solutions Exhibition & Conference

Earls Court 2, LONDON 20th - 21st October 2010

www.iipseconline.com co-located with

For far too long the Public Sector has been satisfied to treat anything the other side of the ADSL hub or router as a pink fluffy cloud, but are you missing a trick? The IT industry certainly believe that there is mileage in providing products within the cloud and are already providing many business services to both Public and Private Sector customers.

Engage before it’s too late!

IT and the network infrastructure are key elements in any 21st Century Security or Safety solution. An underlying knowledge of Information Technology and the way that the network operates is essential and without this the effectiveness or efficiency of any deployment could be severely effected.

There is a need to engage with specialists that have both the knowledge and influence to drive IP based solutions forward, and a greater understanding of the needs of both parties essential.

Forward thinking There are already several companies that have identified the need to engage and exploit this opportunity. To prove this, why not take the opportunity to join the IP UserGroup at one of the IP-in-Action Live events in a city near you, or plan a visit to the IIPSEC event in October where a whole range of solutions will be on show.

Visit www.ipusergroup.com/live or www.iipseconline.com for details.

Mission Critical Communications Private Mobile Radio Design, installation, commission and management of digital and analogue radio networks.

Mobile Data Solutions End-to-end solutions encompassing in-vehicle and personal devices utilising digital radio, GPRS and 3G bearers.

Managed Services Traditional maintenance to fully managed services, covering terminals, control rooms and network infrastructure.

Secure Telecommunications Dedicated telecommunications networks utilising microwave links, leased lines and dark fibre.

Spectrum Access 412 to 414 MHz paired with 422 to 424 MHz for single site, local, regional or national radio networks, services and solutions.

To find out more about Arqiva’s public safety group call 0845 650 4020, email public.safety@arqiva.com, or visit www.arqiva.com/publicsafety

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SECURITY

LOOKING TOWARDS A NEW DAWN OF TECHNOLOGY AT BAPCO 2010 BAPCO 2010 offers a unique insight into the future of integrated communication and information technologies for Public Safety and Civil Contingency Services TOWARDS A NEW DAWN’ IS THE theme for the Annual International BAPCO Conference and Exhibition, taking place at the Business Design Centre in April.

This leading educational event offers a unique insight into the future of integrated communication and information technologies designed to improve and deliver public safety-civil contingency services. The BAPCO conference welcomes keynote speakers from across the world presenting real life case studies, and future-view information, support and solutions to the challenges facing emergency planners and service delivery agencies.

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS Once again, the BAPCO conference features a dual stream format, offering a wide range of discussion under two key streams all with a highly educational focus. To support individual personal development and training programmes, all conference delegates receive a Certificate of Attendance.

On day one of the conference, Tuesday 20 April, Julie Stinson, project manager, 5 Star Team, will present on the 2010 Winter Olympics Communications Planning in Washington State. Also on the Tuesday, Dr Ahmed Aldabbagh, principal engineer at QinetiQ will provide a background on SECRICOM, an EU funded FP7 research project addressing secure communications across all agencies involved in large scale crisis. The presentation will cover two aspects: (i) the work undertaken by BAPCO

and QinetiQ to establish the user requirements and capability shortfalls and (ii) the application of technologies to address these shortfalls, concluding with an illustration of how the implementation of SECRICOM can be achieved.

On Day two, Wednesday 21 April, Paul Holman, operations manager – Specialist Emergency response Department, Ambulance Victoria, will give an insight into Australia’s summer of 2009 entitled “Visited by Hell and all its Fury”. This presentation will outline the principles and key features of the Ambulance Victoria Emergency Response Plan in addition to its application in the Victorian Heat Wave in January 2009 and the catastrophic “Black Saturday” bushfire event of February 2009.

On Thursday 22 April sessions open with a presentation from Jeanette Innes, assistant director, Programme Manager for Telecommunications Resilience from the Civil Contingencies Secretariat Cabinet Office. Jeanette Innes will discuss in detail the relationship between the Cabinet Office and the Civil Contingencies Act.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS Running alongside the conference, the freeto-attend BAPCO exhibition offers delegates and visitors from the emergency services, local and national governmental agency professionals and public safety officers the chance to see the future public safety communications systems, and technologies that will be shaping operations and facilitating

future inter-agency communication, from over 100 leading suppliers.

The latest in the Phonak product range of in-the-ear hearing protection products and specialist covert wireless earpieces, ideally suited for use by police, emergency services and industry will be available from new exhibitor Abiom Communications Systems. Abiom will also display the Phonak Profile zero interference covert earpieces, which could be of great benefit to undercover officers on trains and in cars.

Damovo UK will launch its Complete Online Digital Evidence System (CODES) which provides secure interview and evidential recording for the police, law enforcement and security services and aims to replace outdated analogue tape recordings and meet the National Policing Improvement Agency’s (NPIA) recommendations for ICT best practice.

Microbus will display its latest in-vehicle computers designed to reduce road traffic accidents, as part of a new roadside initiative by Greater Manchester Police.

Radio Telecom Services Ltd, will be available to discuss its new appointment as distributor of the Infinity GPS Microphone from Kirmuss Associates of Colorado USA.

FOR MORE INFORMATION For the latest exhibition news, full exhibitor list and conference programme visit www.bapco.co.uk. For more information and to register visit www.bapco.co.uk

Arqiva mission critical communications RQIVA, THE COMMUNICATIONS infrastructure and media services company, operates at the heart of the broadcast, satellite and mobile communications markets.

The company is at the forefront of network solutions and services in the digital world.

Arqiva provides much of the infrastructure behind television, radio, satellite and wireless communications in the UK and has a significant presence in Ireland, mainland Europe and the USA. Customers include major broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV, BSkyB and the independent radio groups, major telco providers, including the UK’s five mobile network operators.

In addition the company provides mission critical communications solutions for the

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emergency services, government agencies and commercial organisations, including design and installation, system maintenance and fully managed services for private mobile radio, secure telecommunications and mobile data solutions.

FOR MORE INFORMATION To find out more about how Arqiva can support your communications needs visit www.arqiva.com/publicsafety

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Keeping IT Together With the Government looking to save £3.2 billion by 2013 by implementing a smarter model for IT infrastructure, a key element in enabling this will be effective integration and automation of systems, services and processes. This can help deliver more shared services to minimise duplication and improve delivery, whilst reducing the amount of time public sector IT professionals spend on the maintenance of systems rather than implementing strategic projects.

LANDesk Software offers a suite of system, security, process management and IT service management solutions which help public sector bodies simplify IT management from the desktop to the datacentre. We’ve delivered these solutions for central and local government organisations around the world. For example we’ve helped the Northern Ireland Civil Service introduce a new shared services model between departments.

From working with our customers, we’ve identified four main considerations: Simplifying IT support When end-users encounter issues they just want it to be fixed as quickly and with as little fuss as possible. When service management is fully integrated through LANDesk, end-users can manage their own problem resolution a structured process which automatically takes them through the required approvals, so that help is delivered quickly with minimal intervention.

LANDesk provides a single interface for the service desk team, ensuring that less time is spent switching between diverse systems and more time dealing with queries. For example, incident reporting and tracking, problem resolution and managed change execution can all be done in one place. IT managers can also use the console to fix systems remotely or distribute software. It provides a single view of all these functions which makes it easier to assess the potential impact of any action and pre-empt potential challenges, reducing the risk of downtime.

The result of all of this is more productive staff, faster service delivery and a reduction in the amount of time IT professionals spend on fixing basic issues and more time spent on developing modern, sophisticated IT services.

An example of this is the London Borough of Hillingdon, which has used LANDesk IT Service Management. The authority has reduced its reliance on external consultants, resulting in savings of £50,000 per year; to improve change management processes to more than 98%

success rate and to speed up the provision of new users and resolution of service desk incidents.

Safety in numbers Protection of government and public information is critical for public sector organisations.

One of the biggest challenges in this area is that there are simply more ‘endpoints’ or places where users are accessing an IT network and every point of access could result in a vulnerability. The LANDesk Security Suite provides simple, dynamic, security from a single administration point. It enables organisations to see and manage LANDesk personal firewall, antivirus, application-control, and device-control features from a single console which saves time and money.

Security extends to outside of the organisation itself. With many government organisations operating remote and flexible workforces, IT managers can rest assure that the IT network is protected at any place and at any time.

Newport Borough Council has introduced LANDesk Management Suite to remotely manage over 2,000 computers across a Local Education Authority and provide centralised network monitoring, virus removal tools and patch updates which enabled the IT department to manage more devices centrally, freeing up time for teaching staff to concentrate on education.

Managing the evolving network With the increased demand on IT departments

to reduce the amount of time and money spent on maintaining IT systems, having a strong management software is essential. LANDesk Management Suite enables organisations to automate processes and reduce software license costs without increasing workload.

LANDesk uses a single agent and a single console to manage assets, ensure software license compliance and save power costs.

Furthermore, with an ever increasing mobile workforce, LANDesk’s Management Suite ensures that any software upgrades, patches and other deployments are able to take place from a single console.

Return on investment The public sector faces the ongoing challenge of making more and more services available online with greater effeciency. One key element in achieving this is to find ways of free up time and cost for the IT department so that they can move away from administration and more on implementing new services.

Systems, security and service management software from LANDesk provide an integrated approach to managing IT operations – whether it is supporting users, managing devices, ensuring information is protected or automating daily tasks.

To find out more, please visit LANDesk in April at InfoSecurity Europe and the Service Desk Show or contact us on (01483) 744444 www.landesk.com

Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SECURITY

INFORMATION SECURITY – ARE YOU BEING SMART ENOUGH? Infosecurity Europe will address the issues surrounding information security, drawing on the knowledge of 100 leading security experts

Isn’t it time to make sure you’re up to speed with the latest guidelines for best practice, emerging technology and future developments that will ensure that not only your organisation is secure, but everyone’s sensitive data is adequately protected?

THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS HAVE NOT been great for the public sector in terms of information security with numerous headlines of data breaches. There have been those that were accidental – such as lost laptops in Manchester that contained personal information on teachers and workers at local schools, betrayals of trust from public sector employees – as in the case of nine LA workers who illegally accessed the Customer Information System (CIS) database, and those from an external source – the hacker who attacked the health records of Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond sparking a huge security alert. With increasing reliance on the internet to deliver public services, and the growing trend to outsource parts of these networks and services to the Cloud, every one of these headlines damages the already fragile public confidence that the public sector is not adequately protecting our data.

With the Information Commissioner eagerly anticipating the arrival of April, and with it

his new powers to fine organisations who deliberately breach the Data Protection Act (DPA) up to £500K, isn’t it time to make sure you’re up to speed with the latest guidelines for best practice, emerging technology and future developments that will ensure that not only your organisation is secure, but everyone’s sensitive data is adequately protected?

STAYING AHEAD OF EMERGING THREATS A visit to Infosecurity Europe presents those responsible with securing their organisations the opportunity to research key trends and the emerging products to arm against them. With 300+ top infosecurity providers exhibiting from across the globe, it offers the most comprehensive showcase of solutions, products and services in the largest information security exhibition in Europe.

The free educational programme addresses issues facing information security, drawing on the knowledge and experience of nearly 100

leading security experts, industry innovators and speakers from the end-user community who will provide expert analysis, real-life case studies, strategic advice and predictions to ensure attendees have the information needed to protect the operations of their companies. Nowhere else can you gain such valuable information from the industry’s leading lights free of charge and all in one event!

This years Keynote programme includes a diverse range of seminars that will address the security issues and pressures that organisations face in an increasingly mobile and global working environment. This year’s opening address will be made by Jonathan Bamford, the Assistant Commissioner, from the Information Commissioners Office.

The history of computing and Information Security has attracted many brilliant minds that have dedicated their lives to its advancement.

This year’s Infosecurity Europe is proud to once again host the Hall of Fame in the Keynote Theatre, where internationally recognised inductees will be sharing their expertise. The speakers in the Hall of Fame, as voted for by professionals in the industry, will include Merlin, Lord Erroll; Stephen Bonner, managing director Information Risk Management, Barclays; Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO, Kaspersky Lab; and Charlie McMurdie, detective superintendant, Police Central e-Crime Unit, New Scotland Yard.

Paul Roberts, senior analyst for The 451 Group will host a seminar titled When Information Security Goes Wrong – It’s All The Users Fault. The session asks is security simply the responsibility of the user or should users not have to think about security at all? Can it ever be said to be all the users fault? This question seems to be increasingly difficult to answer, particularly today with the flow of Generation Y into the workplace. Speakers include Henry Acevedo, head Of Information Security, Adecco Group UK; Stephen Bonner, managing director Information Risk Management, Barclays; Paul Jay, head Of Information Security, Camelot Group Plc.; and Peter Ronaszeki, head of Corporate Security, Lufthansa.

THE VALUE OF DATA In what promises to be a very interactive session the Data Auction invites attendees to become a ‘bidder’ for the day and discover the true value of data. This mock auction will demonstrate what value data truly has depending on which side of the fence you are sitting on. The audience will be split 50/50 into

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The Original, Tokenless, Multi-factor Authentication Technology Established in 2000 Swivel’s PINsafe™ is now the authentication solution of choice for some of the world’s largest global enterprises and public sector organisations as well as hundreds of smaller, independent businesses. With hundreds of thousands of users covering virtually every country in the world, Swivel is proud to be the security industry’s tried and tested alternative to ID token-based solutions.

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Government Technology | Volume 9.3

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SECURITY

‘criminals’ and ‘victims of data loss’ and asked to bid to both buy the data and buy the data back. On stage will be a panel of representatives from the corporate end-user community, who then assess the differences and approach to data loss and prevention when considered from the angle of the corporate organisation.

The auction catalogue includes: fresh credit card data for 100,000 people, including VPN, DOB and mother’s maiden name; the latest data for a cure for Flu; all of your personal family photographs; life insurance records for 50,000 patients; the customer database of a UK high street retailer; completed high school application forms for South East London; copies of mobile phone bills for 50,000 customers; credit records from a leading credit rating agency; all your deleted emails; and the audit trail that lands your CEO in jail.

Forrester analyst, Bill Nagal, will be examining how to Prevent Converged Threats From Sneaking Your Data Out The Front Door.

Organisations are under threat from ever increasing and more sophisticated hacks, and often it is easier for criminals to simply walk into a building or take advantage of a vulnerable employee than try to hack a well-defended network. Many threats today now combine electronic, physical and offline (e.g. social engineering) tactics. However, for many herein lies a problem – physical and Information Security are frequently siloed and don’t know how to talk to each other. It is in-between the silos that cracks can appear and pose big risks to an organisation. Speakers include James Gay, CISO, Travalex; Balvinder Puar, Group IT director, The Big Issue and Professor John Walker, Visiting Professor Of

Science & Technology, School Of Computing & Informatics, Nottingham Trent University.

Raj Samani, vice president Communications for the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) will be chairing a session titled What is a Risk Too Far which looks at recent developments in the way we do business, such as cloud computing and an increasing growth in outsourcing as a whole that has changed the risk landscape completely. The approach to risk assessment and management is today a very different proposition than it used to be. Throw in ‘Generation Y’ to the mix, and you have a potent risk cocktail. The discussion will consider what the new risk factors with the flow of Generation Y into the workforce are; how do you assess the risk dynamic of any new technology or business practice; what risk frameworks are available and how effective are they and provide some top tips for assessing and managing risk. Speakers include Jim Reavis, co-founder and executive director, The Cloud Security Alliance; Andrew Rose, Global IT Risk manager, Clifford Chance LLP and Paul Simmonds, Global IS Integrated Assurance director, AstraZeneca & Jericho forum board member.

PROFESSIONALISM This year, Infosecurity Europe wants to consider professionalism within the Information Security industry. This panel discussion will be looking at the options currently available to Information Security professionals – both new and known to the industry. In addition, at the end of the professionalism discussion we will have the opportunity to hear from the winner of the Infosecurity Europe Student Innovation Competition in terms of their outlook to

Information Security as a profession and what the future might hold. Chaired by Mr Alan Paller, director Of Research, SANS Institute the panel includes Judy Baker, director and chair of the Management Consortium, Cyber Security Challenge UK; John Colley, managing director EMEA, (ISC)2, Mr. Gerry O’Neill, chief executive officer, Institute of Information Security Professionals and Professor Fred Piper, Information Security Group, Royal Holloway.

The Interim Information Security Breaches Survey 2010 will be released in a session and attendees will find out about the latest trends in Information Security in the UK at the official launch of the latest survey results. Hear from PricewaterhouseCoopers (the report authors) and other industry experts on what has changed since the last Information Security breaches survey in 2008.

CYBER WARFARE This year’s Hacker’s Panel: Cyber Warfare – War Stories From The Front Line discussion will focus on those at the front line of both tackling cyber crime, and also those who have been victims of it, with the purpose of identifying what is really going on out there, and therefore, what is it really costing UK Plc. Over the three days speakers will also include; Phil Hunt, Information Security manager for BUPA sharing the objectives, development and deployment of its award winning Information Security Awareness Programme entitled ‘Data Matters…Security Matters’; Matthew Suddock, Infrastructure manager for Harvey Nichols will outline its battle surrounding compliance of customer cardholder data under the payment industry (PCI) data security standards as well as presentations from eBay, Lloyds, Camelot, Lufthansa, Network Rail, and Barclays all sharing their real life implementation anecdotes.

In addition to the usual format, an exciting development in 2010 is two new show features: the Discussion Den panel sessions and a series of Security Workshops. The Discussion Den panel sessions will be highly topical, with a strong focus on the business challenges and issues end-users are facing.

The Security Workshops are an educational forum for both discussion with peers, and individual learning, catalysed by a facilitator.

Designed to ensure you stay ahead of the game with the latest industry trends and developments, you will leave the session with the right tools to take back to the office.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Infosecurity Europe takes place at Earls Court, London, from 27–29 April 2010.

For free entry and further information about Infosecurity Europe, visit the website at www.infosec.co.uk. Preregister today and avoid the £20 booking charge for those who miss the deadline and need to register at the door.

THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY

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Information Security MSc Flexible learning for everyone

We have extended the way in which our MSc is offered.

• CPD/CPE Modules: Most MSc modules are now available as stand-alone courses of one week’s duration. These modules may be taken with or without an examination.

We now offer the following traditional delivery modes: Full-time, one year, on campus; Part-time, two years, on campus; Block Mode, two years, on or off campus; Distance Learning, up to four years via the Virtual Learning Environment.

• Mix and Match – It is now possible to obtain the MSc by accumulating modules by any delivery method listed above (maximum period seven years).

• Postgraduate Diploma – each module is also available in condensed mode and taught as a one, two or three-day training course offered by QCC Training Ltd. Students may follow a structured programme of these courses and then undertake an MSc level project to obtain the Diploma.

Information Security Group www.isg.rhul.ac.uk p.stoner@rhul.ac.uk z.ciechanowicz@rhul.ac.uk T: 01784 443101

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As a company Jadestone is ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 registered and one of only a few WEEE collection companies nationwide who are ISO 27001:2005 approved. The ISO 27001:2005 standard was awarded for the information security management systems and specifically focuses on

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Unlike other companies that promise to protect your data by wiping it with a NATO approved computer programme we physically destroy the hard drive and once destroyed the shredded remains are recycled. This ensures the completely secure process we pride ourselves on.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01983 854871 Fax: 08700 276911 E-mail: mail@jadestone.co.uk Web: www.jadestone.co.uk

Come and see us at Infosecurity, Earls Court, Stand J96. www.verbatim-europe.com

SBL – experience counts, expertise shows BL HAS ENJOYED 22 years experience in delivering value, expertise and excellence of service to the UK public sector.

We are enterprise level specialists in the supply of hardware, software and professional services and a recognised market leader in IA. Our unique procurement consultancy service drives standards and innovation whilst ensuring our customers achieve maximum cost savings. A key enabler to this service is our product assurance policy, which ensures our customers get the product and service that best suits their needs, through impartial recommendations and advice.

Our framework expertise allows customers to reduce procurement costs and ensures we can always offer the most suitable procurement route. We operate on Buying Solutions, the ICS catalogue operated by DE&S, ESPO, CHEST and NATO’s BOA. Our capacity to deliver

Is your data secure? Are you legally compliant?

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DATA LOSS INCIDENT is no longer seen as an unfortunate accident; now it will be accompanied by significant reputational risk and the possibility of legal action against the organisation or even executives personally.

Those responsible for IT in organisations need to be aware; today, data loss is a significant legal issue. The EU Directive 95/46/ EC of the European Parliament and the related country data protection laws force organisations to protect sensitive data. One of the main technologies to prevent unintended data loss is encryption.

Verbatim, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, is a specialist in removable data storage. It offers one of the best assortment of secure data storage solutions across all form factors such as USB drives, Express Card SSDs, 2,5’’ SSD, optical media, and

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competitive pricing and excellence of service simultaneously is a product of our considerable, cumulative investment in UK public sector business and our wealth of knowledge and experience in this area. SBL’s achievements include over £45m cost savings negotiated through custom EAs for one customer, and a 100 per cent scoring on CESG’s mystery shopper exercise.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Call 01347 812100 or e-mail introduction@softbox.co.uk to arrange an introduction at Infosec or at your convenience.

external hard drives. Responding to the need for reliable data security, Verbatim has developed its range of ‘Secure ‘n’ Go’ portable storage products, specifically designed for the different requirements and levels of security demanded today, incorporating premium AES 256bit hardware security encryption and featuring benefits such as remote access and virus protection.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0) 1784 439 781 Fax: +44 (0) 1784 471 337 E-mail: info@verbatim-europe.com Web: www.verbatim-europe.com

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INFORMATION SECURITY – ARE YOU BEING SMART ENOUGH?

Working smarter has never been so important and security so crucial when it comes to safeguarding and growing your business.

• Smart spending to justify and get value from budgets • Smart optimization of your technology, processes and resources • Smart people – education, training and awareness

Register free* to attend now at:

www.infosec.co.uk Organised by:

* Register free before 23rd April at 5pm. Onsite registration £20.

CELEBRATING 15 YEARS AT THE HEART OF THE INDUSTRY EUROPE’S NO.1 INFORMATION SECURITY EVENT

27 – 29 April 2010 Earls Court London | UK

Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA – competence from Austria in the UK

Your total IT security solutions partner

USTRIA IS AT THE forefront of innovation in information and communications technology: the ICT-sector is a major driver of the country’s economic growth and productivity.

Austria’s ICT-market is diverse, highly competitive and home to major international players, specialised suppliers as well as a large number of smaller niche companies, many of which represent a degree of collaboration between business and science.

Responding to the high expectations of customers is the key to Austria’s success; the public sector in particular has played a vital role in getting new IT-projects off the ground.

Electronic invoicing, E-health projects and E-Government, are all

security, for over 10 years Caretower has stood committed to delivering tailored solutions to their customer’s diverse security challenges.

Founded in 1998, Caretower has established longstanding relationships with all of the major security vendors and has grown to become one of Europe’s leading value added resellers in network security, offering complete, practical and more importantly impartial advice through a consultative sales process. This in turn leads to improved satisfaction in solution delivery and post implementation support.

Working in both public and private sectors across all verticals, Caretower is exposed to a wide array of environments. This exposure combined with a wide array of security solutions

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areas in which Austria has taken a leading international role.

ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA is the official representative of Austrian business in the United Kingdom, providing Austrian companies with the knowledge and practical support they need to establish trade and investment links with the UK. The UK is among Austria’s top ten trading partners and ‘cutting edge’ Austrian technologies have enjoyed considerable success in the highly competitive British market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Find out more about Austria’s expertise: www.advantageaustria.org/uk Visit our Stand L88 at InfoSecurity 2010 www.infosec.co.uk

AEP Networks – communication is your business EP NETWORKS IS A specialist in communications, networking and application access security. It delivers communications and infrastructure security solutions that are easy to use and manage while offering exceptional value and mission-critical reliability.

In fact, its range of innovative solutions is designed to meet the most demanding requirements of governments, defence forces and enterprise businesses globally.

The company works with a combination of systems integrators, managed service providers and the distribution channel to deliver integrated solutions incorporating its leading edge products. These are designed for manageability, mission-critical reliability for rigorous 24x7x365 availability and market-leading price/performance.

They, along with examples of innovative solutions, will be exhibited on the AEP Networks stand (N55) at the Information Security Exhibition at Earls Court

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UNCOMPROMISING W ITH dedication to information

experience enable Caretower to actively promote compliance with current standards such as GCSx Code of Compliance (CoCo) and PCI DSS. Designing and implementing security strategies that complement customer environments, be it traditional anti-virus systems or complex intrusion prevention systems, Caretower stands for data integrity and availability.

To better reach their customers and take a larger role in the information security culture of Europe, Caretower will be exhibiting at Info Security Europe 2010 on the 27-29 April 2010 – trusted advisors will be available at stand E34 throughout the event.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 020 8372 1000 Fax: 020 8372 1001 E-mail: info@caretower.com Web: www.caretower.com

Ground compliance – where data lives VERY BUSINESS ENTITY, no matter what its structure or purpose – commercial or government, small or large, complex or simple – is now governed by some form of a regulation, often more than one. Using DbProtect ensures complete database security as it is the only product that combines database discovery, vulnerability assessment, activity monitoring, intrusion detection, auditing, and compliance.

DbProtect grounds compliance efforts in the database applications that house regulated data, including material financial transactions, critical intellectual property, and sensitive personal information. DbProtect is uniquely positioned therefore to address many of these mandates including: SOX, FISMA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GLBA, NIST, BASEL II, ISO 17799/27001, MITS,

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which takes place between 27-29 April. Making its debut on the stand will be the latest Netilla (8500) model which is designed specifically to meet the needs of the enterprise market (1,000+ users).

This version of Netilla boasts the strongest client-side security on the market, the best application delivery (for heterogeneous environments), and the most comprehensive scalability while it embraces the cloud computing phenomenon. This product will be demonstrated ‘live’ on the stand.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: +44 1344 637300 E-mail: marketing@ aepnetworks.com Web: www.aepnetworks.com

Canada’s Bill 198 and more.

Application Security, Inc. (www.appsecinc.com) is the leading global provider of database security, risk, and compliance solutions for the enterprise.

DbProtect, the company’s flagship offering, is the industry’s only complete solution. More than 1,500 of the most demanding organisations count on DbProtect to ground their security, risk, and compliance efforts where sensitive data lives – in the database.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01270 219044 Fax: 01270 219236 E-mail: ndruce@appsecinc.com Web: www.appsecinc.com

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www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

Secure your access – secure your data RYPTOCARD’S awardwinning solutions reduce the risks associated with remote access and web-based processes through strong password security.

With static passwords being the single weakest link in IT security today and requirements for stronger authentication such as CoCo becoming matters of compliance, CRYPTOCard’s solutions provide this at a price that all businesses can afford.

With CRYPTOCard technology available in either server based or managed service solutions, many customers are now enjoying: • CoCo compliant two factor authentication • Lowest total cost of ownership • Broadest range of non expiring tokens • Seamless integration into

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existing infrastructure With over twenty years of technical achievements and by offering unsurpassed value in solutions for positively identifying individuals through strong password security, CRYPTOCard has won the trust of thousands of businesses in over 70 countries from many different industries. Clients include Apple, Fujitsu, Hampshire Council and Raiffsen Bank to name a few.

So discover how you can save up to 60 per cent on your authentication costs and enjoy the highest levels of security – contact us for a free trial today.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0870 707 7700 Fax: 0870 7077 711 E-mail: info@cryptocard.com Web: www.cryptocard.com

High performance systems and security management IGFIX IS A LEADING provider of high performance system and security management solutions that enable customers to manage complex, widely distributed IT infrastructures.

BigFix offers the industry’s only unified platform that automates and streamlines systems and security management while delivering new levels of speed, visibility and control. Based on a revolutionary architecture that distributes management intelligence directly to the computing devices themselves, BigFix is radically faster, scalable, more accurate and adaptive than legacy management software.

Incorporating BigFix into a global IT strategy, customers achieve revolutionary gains to stay ahead of fast moving developments, while significantly reducing IT service delivery costs. Customers can automate processes, enabling them to dramatically improve the quality and efficiency of their infrastructure management processes.

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Today, BigFix provides real-time visibility and control for over eight million computing devices for nine hundred customers worldwide. The BigFix customer list includes many of the world’s largest and most prestigious organisations across all industry sectors including financial services, retail, education, manufacturing and public sector companies.

FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information, visit www.bigfix.com. Alternatively visit us on stand H25 at InfoSecurity Europe 2010, Earls Court, London, and hear BigFix CTO Amrit Williams speak about Securing Computing Devices in an Increasingly Complex and Interconnected World – Wednesday 28 April at 10am.

Is your Security Management system prepared for a crisis?

Under normal circumstances, your security management system helps you regulate and monitor employee and visitor traffic. In an emergency, you want to retain the same level of control.

With Nedap AEOS Security Levels, you keep full control of access to your premises, even in a crisis. Authorizations can be changed or revoked at the click of a button, thanks to the security levels which can be pre-defined in AEOS. AEOS Security Levels allows you to react rapidly to circumstances that could seriously affect your security. Take no chances. Nedap AEOS.

For more information: Nedap Security Management +31 (0)544 471 111, info@nedap-securitymanagement.com, www.nedap-securitymanagement.com

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Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Verizon Business – global Meeting IT network partner to government performance and and business security challenges ERIZON BUSINESS is the global communications and IT solutions partner to business and government. Verizon Business caters to large business and government agencies delivering complete communications, IT, security and network solutions around the world.

Many of the world’s largest businesses and governments – including 96 per cent of the Fortune 1,000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions – rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business.

Verizon Business reached its premier status by combining its expertise, global reach and solutions with the right technologies to deliver what customers need.

Verizon Business helps companies get data in the hands of decision makers quickly and securely. The company enhances

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OW 25 YEARS OLD, Phoenix Datacom Limited continues to help public sector organisations with the twin challenges of network security and network performance.

Life for public sector IT managers doesn’t get any easier – protecting their networks against security threats whilst maintaining workable levels of access and meeting quality of service targets – and Phoenix Datacom supplies a number of very useful products in this area. Examples include highly scaleable Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems (IDS/ IPS) from Sourcefire, network data capture and analysis systems from Niksun and an extensive range of network monitoring taps from VSS Monitoring.

Many of the problems associated with the development and deployment of new IT projects can be avoided by effective pre-deployment testing, and again, Phoenix Datacom has a long history of providing

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business continuity strategies; improves global customer service; drives green initiatives; reduces risk; modernises and globalises infrastructure; increases reach and speed to market; enables the remote workforce and decreases hardware, facilities and IT operational costs through its managed services offerings.

Verizon Business’ breakthrough technology and continued innovation embodies the company’s heritage and customer-centric focus.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com/uk

effective solutions. Testing the interactions of new applications with real-world network conditions is vital and here Packetstorm IP network simulators provide the answer, allowing repeatable controlled testing against all the variable aspects of IP networks, such as link speed, traffic prioritisation, latency and jitter.

Phoenix Datacom also provides a wide range of traffic generators, (both good and attack traffic), to test both the performance and the security of network infrastructures and applications.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01296 397711 Fax: 01296 394431 E-mail: info@phoenixdatacom.com Web: www.phoenixdatacom.com

The Information Systems A web filtering solution Security Association for the public sector HE INFORMATION Systems Security Association (ISSA) is the largest international, not-for-profit association, specifically formed for information security professionals, with active participation from individuals from the 150 chapters located all over the world.

The ISSA UK Chapter is the second largest in the world and we are proud to say that we have been voted ‘Chapter of the Year’, twice during the past five years (as well as Communications Chapter of the Year last year). Membership costs only $95 per annum (with special rates for students) and for that we provide numerous

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events across the UK at no extra charge to our members (most of them earning CPE points).

Additionally we offer educational forums, publications and peer interaction opportunities that enhance the knowledge, skill and professional growth of our members. We are also the ‘preferred partner’ of (ISC)2 for CISSPs and SSCPs. If you are a security professional, you owe it to yourself to be a member of the ISSA.

FOR MORE INFORMATION You can find out more about us, or join, by downloading a membership form from our website on www.issa-uk.org

UARDIAN IS A FULLY featured web filtering solution in use by local authorities, education, government and private businesses in the UK and around the world. Guardian is BECTA accredited and offers accurate and reliable web filtering, without annoying false positives all at a realistic price.

SmoothWall’s pioneering Dynamic Content Analysis™ is used to examine the content, context and construction of web pages in detail, so all undesirable and malicious content (including anonymous proxies, SSL proxies, and flash based content) can be accurately detected and blocked as required. All of this is real time, and doesn’t simply rely of a URL database of known sites

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unlike some of our competitors.

Full graphical reporting abilities mean that you can easily monitor exactly where users spend your time and your bandwidth.

Guardian even protects remote users away from your corporate network. Guardian is available on a range of high performance appliances, or as a software only solution using your own choice of hardware or virtual environment.

For more information please visit us at Infosec stand M40 to see Guardian in action.

FOR MORE INFORMATION SmoothWall UK 1 John Charles Way Leeds LS12 6QA Tel: 08701 999500 Web: www.smoothwall.net

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www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Visit the website to view the categorised product finder

ADVERTISERS INDEX The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service Advantage Austria AEP Networks AIIM Roadshow APP SEC Ark Group Arqiva Austin Hughes Europe Avaya Avocent Landesk BAPCO 2010 Big Fix Europe Blue Square Data Group Services Boldon James Brother Capita Total Document Solutions Caretower Cherwell Software Cimtech Condico Mobile Cryptocard Europe Eaton Williams Eckoh EMC

71 71 28 71 50 62 18 54 64 60 68 19 66 BC 24 71 32 26 40 72 22 56 6

Epix Systems Espatial Euro Systems G4S Integrate Services Global Knowledge Honey Scanning & Mobility Hornbill Information Security Group Infosecurity IP User Group ISSA UK IT Decisions 2010 Jadestone Kodak Lan2Lan Lease Direct M & J Bowers Marval Group Miquest MRG Systems Nedap Aeos OKI Printing Phoenix Datacom

40 44 12 58 2 40 38 68 70 61 73 48 69 4 49 14 58 35 40 10 72 30 68

Printerbase Quadratek ReadSoft Redstone Salford GIS Sentrum Service Desk & IT Support Show Sita UK Smoothwall Software Box Speech TEK Europe Sunrise Software Swivel Secure Tabs FM TCG Recycling Telehouse Tornex Touchstone Group Unigis Verbatim Europe Verizon Warwick International Computing Systems Xenzone

43 32 29 68 46 20 34 58 73 69 53 36 66 42 IBC 17 14 10 46 69 73 32 14

8 www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

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THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY

Do you really know what’s happening with your e-waste?

FINDING THE ECOLOGY IN TECHNOLOGY ®

#1064505 #1064506 #1064512 #1065023 #1065027 #1601115

®

WHAT WE DO • Customized Data Destruction Solutions • Full serial number traceability of material from pick-up thru final disposition • Data eradication for any type of IT media • Fully secure shredding with optional video capture • Certificates of Destruction SECURE FACILITIES WORLDWIDE 24/7 electronic surveillance, high-security fencing, limited vehicle access, daily employee screening using metal detectors, and limited-access secure storage.

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Full time global EH&S staff conducts ongoing project management, internal auditing of all TCG facilities, and regular auditing of downstream vendors.

INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY COMPLIANCE The most stringent EH&S requirements become our worldwide standard of performance for all facilities.

ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITY PROTECTION TCG carries Domestic and International Pollution Liability coverage.

www.tcgrecycling.com 0121 522 0590 USA • Mexico • Israel • Brazil • United Kingdom

If you care about ethics, you’ll care about the results of this year’s Ethical Awards.

POSITION

COMPANY

ETHICAL COMPANY INDEX SCORE

1

Brother

100

2

Kyocera/Lexmark

91

Olivetti/Ricoh

91

3

Konica/Sagemcom

82

4

Canon/Epson

73

5

Xerox

68

6

NEC

59

7

Panasonic/Samsung

50

8

HP

36

Judging category: Environment, animal welfare and human rights

100 OUT OF 100

4 YEARS

RUNNING

*

For the fourth year running, Brother has scored 100 out of 100 and has topped the table for its environmental and ethical strategies. And as we’re the only printer and fax manufacturer to ever achieve these top marks, which name should come first on your list?

To find out more: www.brothergreen.co.uk or call 08444 999 444 *

Source www.ethical-company-organisation.org – 2010

RENEW FREE

RECYCLING

SCHEME