Outsourcing Debate part 2
There seems to be a debate about the current drive for cost reduction forcing some of the councils to consider outsourcing. Sure: you are promised same or better for less, and you don’t have to worry your pretty little head about a thing. Your headcount drops too, and you may even get a capital injection – if not now, then perhaps in a few years time.
Threat to ICT jobs
Many more organisations in the local government are starting their move to at least hybrid provision of services. The path is pretty well etched now: ICT organisational restructuring -> Policy and Capability review (including data analysis and separation) -> TCO analysis -> Pilots / Migrations -> Integration -> Support and Management. This post is focused… Read more »
Local Government Moving to the Cloud
As farfetched a vision this may seem, the change in attitude towards Cloud in local government over the last several months is astounding. Just 12 months ago, when we started going around local authorities offering free consulting on how to move their services to the emerging industry, we frequently were met with blank stares, or… Read more »
Cloud in Local Government – when is a good time to act?
During our many many visits to local authorities across the UK, there is one question that we get very frequently: When is the right time to start taking action regarding the cloud? Generally, every ICT and business professional within Local Government in the UK that I have met has acknowledged that Cloud computing, in its… Read more »
We have classified the Cloud Services – but what about its Customers in the Public Sector?
Roughly, I could split ICT professionals that we meet into 4 major categories based on their attitude to the cloud: Believer/adopter. They have made the mental leap to the new delivery model, including the cloud part of it. They accept that they need to deliver services, not software, and all that this entails. They are… Read more »
Cloud vs. Outsourcing in Public Sector
In many ways, Cloud Computing is closely related to a commercial concept of outsourcing: a 3rd party is providing key elements of IT service in an organisation. To an extent, some of the scepticism that exists around the Cloud Computing Industry is routed in this similarity. Many of the local authorities we are working with… Read more »
Evolution of the Cloud
Like Gas, Electricity or Water, Information Technology should be simple, ubiquitous, and cheap. Users / customers of the service should not enjoy or dislike using IT anymore that they do using the 220 volts of power from a socket. This is the key to Arcus’s methodology for advising and delivering cloud services to the public… Read more »