Socitm Insight news
Challenges of sharing ICT services covered in latest Socitm Insight briefing
Published: Wednesday 8th May 2013
The challenges for councils sharing ICT services are set out in the latest Socitm briefing, with reference to the Aylesbury Vale and Dacorum partnership, and the East Kent Services arrangement.
Better connected 2013 available now
Published: Friday 1st March 2013
Better connected 2013, the latest edition our annual survey of council website performance, is available on this site now for registered site users from Socitm Insight subscribing organisations.
Plan carefully as 'consumer IT' permeates the workplace, says IT Trends 2012/13
Published: Thursday 28th February 2013
ICT managers should be planning for a shortage of digital skills as the workforce, empowered by 'consumer IT', demand better facilities at work.
Better connected preview #5: housing
Published: Tuesday 19th February 2013
Housing is the subject of the latest commentary on the quality and presentation of UK council websites to be published by Socitm Insight.
Better connected preview #4: childrens' services
Published: Tuesday 12th February 2013
Socitm Insight has produced a summary of reviewers' comments on the quality of presentation of childrens' services on UK council websites.
Better connected previews #3: planning
Published: Tuesday 5th February 2013
Socitm Insight has produced a summary of reviewers' comments on the quality of presentation of planning services on UK council websites. This has been published ahead of the launch of Better connected
How to shape up as a 'digital leader'
Published: Thursday 31st January 2013
Heads of ICT should not assume that the 'digital leader' roles mandated in the Government Digital Strategy are naturally theirs for the taking, says our latest briefing.
Better connected preview #2: libraries
Published: Tuesday 29th January 2013
Socitm Insight has produced a summary of reviewers’ comments on the quality of presentation of library services on UK council websites.
Better connected preview #1: adult social care
Published: Tuesday 22nd January 2013
Socitm Insight has produced a summary of reviewers' comments on the quality of presentation of adult social care services on UK council websites.
Apply 'smart city' thinking across all government organisations
Published: Thursday 10th January 2013
'Smart city' thinking, where effective use of information and technology informs policy and decision-making, could make all government smart, argues Socitm's latest briefing.
'Strategic sourcing' of ICT better than lengthy private sector ‘partnerships’
Published: Tuesday 27th November 2012
Strategic sourcing of ICT services offers less risk and more benefits than simple outsourcing contracts, says Socitm's latest pocket guide, to be launched at the Socitm conference on November 28th.
The Government Digital Strategy and local public services
Published: Friday 16th November 2012
What might local public services take from the new Government Digital Strategy unveiled by the Cabinet Office on 6 November, asks the latest briefing from Socitm Insight.
Pros and cons of ‘bring your own device’ set out in latest Socitm briefing
Published: Thursday 1st November 2012
Do ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) schemes offer a ‘one-hit’ solution to falling budgets, out-of-date technology and the inefficiencies of managing different devices for home and work use?
Shared services: latest Planting the Flag pocket guide now available
Published: Friday 26th October 2012
One of six guides from Socitm on the strategic capabilities required for public service reform is now available and covers the topic of shared services.
Research priorities for 2013 - Have your say!
Published: Wednesday 24th October 2012
The Socitm Insight Steering Group (to be renamed Research Steering Group) has identified ten possible research topics for in-depth studies in 2013. What are your priorities for Socitm's research?
Don't lose your Better connected rating!
Published: Friday 12th October 2012
Councils without a subscription to Socitm Insight have until Friday 19 October to take one out if they wish to see their website survey results published in Better connected 2013.
Latest briefing explores challenges and opportunites of 4G
Published: Thursday 11th October 2012
Public service managers should be thinking hard about implications of 4G now that 3G has made mobile internet use routine.
ICT functions responding well to recessionary pressures
Published: Friday 7th September 2012
Socitm's summary of ICT benchmarking results for 2011, now available from this website, shows that local authority ICT functions are responding well to conditions of severe austerity.
Channel shift: where to start and what to do
Published: Tuesday 7th August 2012
Have you been tasked with developing a channel shift programme? Or making the business case for one?
Out now: Planting the Flag: pocket guide 3 - organisational change
Published: Thursday 2nd August 2012
Planting the Flag: pocket guide 3 - organisational change, the third of Socitm's six planned guides to the strategic capabilities required for public service reform, has been published.
Socitm Agile Pathfinder Project: briefing out now
Published: Friday 27th July 2012
'Why wouldn't every council web/IT team want to work like this?' concludes Socitm Insight's new briefing on the topic of agile working in local government.
Important changes announced for Better connected 2013
Published: Monday 23rd July 2012
Socitm Insight has announced a number of important changes to the way Better connected, its annual survey of all local authority websites, will be run in 2012/13.
More maturity needed about risk says latest briefing from Socitm Insight
Published: Thursday 14th June 2012
The crisis facing public service organisations is now so severe that they need to experiment and start taking a mature approach to risk, says the latest briefing, available now, from Socitm Insight.
Shared services time for a re-think? briefing from Socitm Insight available now
Published: Thursday 7th June 2012
The sharing of services, including ICT and other functions, is becoming a necessity for local public services and under current financial pressures, is likely to grow rather than fade away.
Socitm publishes data for channel shift
Published: Thursday 24th May 2012
Socitm Insight has published its annual briefing with information from 2011 about customer enquiries to councils’ main access channels - ie phone, web, and face to face.
Socitm proposes new model for council website development
Published: Tuesday 27th March 2012
Councils must make radical changes to the way they govern and manage their websites and adopt a new model for future development, says a new briefing from Socitm Insight.
Better connected 2012 - out now!
Published: Thursday 1st March 2012
Congratulations to 23 councils that have achieved four stars for their websites in our annual survey, details of which are out now and available to download.
Better connected 2012 out 1 March
Published: Thursday 23rd February 2012
Better connected 2012 , Socitm Insight's annual report on the quality and performance of all 433 local authority websites in the UK is published on 1 March.
Almost all councils now allow some access to social media says new briefing
Published: Thursday 23rd February 2012
A survey by Socitm Insight shows that almost all councils now allow some access to social media, compared with just one third that did so only two years ago.
IT chiefs should be leading broadband initiatives for UK 'not-spots'
Published: Monday 23rd January 2012
Socitm is urging local CIOs and Heads of ICT to take a leading role in council initiatives to bring broadband to the UK's 'not-spots.'
IT Trends 2011/12 out now
Published: Thursday 19th January 2012
IT management appears to be wielding greater influence in local public services as local public services turn to technology in response to austerity, says the latest edition of IT Trends, out now.
Social media survey of local authority Heads of ICT
Published: Wednesday 11th January 2012
Socitm Insight is running a survey about social media. Our aim is to gather information from CIOs, Heads of ICT and others with responsibility for the ICT function in local authorities.
Council digital channels show mixed performance on strike day
Published: Monday 5th December 2011
A survey by Socitm Insight of council website and social media coverage of the public sector strike on 30 November shows wide variation in practice and performance.
Socitm Insight surveys number and size of council websites
Published: Tuesday 8th November 2011
Socitm Insight is undertaking a survey into the number and size of websites being run by individual councils.
CIO or CTO? - time to choose says new Socitm briefing
Published: Tuesday 1st November 2011
Manage the technology or drive transformation: now is the time for ICT professionals to choose says latest briefing from Socitm Insight, available free of charge to subscribers from this website.
Efficiencies from better hospital websites - join our improvement survey this autumn
Published: Tuesday 6th September 2011
Your stakeholders, be they patients, carers, NHS managers, GPs, or job-seekers, increasingly expect to find and do things online.
Important changes to the Better connected 2012 report
Published: Thursday 25th August 2011
Socitm Insight announces important changes in the way in which council websites will be assessed for the Better connected 2012 report.
Socitm publishes mini-survey of NHS hospital websites
Published: Friday 22nd July 2011
Socitm Insight has carried out a mini survey of the usefulness and usability of nine high profile, city-based hospitals in England.
Socitm Insight launches Cookie management service
Published: Thursday 14th July 2011
Socitm Insight has launched a new service to help public sector website owners to deal with the implication of the EU 'cookie' directive effective from 26 May 2011.
Agile Pathfinder Programme
Published: Thursday 30th June 2011
Socitm Insight and IndigoBlue Consulting Ltd are joining forces to support a new programme for testing the agile methodology in delivering radical business change in local public services.
Socitm Insight produces toolkit to improve libraries online
Published: Monday 27th June 2011
Socitm Insight has produced a Toolkit to help library teams, web managers, and providers of library systems to address shortcomings in the customer experience of council library services online.
Need to save will overcome barriers to sharing
Published: Monday 6th June 2011
The funding crisis will focus local public service decision-makers on the best routes to savings, including shared services, which have tended to fall at the political hurdle in the past.
New briefing highlights outsourcing risks
Published: Wednesday 4th May 2011
Local authorities face many risks in outsourcing ICT, and those that follow this route without a full appreciation of them may pay a heavy price, both financially and in loss of flexibilty.
Making public services 'digital by default': new Socitm guide
Published: Monday 18th April 2011
What is the case for making public services 'digital by default', as UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox is urging, and what do organisations need to be doing to make them so?
New briefing from Socitm Insight calls for shared services to boost self-service
Published: Monday 4th April 2011
Councils looking to improve their websites and accelerate development of cost-saving self-service models of delivery should be thinking about their sharing web resources with other public services.
Better connected 2011 - out now
Published: Tuesday 1st March 2011
Socitm’s annual report on the usefulness and usability of council websites is out now. Assessments of websites from 49 other public sector organisations subscribing to Socitm Insight are included.
New report from Socitm Insight highlights major savings opportunity
Published: Tuesday 15th February 2011
The report from Socitm Insight says councils should bring all front office customer contact, whether face-to-face, by phone, through the web or other means, under the same governance and management.
IT functions delivering more for less says IT Trends 2010/11
Published: Thursday 20th January 2011
IT functions in local public services are delivering more despite reductions in budgets and staffing, says the latest issue of IT Trends, the annual survey published by Socitm on 20 January.
Cloud computing key to better, cheaper public services
Published: Thursday 6th January 2011
Only a move to the cloud can make affordable the increased efficiency needed to keep public services affordable says Heading into the cloud, the latest briefing from Socitm Insight.
Better information management key to cost-saving 'place-based' public services
Published: Monday 6th December 2010
Potential for saving public funds through place-based budgeting could be frustrated without better understanding of how to manage and use information.
Prepare now for the Public Sector Network
Published: Friday 5th November 2010
ICT leaders and their chief executives in local public services should be preparing now for the Public Sector Network (PSN), says a new report from Socitm Insight.
Customer Access Improvement Service Briefing Issue 4
Published: Tuesday 31st August 2010
Our latest edition of this briefing presents a case study from Surrey CC in customer access strategy that is very relevant in today’s political environment.
Tomorrow's public services: some stories from everyday life in 2012
Published: Tuesday 10th August 2010
What will it be like to use or provide public services in two to three years’ time, when public spending cuts and high levels of demand have done their worst?
New briefing available on open data and transparency
Published: Wednesday 4th August 2010
Socitm Insight’s latest briefing covers the Government’s drive for open data publishing. This includes the requirement on councils to publish, by January, all spending and contracts above £500.
Online services for business 'at best patchy' finds Socitm Insight
Published: Thursday 8th July 2010
A survey by Socitm Insight for the Department for Business shows implementation of an EU directive to make it easy for businesses to find out about licensing, regulations etc is patchy at best.
Update your data
Published: Sunday 27th June 2010
From 28 June, public sector organisations are being invited to add new, or update existing, data previously held on LB Brent’s eGovernment Register and Socitm’s Software Index.
Elections 2010: council websites could do better
Published: Monday 7th June 2010
Local and national government websites could do better when it comes to publishing information to support the democratic process, according to a new report from Socitm Insight.
Get IT Trends 2010/11 for free
Published: Thursday 3rd June 2010
Regular participants know that Socitm’s IT Trends survey report is free of charge to the organisations that complete the survey, which is available now, and should to be submitted by June 30. Pre-populated survey forms have already been sent to organisations that have taken part recently.
Time for the 'Cinderella resource'
Published: Friday 14th May 2010
Information management is ill-understood and poorly managed by public sector organisations, yet holds the potential to protect them from the worst consequences of the current financial crisis.
What chief executives must know about their websites
Published: Thursday 8th April 2010
Chief executives should be asking three key questions about their websites, now that most customer interactions are online, says a new briefing from Socitm Insight.
Better connected 2010
Published: Monday 1st March 2010
This year's report is available now to all Socitm Insight subscribers who have paid their 2010 subscriptions.
Twitter gritters: new briefing shows how councils are using the web and social media to help manage local emergencies
Published: Monday 15th February 2010
Councils are starting to use social networks like Facebook and Twitter as well as hyperlocal, community websites, to communicate with their residents and businesses when local emergencies arise.
Continued IT budget cuts will compromise delivery of savings elsewhere says IT Trends 2009/10
Published: Thursday 21st January 2010
This is the key finding of IT trends 2009/10: stretched to breaking point the latest edition of Socitm’s annual survey of IT trends in in local public services, published on 21 January.
Underperforming websites could be costing councils £11m a month
Published: Saturday 9th January 2010
Underperforming websites could be costing UK councils collectively up to £11m a month as people unsuccessful in accessing online information and services turn instead to other channels.
Call for stories around web takeup, customer access and channel shift
Published: Wednesday 18th November 2009
Do you have projects that might be suitable to feature in a new Socitm Insight report on this topic? If so we want to hear from you, as we are starting work on a follow up report to Better marketed
Your views sought on proposed new ranking system and updated assessment criteria for Better connected
Published: Thursday 13th August 2009
Our proposals for a new ranking system and updated assessment criteria for Better connected, our annual survey of all local authority websites are now available to download.
Customer Access Improvement Service briefing 2
Published: Thursday 2nd July 2009
This is the second half-yearly briefing and results summary from the Customer Access Improvement Service. We report on results collected in March 2009...
Learning from Better connected 2009
Published: Tuesday 5th May 2009
Socitm Insight has published a new briefing based on research in its annual report on council websites.
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