public sector

New public sector laws to have huge impact on built environment and planning

To many, the Queen’s speech might not sound like much but a rubber-stamping exercise. Yet what Her Majesty announced last week will impact planning and built environment platforms more than suppliers and public sector customers might initially realise. Here are the standout commitments from the Government this year, and what they mean for suppliers and the public sector alike.

Part Two – ‘Low Code to No Code’

Low Code sounds great: you (anyone) can use this magic tool, to create a full business application or part thereof, without having to use expensive techies, instead using a cheaper and less specialist resource. It is (mostly) completely visual, and can be achieved using a number of tools out there on the market. Sometimes it manifests as a toolkit on top of a platform like Salesforce or Dynamics.

Part One – The danger of Low code and a ‘Minimum Viable Anything’ approach

Over the last 5 years, there has been a shift in the consulting / advisory landscape in Public Sector and Local Government. It feels like many of the more traditional approaches are rebranding or disappearing altogether to be replaced by a fancy ‘Digital’ title, perhaps using a technical term or concept here and there, or quoting some newly created model for doing roughly the same thing.

Why the public sector should focus on the tech that will make lives better

It goes without saying that the past year has thrown up challenges that most of us never thought we would face, and the public sector is no exception.

Arcus Global appoints new Sales Director

Arcus Global, specialist cloud solutions provider for the public sector, has hired Paul Langridge as sales director.

In his role, Langridge will be responsible for the local government team, establishing and enacting a strategy to propel Arcus Global towards its growth goals by identifying new market opportunities and defining the actions required to take advantage of them.

No more excuses for cyber security failures in councils

Breaches of cyber security are a significant risk to every business and individual, but are increasingly affecting local government. Recovering from the February 2020 ransomware attack that reduced Redcar & Cleveland Council to using pen and paper for critical processes, was estimated to have cost over £10.5m – three times their 2019 central ICT budget.

Getting the data right: seamless data migration for the public sector

With the National Data Strategy setting out the Government’s desire to create a data-led public sector, as well as an appetite from local authorities to deliver data-driven services, many organisations now see that migrating from legacy systems to a new provider offers the ideal opportunity to improve data quality and use this investment to its fullest potential.

Arcus is now Cyber Essentials Plus Certified!

Security of your (and our) data is of paramount importance to Arcus Global. As a company who specialises in working with Local Government it can, and very often does, involve handling sensitive, personally identifiable information belonging to members of the public. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that Arcus Global has achieved the coveted Cyber Essentials Plus certification to add to its growing list of accreditations and underpins the company’s commitment as a key supplier to the public sector.

Arcus Global appoints Head of Marketing

Arcus Global, a leading cloud service provider to the public sector, has appointed Charlotte Fionda as Head of Marketing. She will be responsible for developing and implementing integrated marketing campaigns and communications aimed at building brand awareness and driving growth.

Arcus Global launches annual tree planting programme

As part of Arcus Global’s commitment to supporting sustainability, we will be donating 100 tree saplings to any new and existing Local Authority customers to enrich their local communities – it’s something that we’re pledging to do every year. We will work with our customers to carefully identify the right location and species and help them source and plant in their areas.

Planning for the future

As the product owner for the Built Environment suite, it is my responsibility to understand market changes and trends. As such I’ve been closely watching the comments and responses to the Government’s Planning for the Future white paper. It’s been particularly interesting to see discussions going on around the newly proposed zoning concepts rather than the adoption of technology.

The key digital freedoms for the public sector

Much has been made of the unprecedented nature of 2020 and the innovation that accompanied the response to the demands of the pandemic. On reflection, I think last year changed the way we think about innovation (or at least the emphasis of it). We moved away from new entrants disrupting stale markets and faced a ‘stress test’ of the technology infrastructure that the public sector in particular had put in place in the latter half of the 2010s.