Socitm 09

Delegates will be able to attend a maximum of three parallel sessions.

eCare Programme - sharing of personal data in Scotland
Robert Forman, eCare Programme Manager, Scottish Government

The effective sharing of information has long been identified as a key underpinning of the drive towards the provision of integrated, multi-agency services, particularly in relation to the care and protection of citizens. eCare has been developed in response to this requirement and delivers advice, products, services and expertise in support of Scottish Government policies that require the multi-enterprise sharing of personal data. This workshop will focus upon progress achieved to date, in development and implementation of the product set, and how eCare's solutions can support a range of needs. It will also set out the context for how eCare will support the requirements for Scotland's integrated children's services policy, Getting it Right for Every Child.

Social media: are ICT managers blocking modern
ways of working - and is it a problem?
Simon Hume, Stratford-on-Avon District Council

Go to any event about use of social media in the public sector and it won't be long before you hear criticism (to put it mildly!) of the IT department for blocking access to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Growing numbers of public sector workers see access to social media as essential for their work, especially for understanding and engaging with customers, and minding the council's wider reputation. Arguments against allowing staff access tend to centre on security, bandwidth and time-wasting. This workshop will explore the reality behind the claims, and suggest how IT managers can communicate the legitimate concerns they have. The discussion will be informed by research Socitm Insight has commissioned on usage and attitudes to social media among IT managers.

Responding locally to the Operational Efficiency Review
Martin Ferguson, Head of Policy, Socitm

The sense of crisis in public expenditure continues to build, particularly as we look beyond 2010 when the Operational Efficiency Programme kicks-in. A number of critical steps and actions can be taken locally, including:
Better use of information: without it there is ineffective use of resources, weak performance management, and lack of precision in achieving outcomes
Shifting to self service: we still operate on a traditional basis, avoiding the discomfort and risk of channel shift
A 'lean services approach': equipping managers to lead business process improvement designed to fundamentally re-think what and how we do things
A structured and formal approach to portfolio management
More efficient, effective ICT service delivery: collaboration and sharing
Restructuring operational budgets to change the way we operate.
This session will enable participants to debate the Socitm Futures Briefing A local response to the OEP: participants will leave with a practical understanding of how OEP can be addressed positively at the local level.

Your organisation and sustainable ICT
Catalina McGregor, Central Government's Founder and Deputy Champion for Green ICT and Richard Dawson, Bracknell Forest Borough Council

Many public sector organisations have continued to champion the cause of green ICT. They are wise to do so, because green approaches are also efficient, and as the world emerges from recession, oil prices will once again begin to spiral. It is easy to forget how we were saved from a potentially serious situation by the impact of the world recession. It is not just economics. Concern about greenhouse gasses has spread from CO2 to NF3, a gas released in flat screen production which is 17200 times more potent at keeping heat in the atmosphere. This workshop will set out what CIOs have delivered this year and where they will be going next. It will also present a case study from Bracknell Forest - a pioneer in green working methods - before giving delegates the opportunity to develop their ideas about how these approaches could be used in their own organisations.

What does it take to make outsourcing work?
David Wilde, CIO, Westminster City Council, Andrew Unsworth, Head of e-Government, Edinburgh Council and Alan Whatton, Best Practice Group

Outsourcing IT services is now commonplace across local government and only likely to increase with shared services and economic difficulties increasing the appetite. Successful outsourced services are made possible through strong and clear governance, direction and mutual respect. Failed outsourced services have invariably come about by failing to meet unrealistic expectations, weak contracts, lack of direction and poor supplier relationship management. This session will showcase two major outsourced deals, Westminster and Edinburgh, and share experiences, insights and hindsight.

Delivery management and IT professionalism
Neil Moore, Head of ICT, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, Government IT Profession National Competency Lead

How do we improve services and reduce costs? How do we meet the challenges of the current recession? In part the answer lies in the smarter use of the resources we already have. In this respect IT professionalism has an important part to play in helping us to unlock talents and skills within our own workforce and in providing our staff with a clearly defined personal development structure that will encourage them to stay. Run by members of the Government IT Profession Delivery Management Group (who are by day, senior IT managers from different public sector organisations), this workshop will draw on practical examples from local and central government. It will explore how the Government IT Profession can help us improve IT professionalism within our own organisations, especially in relation to delivery management and the skills framework for the information age (SFIA).

Customer access and channel management
Elaine McCue, Customer Services Manager, Renfrewshire Council

The financial crisis facing the public sector makes it essential for all its organisations to commit to self-service wherever appropriate. Recognising this earlier than most, Renfrewshire Council is leading the way in customer strategy and channel management. A pioneer in Scotland in implementing the national Customer First programme, and participant in the first group for Socitm Insight's channel value benchmarking, Renfrewshire has just published its new customer service strategy. Elaine will share the learning from Renfrewshire's recent work including how ICT will support the delivery of services.

The Cloud - local government's brightest opportunity to save money, protect jobs and boost productivity
Nathan Marke, Chief Technology Officer, 2e2 Group Ltd

Cloud computing is the hype technology of the moment. Nathan Marke of 2e2 believes that behind the hype lie very real and compelling opportunities. In this presentation, Nathan will explain the broad concepts of cloud computing and then focus on where he believes these opportunities exist. He will explore the opportunity for local government infrastructure to become more agile; transformed from a cost into an asset - and how this can support the Transformational Agenda. He will review the new architectural models represented by the cloud and show how these have the potential to dramatically reduce both TCO and carbon footprint when compared with today's infrastructure designs. He will also explore how these innovations in infrastructure and application models have direct relevance to key initiatives such as shared services, out tasking of non-core services and NI14.

Is there something you should know?
Andrew Ball, Head of IT Performance Audit, and Natalie Penrose, Senior Research Manager, the Audit Commission

We think there is. Information should be well made, well used and well governed - but maybe the following sound familiar?:
Data shows service performance is slipping - but there is no analysis of why
A sudden budget overspend is flagged, with no supporting analysis
You have several unconnected customer databases and many
duplicate records
You are not sure how many staff your organisation employs and your
HR data are months out of date
A two year proposal for a strategic partnership has no information on
success measures, cost breakdown or value for money
Management meeting papers are three inches thick but only 5% are used.
This interactive workshop will explain how the right people, culture and standards can help you meet the key information principles of relevance, quality and presentation.

How you can make digital inclusion happen in your authority area and reap all the benefits
Steven Jewell, Head of IT and e-Government, Milton Keynes Council and Paul Wheeler, Senior IT and e-Government Manager, Milton Keynes Council

This session will provide an overview and films of the MK Council digital inclusion 'journey' showing how DigitalMK and Connect MK Ltd were created,
how loan PCs are provided into the MK community and how new WiMAX wireless broadband is coming into MK. You will learn how you can benefit from and exploit these developments, gaining access to the Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher scheme and to a wealth of information (a toolkit) for your use. Additionally MK Council (being part of the DC10 Plus Group) are
seeking recruits! Via local authorities being willing to adopt and use the DC10 innovative products/services it is anticipated that the DC10 Plus Group will secure further government backing and funding. Accordingly, information on the DC10 Plus Group portfolio of products will be provided and 'your local authority sign-up' sought.

The Council of the Future
Doug Maclean, Socitm Consulting

The Council of the Future will be very different from what it is today. It has to be. The economic pressures to reduce cost, and the social pressures to deliver more and better services mean that councils have to question not only what they do but how they do it. Making efficiency savings by applying business process improvement methods takes you only so far; at some point you have to question why you have these processes at all. Don't do things differently, do different things. In this session, Doug Maclean will present a picture of the Council of the Future - what it will look like, how it will differ from what we know today, and why it needs to be that way. He will also present a roadmap - how councils can move forward, in small manageable steps, to the Council of the Future, and the benefits they will generate along the way. This session is not for the faint-hearted - it involves thinking very differently about how councils' strategic outcomes are achieved, and their services delivered.

Evolving the website - how local government can engage customers through social media and share valuable data
Suraj Kika, CEO, Jadu Ltd

Government data is very rich and powerful and can be used to enrich peoples' lives by embracing the evolution that is occurring in the way people are interacting with the web. In the early days of Web 1.0 - the 'document web', content was everything, we now see the Web 2.0 - the 'social web' as having a major impact on our lives. This has seen a huge shift in how individuals interact with each other and with organisations and a shift from 'mass media' to 'personal media'. The evolution is continuing with the emergence of Web 3.0 - 'the web of data' which is all about how data can be used more effectively. This workshop explores the implications of Web 3.0 for government and looks at how the data you have can be used to provide even more 'value' to people's lives.

Reinventing local public services using a cloud centric approach
Jeremy Sneller, Director, NEC Philips

Over the recent years, the public sector has not been afraid to embrace technology as an enabler to various initiatives, many of which have had a specific focus on service delivery or joining up the  many facets of the organisation. But the challenges facing those responsible for selecting and realising the benefits of the enabling technology are becoming increasingly complex. Technology investments are - or should be - driven by the requirements of the organisation, some of which however, have overlapping implications, such as budgetary constraints and green or compliance directives, or flexible working demands and employee authentication and security. So how much do the decisions made today affect the future sustainability of your technology infrastructure or the transformational
strategies of your organisation? This session will look at outlining some of the potential implications, as well as how, by integrating IT, communications and collaborative tools with a cloud computing model, organizations can meet requirements for business continuity whilst delivering quantifiable
improvements in end user productivity and significant business transformation.

Navigating A Safe Route To Better Information Assurance
Conrad Simpson, Head Of Security Practice, Sopra Group

The need to improve risk management is being made a growing priority across the public sector. In a world still feeling the continual aftershocks from major data loss incidents, how can organisations balance the requirements to deliver improved efficiency, share increasing amounts of data and ensure that this same data is handled and protected appropriately.  Conrad will provide a view of the current threat landscape and discusses the challenges in fully understanding where sensitive data resides.   He will look at some of IA considerations that need to be considered when looking at changes to working practices such as the increased use of online services, the moves to IT outsourcing and some considerations on cloud computing. Sopra will provide some real life examples that will illustrate the reality of these issues and the need to use effective risk management to ensure that the focus on data handling does not divert priorities and resources away from the 'business as usual' threats.

Cost Benefits and Barriers to Network Sharing Initiatives - Richard Brandon, Head of Strategy, MLL Telecom

Significant cost benefits could be achieved by sharing network services across multiple public authorities and organisations. Richard Brandon, Head of Strategy at MLL Telecom, specialist network provider to local authorities, will share some new research carried out amongst SOCITM members on the status of network sharing and the barriers to its implementation. Richard will discuss the potential areas for cost savings as well as improvements in capacity, resilience and flexibility. He will also examine a case study that evaluates the cost savings achieved from building a new network for a local authority in the North of England. Finally there will be a frank assessment of the barriers to implementing such a network, particularly the implications for network security and a layman's description of what this means for public sector organisations. 

What can Councils do to create a Smarter Planet?
Rashik Parmar, IBM Chief Technology Officer  - Northern Europe

The world is changing. The commoditisation of sensors and technology is making it affordable to measure the condition of everything.  Through sensors embedded in cars, appliances, roads, pipelines, even medicine and livestock, we can know where they are, their condition and even see what they are seeing. Through the explosion of social networking technologies like Twitter and Facebook,  people, systems and objects are becoming more interconnected. This is allowing people to work in new ways, and new businesses are emerging. In addition, the advances in analytic technologies mean we can analyse vast amounts of information in real time to create intelligence that Science Fiction writers used to dream about. If we can apply these new capabilities, we can make our planet smarter: with less traffic, healthier food, cleaner water and safer cities.  The cities and boroughs that understand this and take advantage of it fastest will gain great social and economic advantage. The local Council has an important role in encouraging local innovation and can play a leading role in harnessing Smarter Planet for the well being of all residents. The IT function has a critical role in becoming the catalyst for this evolution by providing the infrastructure and insights that enable the journey.