See the Socitm 2008 programme
Green ICT: we all want to save the planet, but how best?
Presented by Terry Street, Socitm Consulting
What can ICT departments do in order to contribute to our organisations' targets on carbon emissions? What metrics should we use? How can we change attitudes as well as technology? What model can we use to assess performance? This workshop may help you address some of these issues, as well as presenting a new, affordable tool that Socitm is developing to help all sizes of authority meet the challenges. Development of the Greener ICT Maturity Model (GIMM©) is being supported by a number of authorities, and the workshop will outline progress and provide an insight into how GIMM can be applied. We will also discuss other models, metrics, and key performance indicators around Green ICT. Come along with your ideas and hopefully leave with a few more.
Digital inclusion – what has it got to do with me?
Presented by Jenny Brogden, Socitm Consulting
With computer skills now recognised as being as important as the ‘three Rs’, digital inclusion is an issue that needs addressing across the council - 75% of people who are socially excluded are known not to have access to the Internet or the information and services it offers. Local authorities that have grasped this issue are devising innovative ways of tackling social exclusion through the use of a range of technologies, and many have saved money in the process. Socitm Consulting is currently engaged on a major project on behalf of CLG to examine the awareness of digital inclusion among local government staff and partner organisations, and will be making recommendations about raising awareness and increasing commitment to tackling the digital divide. The workshop will provide an opportunity for you to explore issues behind digital equality, share your own experience, and hear about best practice from across the UK.
Business continuity: recovery from a near disaster!
Presented by Sue Holloway, Head of Strategic Planning, Local Government & Social Housing Northgate Public Services
11 December 2005 was one of the most amazing days to be employed by Northgate - it was the day that petrol hit the roof and it wasn't just the price - the Buncefield Oil Depot exploded. Our HQ was destroyed, most of our company IT, communications, telephony, email and central systems were lost and our hosting facility for many mission critical customers was gone. But we survived. In fact the event brought our people closer together - and we emerged as a stronger and more resilient team. This presentation will tell you what the 'the worst that could happen' really means, what worked - and what didn't, how we responded then and how we have changed since, and how our experience could help us to help you………
Mobility, instant access and the digital citizen
Presented by Alex Butler, Director, Transformational Strategy, Central Office of Information
Better connected has charted the rise of the council website over the last ten years, but the next ten will see websites lose their primacy as the citizen's route to digital information and services from their council. These will need to become increasingly available through mobile phones, other in-the-pocket devices, and digital TV, as well as through other providers, including private organisations, digital communities like Net Mums and the neighbourhood blog. Alex Butler, among whose responsibilities is the Government's Power of Information initiative, will set out some of the issues that should be shaping local authority investment in the future delivery of digital information and services.
Better customer access and service, better taxpayer value - avoidable contact and all that
Presented by Martin Greenwood, Programme manager, Socitm Insight
How many local authorities can state with confidence the number of enquiries they get every day through web, phone and face-to-face channels? Which of these channels performs best in terms of customer satisfaction and what would the authority save by reducing 'avoidable contact' or offering any specific application (eg schools admissions, or planning applications) exclusively online? Earlier this year, Socitm Insight launched the Customer Access Improvement Service (CAIS) to help councils gather the information they need to generate efficiencies in service delivery, improve their 'customer insight' and increase customer satisfaction. This workshop will present data and feedback from the three elements of CAIS - the Website take-up service, Govmetric and the recently launched Channel Value Benchmarking Service - to shed light on progress being made in measuring, benchmarking, and improving local authority performance in this area.
Information assurance and the Data Handling Review
Presented by Harvey Mattinson, Lead Consultant, CESG (Communications-Electronics Security Group)
This session will develop the contents of the plenary session presented by the same speaker earlier in the day.
Service orientated architecture - a necessity to tackle 'avoidable contact'?
Presented by Peter Coates, Programme Manager, Office of the Chief Executive, Sunderland City Council
NI 14 is described as the 'transformation' indicator focusing on avoidable contact within the service delivery cycle. Peter Coates, who has been closely involved in the service migration/business transformation projects around Sunderland City Council's 'PeopleFirst' programme, will assess whether a traditional local government technology infrastructure can respond to the NI 14 agenda. As part of that assessment he will ask if a service orientated architecture approach to software is a 'must-have' in the context of NI 14. In doing so he will challenge the common view that traditional LA IT systems linked to CRM systems will lead to the required improvement in customer service.
Government Connect
Presented by Simon Norbury, Head of Architecture and Business Design, Government Connect
As a pan-government funded programme led by DWP, Government Connect is a recognised, accredited and trusted secure government network for all Local Authorities in England and Wales. The network is called GCSx and it enables secure data sharing up to RESTRICTED level across government. Enabling cross-government working; Building common security standards; Data handling; Barriers to Code of Connection including results of Socitm survey. This session will provide delegates with an understanding of how the programme team are meeting the technological and security challenges inherent in Government Connect, and delivering a transformational programme that continues to improve service provision for citizens and local government
Web 2.0: here to stay and making an impact
Presented by Matt Bright, Greater London Authority and Stephen Hilton, Programme Manager, Connecting Bristol
Web 2.0 tehnologies have played a major part in the recent London Mayoral elections and over in Bristol they are helping communities to engage better. In this session you will hear from the people who have both witnessed and encouraged the use of these technologies to reach local people through political and community engagement.
The Public Office taster
Presented by Ruth Kennedy, The Public Office
The Public Office is a powerful, collaborative learning experience designed to help public servants think creatively about the design and delivery of citizencentric public services. Developed for people working in central and local government, it uses video stories from real service users to enable participants to view public services through the eyes of the user. These stories, which illustrate the difficulty and distress caused by poor collaboration between public service providers, failure to provide information or recognise family as well as individual need, evoke a powerful empathy and a strong motivating desire to think hard about how things could be done better. This session will provide a 'taster' of the Public Office experience with feedback from central and local government organisations that have used it to stimulate action and build collective commitment to improve the design and delivery of their services.
Government IT Profession and the Aspire Partnership
Presented by Mary Wintershausen and Mark Wheatley, Socitm Consulting
This session will show how the Government IT Profession and SFIA frameworks can help organisations meet their transformation goals. Speakers will draw on results of the recent UK IT profession pilots sponsored by the Aspire Partnership*, exploring the implementation experience, the business drivers that ensured success, the actual benefits they realised, plus the longer term business benefits anticipated by participating Councils. The session will also cover the range of tools and services that are available to support implementation of this kind, including the Aspire service, which will be launched at this conference. Session attendees will be given a voucher for the Socitm IT Profession pack available from the Aspire stand. This contains some of the valued Socitm Professionalism e-toolkit including an implementation roadmap, pre-readiness information and a free demo login for ASPIRE.
* Aspire Partnership is a collaboration by Leeds county Council, IDeA, Socitm and the Cabinet Office