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June 2011

Weekly Broadcast  Friday 30 June 2011

Socitm IT Trends 2011 report

Be part of Socitm Insight's forthcoming IT Trends 2011 report ...

Socitm Insight are now conducting their IT Trends 2011 survey and your views and support are invaluable to us; a vital resource that makes the report both quantitative and qualitative.

This year we will be using SurveyMonkey to collect all the meaningful facts and figures for this report - to participate, please use the following link to access our short and simple IT Trends 2011 survey questionnaire ...

Socitm Insight IT Trends 2011 questionnaire

We hope that you find time to take part in this study before the closing date of 29 July 2011.  And, for your contribution, we will send you a copy of the IT Trends 2011 report totally free of charge.

Thank you in advance for your feedback and support and, in the event of any queries please contact;

John Serle
Editor IT Trends
ittrends@socitm.net
Tel: 01395 576940

Extra Articles

Weekly Broadcast  Friday 24 June 2011

New Socitm service to offer appropriate, low cost solution to EU 'cookies' Directive

The EU Directive on cookies, effective from 26 May, puts a new compliance burden on website owners. Assessing the risks of non-compliance, and deciding on an appropriate response is already consuming management time and legal costs in local authorities and other local public services. Simply removing cookies from sites will severely compromise the functioning of the website and is not a realistic option for organisations looking to shift more services online.

On 14 July, at its Perfect Council Websites '11 event, co-hosted with
E-Government Bulletin, Socitm will announce a new, low cost service to help local councils, police, fire, housing authorities and third sector organisations to comply with the Directive.

Organisations subscribing to the service will receive an audit of cookies on their site and a plain English guide to compliance with the terms of the Directive. Ongoing monitoring of cookies on the website will be an optional part of the package. The service is one of a number of sector-based schemes being encouraged by the Information Commissioners Office.

The service will be delivered in collaboration with a third party supplier, but users will contract with Socitm, with preferential terms available to Socitm Insight subscribers.

Think customer online: New report for all managers of public libraries 

Research report on mystery shopping in six London libraries and supporting toolkit

This special report assesses the usability of online library services in six London boroughs following a mystery shopping exercise carried of as part of Socitm Insight's annual Better connected survey of all council websites.

This arose out of work undertaken as part of the Better connected 2011 surveys of council websites. For this piece of research we decided to carry out a real-life mystery shopping exercise as a user of libraries in order to see how the online experience facilitates the whole experience of joining a new library. One of our reviewers joined six libraries in London boroughs, each of which uses a different library catalogue system (Bromley, Hammersmith & Fulham, Lewisham, Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster)

The report identified a large number of shortcomings about the online experience of using public libraries. No single system that stood out overall as being significantly better than the rest,

This full research report (35 pages) has been produced to help web teams, library service managers and library system suppliers. It expands research carried out as part of Better connected 2011 and summarised in that report, published February 2011

It is accompanied by a toolkit (30 pages) that aims to help the library service improve their online services.

Subscribers to Socitm Insight can download now both documents.

The charge for non-subscribers is £99 (or £85 for Socitm members), available from www.socitm.net

Weekly Broadcast  Thursday 16 June 2011

Socitm's Jos Creese voted UK's most influential IT chief
Socitm Immediate Past President and Hampshire County Council CIO Jos Creese has been named the most influential IT chief in the UK in this year's silicon.com CIO50. According to silicon.com, Jos's position in this year's CIO50 list reflects both the increasing importance of local government in delivering services to the public.  It also reflects his conviction, strongly promoted during a highly active and effective year as Socitm President, that IT should be a source of innovation and an agent of change, not just a back-office function. silicon.com's CIO50 list, which covers both public and private sectors is now now in its fifth year, and  celebrates the most influential and innovative tech chiefs in the UK, from organisations both large and small, public and private. The list is compiled from the votes of UK CIOs. Dylan Roberts, chair of Socitm Futures and chief officer (ICT), Leeds City Council was also named in the top 10. Other key Socitm activists and members featured in the top 50 list are Socitm President Glyn Evans, who is Corporate director of business change at Birmingham City Council, Socitm London Chair Geoff Connell, who is Divisional director for ICT/head of business systems at the London Boroughs of Newham and Havering, David Tidey, Head of IT and business communications at Wandsworth Council, Martyn Croft from Salvation Army, and David Wilde, CIO at Westminster City Council.
For further information see silicon.com's CIO50 special report.

Planting the Flag: 'Getting Started' workshop Socitm East - Friday 17 June 2011
This Friday, Socitm East will host the first of what will be a nationwide series of regional workshops to take forward the agenda set out in Planting the Flag, the strategy for ICT enabled local public services reform launched at the Socitm Spring Conference on May 11.

The workshop will enable participants to take the first steps in pinpointing opportunities for sharing, collaboration, re-design and innovation by:
mapping what is already happening in the region
identifying strengths and weaknesses of organisations around the six Planting the Flag (PtF) capabilities prioritising and selecting for action relevant PtF information and technology issues. identifying additional support and guidance that may be needed. The workshop will be led by Martin Ferguson, Socitm's Head of Policy, and Chris Head, Principal Associate, Socitm Insight.

Outcomes of the workshop will be published on www.socitm.net - watch this space for announcements.

Webinar: joined up thinking and working
Socitm head of information assurance Mark Brett and Socitm member and Westminster CIO David Wilde joined the panel for the latest webinar from UKauthorITy.com now available to view online.
The topic under discussion was how organisations can responds to the need to do more with less by fostering innovation, working outside their traditional boundaries and freeing themselves from silo working.
The panel discussed how technology can enable the building of a cost effective virtual front line where the needs of the citizen are met holistically and efficiently in a seamless information flow, but also whether the technology is yet good enough to enable initiatives such as the 'tri-borough' joint working between Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea? And can the safety of the sensitive information be assured in the context of this sort of joint working?
See the webinar at: ukauthority.com

Slides now available: Building website take-up and citizen e-engagement 7 June
Presentations from this event, one of two run annually for subscribers to the Socitm Insight Website take-up service, are now available on the Socitm Website. To access the slides you need to be an Insight subscriber, registered on the Socitm website and logged in. Presentations include:
Cookies - handle with care - Simon Halberstam and Andrew Soloman
How to build website take-up - Martin Greenwood
Moving towards a 'channel shift' approach - Michele Ide-Smith
How councils can make significant savings through channel shift and reduction in avoidable contact - Vicky Sargent
Developing a strategy for mobile, the Looking Local approach - Guy Giles
Find slides at Socitm.net

Weekly Broadcast   Thursday 9 June 2011

Successful sharing: a practical guide for local public services
Shared services are a strong candidate for savings, especially in times of austerity. Theoretically, rationalised management structures, back offices and infrastructure ought not to interfere with the front line.

However, there are many issues relating to organisational politics, people and technology to address. Our report examines the practical issues concerning current practice, draws out the lessons learnt, and asks how to apply them. Its scope ranges from getting started to achieving the goals.

We have also made an in-depth examination of six case studies, which each illustrate different approaches and different reasons for sharing:

Find out more from the Successful sharing page on the Socitm website.

Note: You will only be able to download the report if your council has renewed its Socitm Insight subscription and you are personally registered on the Socitm website.
To register as a user on the Socitm website so that you personally can download publications as an employee of a subscribing organisation, go to the registration page.

Weekly Broadcast  Thursday 2 June 2011

The Strategy for ICT-enabled local public services reform - full version now available for download
You'll need to register on the Socitm website to get a copy of The Strategy for ICT, but this is free and anyone can. Work on the second phase of the strategy, Planning the Route, is now underway, and will involve working with partners at regional and sub-regional levels to develop more detailed plans to turn the vision into practical reality on the ground. Discussions have already started with SOLACE, CIPFA, and LG Group to make this happen. The strategy has also been endorsed or recommended by:

  • Joe Harley, Government CIO
  • Steve Freer, Chief Executive, CIPFA
  • Mark O'Neill, Chief Information Officer, DCLG and DCMS
  • Rob Whiteman,Managing Director, Local Government Improvement & Development
  • Kathryn Rossiter, Managing Director, SOLACE Member Briefing 27 May 20

The Strategy is a Local CIO Council initiative, led by Socitm's Futures group.

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