The Everything Happens Somewhere conference is aimed at supporting local government address and street information specialists, together with street naming and numbering officials. Now in its eighth year, the ‘Everything Happens Somewhere’ conference and exhibition is organised by GeoPlace. The event is designed to deliver value to all those that participate.
Come and visit Civica on stand 9
Civica working in partnership with Zenco have been commissioned in June to supply a digital CCTV enforcement system for Kingston.
Key features of the unattended bus lane, static and moving traffic contraventions:
Kingston has ordered this month 30 new Motorola devices to replace obsolete and expensive to maintain Politess handhelds. The new hand held come with additional functionality including GPRS to support real time PCN upload. GPS software will provide CEO tracking and lone worker protection.
The portal has been extended to operate with the following payment engines in real time such as:
This month we reached a significant milestone where all of our customers were operating on the current release of software (6.3). We are keen to maintain this position and request that customer UAT and signoff patches at the earliest opportunity. This will enable us to provide you with the best support possible.
CCTV evidence held in the Cloud – Civica can provide a managed service of storing CCTV video evidence of Bus Lane, Moving Traffic and Static Parking contraventions. This enables large volumes of data to be stored in a secure environment and they available in real-time to authorised users. This can provide a cost effective cost model.
A new reporting and management information tool called Dashboard is to be developed. This will include customer input into the design of the reports.
Want to have your say in how the reports will be designed keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation to our Dashbaord Workshop to be held in the Civica head office in Putney, London in the coming weeks.
111 employees join Civica as South Worcestershire Partnership begins service to achieve savings of £3 million for Malvern Hills, Worcester City and Wychavon councils
Civica, a market leader in specialist systems and business process services that help organisations to transform the way they work, has commenced its 5-year strategic partnership with the South Worcestershire Revenues & Benefits Shared Service in order to sustain local employment, improve services and deliver savings of £3 million to Malvern Hills District Council, Worcester City Council and Wychavon District Council.
Under the ground-breaking partnership Civica has assumed responsibility for the delivery of revenues and benefits services to the three councils with the transfer of 111 employees. In addition the partnership will establish a centre of excellence, the “Orchard Centre”, from which it will offer a range of processing and collection services to support other councils around the country as they seek to overcome increasing service and budgetary pressures, and with the prospect of creating additional local employment.
As a strong and stable partner for local government Civica has built a specialist service model with the flexibility and scalability to respond to the rapid and significant changes faced by councils. The company will complement the skills and experience of the transferring shared service team with its own expertise in IT-enabled business process improvement, and the combination will enable the partnership to introduce new processes and innovations while driving down costs.
Cllr. Ron Davis, Vice Chair of the South Worcestershire Shared Services Joint Committee, said, “Changes to welfare reform, and the advent of Universal Credit in particular, have had a huge impact on the way that local authorities operate. This alliance is more than just a commitment to a shared project, it’s a means to create a new centre of excellence to manage both our ambitious rollout and act as a resource for other UK public sector organisations.”
Simon Downing, Civica chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have created this partnership with the South Worcestershire councils who are taking an innovative approach to the urgent challenges all authorities are facing. We look forward to working together with a common vision to safeguard jobs while driving savings, innovation and growth.”
The new service in South Worcestershire also builds on the foundation of Civica’s ground-breaking partnership with Gloucester City Council which has been operating successfully for two years.
About Civica
Civica (www.civica.co.uk) is a market leader in specialist systems and business process services for organisations across the public sector and around the world. Through experienced people who understand service delivery, the Group applies software, cloud-based services and outsourcing to help customers transform the way they work. Drawing on a unique combination of people, technology and business process expertise, Civica supplies more than 2,500 organisations in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada and the USA
On January 23rd 2014 Civica Blue Light will be hosting their annual ANPR conference alongside the Civica Annual Conference in Manchester at the spectacular Manchester Conference Centre.
The Blue Light team are excited about merging our conference with the main Civica Conference because as well as the usual ANPR updates and presentations you will also be able to enjoy the exhibition on offer, including the Police Car of the Future and the networking opportunities with Local Government representatives.
The Blue & Amber Light Fleet Exhibition and The National Association of Police Fleet Managers’ Conference is now in its 41st year.
The unique exhibition focuses on transport for Ambulance, Fire & Rescue & Police but also attracts exhibitors and visitors from the other emergency services, local authorities and some government departments. On display will be a comprehensive range of vehicles, equipment and services for the benefit of this specialised area of the public sector.
Come and meet with the Tranman team on stand 84.
To register for the event click here
THE UK’s PREMIER SECURITY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT EVENT
Since its inception over 30 years ago Security & Policing has provided a platform for professionals from the UK and across the world to engage with the very highest level of security expertise. The event continuously develops in size and scope and exists to provide the level of industry engagement needed to enable UK Government to procure and deliver its national security priorities.
The event is aimed at police, law enforcement and security professionals who are tasked with security, civil protection and National Resilience. Security & Policing showcases world leading products and services, taking advantage of the unique opportunity to bring together people with operational needs with companies that have the relevant solutions, all within a secure environment.
The conference programme will explore a number of the most topical issues on the national agenda and will debate the key challenges facing the service in the future.
The 2014 conference will bring together delegates from government, leading fire and rescue authorities, local authorities, senior officers and representatives from the fire industry and will provide an excellent opportunity to network and share experiences.
Delegates will hear from the foremost experts and thinkers in the field and be able to choose from a range of interactive workshops designed to share practical knowledge and look at best practice case studies.
Who should attend?
Book your place today – the Civica PNC user group has arrived!
We are inviting you to our Civica PNC user group where we will look at Civica product Updates and the future of Civica Blue Light, we also want to hear any feedback you have for us.
If you would like to book click here to fill out the booking form.
Agenda Items
In the booking form we are asking for agenda item requests so if you have anything you would like to discuss at the user group please send us your suggestions. We will be releasing the agenda in the coming weeks once we have collated your feedback for agenda items.
Our annual user groups are back this October spreading across the UK.
If you would like to contribute to the Agenda please email any suggestions to David.Burt@civica.co.uk
Booking information coming soon.
We are delighted to be attending the 2014 PSAEW Annual Conference which is taking 8th - 10th September at the Chesford Grange Hotel, Kenilworth, Nr Warwick.
Representatives from our Financials, Blue Light and Business Process Outsourcing teams will be present.
For more details on the event, please click here.
Civica, a market leader in specialist systems and business process services that help organisations transform the way they work has secured new contracts for its market-leading fleet management systems with both Scottish Fire and Police Scotland.
Following the combination in 2013 of the eight Scottish police forces and eight fire services to form Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service respectively, both independently chose Civica’s Tranman software to manage their large national fleets. In addition to helping achieve efficiency savings anticipated by the respective single organisations, Civica’s ability to as a partner for the future was also a key factor in the selection.
Civica’s unrivalled experience of successfully merging systems together, integrating multiple and large datasets into a single database, whilst driving out savings, was a key factor in the decision for both organisations. Civica have a huge breadth of experience in the emergency services having carried out similar projects before for Norfolk and Suffolk Police, Kent and Essex Police, and most recently a shared system in between 3 Yorkshire police forces.
Both organisations will be using Tranman’s innovative touchscreen technology in their workshops spread across Scotland, allowing data to be easily input by technicians directly into the system, giving the central teams visibility of current availability and costs immediately.
Stewart Taylor, National Fleet Manager at Police Scotland comments “We needed a state of the art system, using the latest technology, to enable us to standardise processes quickly across the new organisation, and ensure maximum efficiency in our operations. Tranman proved to be the system that could not only deliver that now, but as a strategic partner over the long term."
This success for Civica means the company provides national fleet management systems to all three emergency services in Scotland, including the Scottish Ambulance Service, as well as half of the 32 Scottish local authorities.
Visit Civica on Stand 38 to speak with our specialists and receive live demos of our products and services.
Parking World 2014 is the 10th annual event for public and private sector parking specialists in both the on and off-street arenas.
For more information click here
Parkex makes a return next year at the combined Traffex/Parkex, taking placing at the NEC, Birmingham on the 21-23rd April 2015, where an expected 500 exhibiting companies will showcase to over 10,000 visitors.
Save the Date and remember Booking opens in December 2014 Visit the Parkex Website for more destails
Civica Expo returns to Manchester. The event will provide two days of learning, sharing and networking.
Remember to save the date!
Don't miss out on the annual spring user groups please add the relevant date to your diary today.
Agenda Items
Have an issue you would like added to the agenda or a question you would like to propose to the group? Please ensure you add it to your Booking Form.
All User groups will start at 10.00am with Registration from 09.30am.
Can't make your local meeting? Don’t panic please feel free to attend any session at any location.
Civica Fire and Civica GIS join forces to present live on stand demos featuring the flexible integration between CFRMIS 6 and Community Map.
Paul Bradbury, group business development director, Civica, said: “Today’s budget revealed that, while the deficit is decreasing and Britain may be ‘walking tall again’, the austerity years are not yet behind us. With £30bn of savings still to be made by 2017, there will be no respite from the pressures on local government and the welfare system. In particular local leaders will continue to wrestle with the fiscal reality of national spending decisions.
The budget revealed extended digital ambition and demand for significant savings through efficiency and reform, whilst keeping satisfaction standards high. We applaud the call for closer collaboration between Local Government, Government Digital Services and partners to deliver more customer-focussed, digitally-enabled and efficient local services. From our recent report, ‘The changing landscape for local government’, it is evident that new technology implementations are driving efficiency savings and 43% of council leaders and chief executives believe that using technology to encourage citizens to self-serve will be a key priority as their organisations adapt to a new model of working by 2025.
With new and continued commitment to initiatives including the NHS’s ‘Five Year Forward View’ and an in-depth efficiency inspection of every police force, there is no doubt that the way organisations operate will need to change if the overall message from the budget that we should see our country go from austerity to prosperity is to be realised.”
In today’s budget announcement the Chancellor stuck to his guns with the usual areas – not least welfare and tax reform and - continuing to take a hit with £37 billion of further consolidation over the Parliament to secure Britain’s future. Along with the new living wage, the focus on driving skills development is of interest, something the technology industry has been calling for and no doubt will be pleased with the introduction of the apprenticeships levy. In addition we welcome the new agreement of devolved power (to Greater Manchester), setting a precedent for the future.
It seems clear that the NHS remains a top priority with £8 billion per year pledged in order to drive the Five Year Forward View. As a supplier, among other things, of specialist systems that support integrated health and social care, we welcome all initiatives that underpin closer working between care providers in order to deliver improved patient-centric services. Recognition of the fact that siloed funding streams are an encumbrance to integrated care services needs to translate into actions that bring these streams together, extending the success to date in local initiatives.
Finally, a handful of initiatives were announced to drive digital transformation. Collaboration between business, government and academia will drive global opportunities for UK technologies, but there is still a lot to do to increase adoption of digital public services. In our recent report, The Changing Landscape for Local Government, it was evident that the social and demographic landscape is changing at a pace that public services can’t keep up with, particularly when it comes to delivering digital services. There needs to be an increased focus on data-driven insights combined with a mind-set that embraces change. In an information society, intelligent data collection and analysis can empower government organisations to build insight, inform planning and improve service delivery. More attention is needed here.
Paul Bradbury, Group Business Development Director, Civica
According to Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, The Great British Bake-off (which is now on air) is going “back to basics” this year. Forget baked alaskas, poviticas and technical challenges that only expert bakers could handle - and say goodbye to scandals like bingate. This year, the bakes will be simpler and entirely focused on creating food that delights. You could argue that cloud computing is in need of the same recipe.
Cloud computing has disrupted the market and caused a great deal of expectation and concern in equal measure. The business benefits – including a more flexible way of working, improved collaboration and reduced cost and risk – have been chronicled extensively. But simmering security issues have also been widely covered.
As cloud solutions have advanced and different models have come to the fore, complications have also arisen. For instance, the hybrid model addresses many issues pertinent to exclusive public and private environments, but it has also created complications around managing a diverse environment necessitating different tools for each variety of cloud. By failing to manage the overall environment businesses face rising costs and a poor outcome; a bit like serving cake with chips. However, by bringing everything together to create a coherent, cost effective and high quality service, businesses can thrive. Given these challenges, organisations are now taking a more balanced approach to cloud computing. They’re recognising that small, considered changes can make a big difference.
Baking a great cake takes far more than just throwing flour, eggs, sugar and butter into a bowl. There is an art to how you combine the right ingredients. And when we talk about ‘cooking up a storm’ there are a number of comparisons to migrating to the cloud. Admittedly the metaphor takes some imagination but bear with me - the similarities are worth digesting.
Preparation
Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” and “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The best bakers plan ahead by ordering their ingredients in advance, preparing the area, wiping down the worktops and lining-up their utensils. This preparation extends to considering the sort of ingredients that they want to use. For instance, do they need to buy a certain type of flour or research a vegan cake?
Successful organisations similarly plan ahead by clarifying their business objectives and needs by considering their approach. Imagine the cloud environment as a mixing bowl. Before steaming ahead, organisations need to consider what applications are right for cloud deployment and the security measures needed. As a general rule of thumb, non-critical, non-sensitive data is well suited for the public cloud. It’s an economical approach and there shouldn’t be any reputational or organisational damage if data is compromised. It’s a bit like buying own-brand chocolate. You might be wasting money by baking with Green & Black’s. However, in some cases, more expensive ingredients or appliances can make all the difference. Invest where you need to.
In the same vein, organisations are considering which applications, (i.e. business critical ones) are best placed in a private, managed cloud, with high levels of security to protect against malicious access or data leaks. Often a hybrid cloud, which combines aspects of all, is the best solution for a business.
Measurements
When considering your approach to the cloud it’s important to bear in mind that data classification can change and it’s not always simple to follow. For example, in the public sector G-Cloud accreditation previously provided organisations with clear and stringent guidance in terms of classifying data. However, this classification is misleadingly lax. In practice, the onus is on the organisation to make the right decision to put the correct security measures in place. This can only be achieved with a thorough data management strategy which applies differing levels of control to different data sets. This means companies must go above and beyond to ensure the correct structures and fail safe options are in place to avoid future data loss, reputational damage and even a hefty fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office. In many situations, extensive internal knowledge or a partnership with an expert in navigating cloud architectures is a must.
Similarly, bakers’ take advice from others, following recipes and using defined measurements for a reason – to prevent failure further down the line. For instance, there’s a reason why a chef sifts flour, why you need self-raising flour or baking powder, why you should measure carefully, pre-heat the oven and use ingredients such as eggs and milk that have been kept at room temperature.
Presentation
The Great British Bake-Off scores cakes according to presentation as well as taste. Food commentators often remark that ‘we eat with our eyes’. For bakers, the magic happens when they bring the different ingredients together to create the perfect cake. Similarly, the business impact is felt when a public and private cloud is ‘wrapped’ in a management layer, to ensure the cloud environment is aligned to business goals, security is adequately reinforced and the right type of encryption and processes are automated to systematically identify and fix issues. This is the point at which we can separate the amateur bakers from the professionals.
A fast-moving bake
One aspect that doesn’t apply to the baking analogy is the speed of change. While baking appliances have evolved, tried and testing baking techniques still prevail; whereas the development of cloud computing has happened at pace since the start of the century and continues to accelerate. According to UK analysts, TechMarketView, cloud computing will grow more than 20% annually between now and 2018.
In the public sector specifically - while some areas don’t have the same cloud-first policy as central Government – the transformative benefits are recognised and progress is being made. However, uneven innovation often leads to a piecemeal approach and the recipe for success in this fast moving environment is an integrated approach. To bake a great cloud, organisations need to take a complete infrastructure approach, with a clear idea of what they want to create, the set of ingredients required, the steps they need to follow to build the right cloud environment from the outset and the satisfying result they want to create. Bon appétit!
Steve Shakespeare, Managing Director, Civica Services
Civica report calls for a shake-up in IT-enabled transformation, led by data, self-service and outcomes based intervention
14th September 2015, London: A report published today - "Enabling a new world for public service delivery" - calls for a shake-up in IT enabled transformation in the public sector has been published today by Civica, a market leader in specialist software, technology and outsourcing services which help organisations to transform the way they work. In the report senior technology leaders warn that unless the public sector overhauls the way it works, it will neither deliver the savings demanded by the new government nor make the ‘One Nation’ vision a reality.
The report identifies how the UK public sector can prepare for tomorrow’s digital society. It reveals that priorities need to include: increasing the public sectors’ data IQ, developing a self-service and social nation and committing to outcome-based intervention driven by an overall cultural shift.
Data rich but information poor
We live in an era where we are constantly plugged into a myriad of systems, devices and social networks, which is creating more data than ever before. The challenge for all organisations is in making sense of this data to drive tangible benefits for the end user. However, with the majority of public services relying on multiple systems to collect data, it’s vital that they take a ‘whole area approach’ to identify and avoid overlap between organisations, draw out insights and create predictive services.
Jackie Walley, head of modernising education at Denbighshire County Council explained that, with over 300 active systems, the cost of maintaining them is not viable. The council is now working towards collecting data once and pushing it out to relevant parties as an available service, to streamline processes, create efficiencies and reduce costs.
“To date, public services have been data rich but information poor. With £30 billion in savings yet to be found, data insight is pivotal to enabling public service organisations to act smarter, identify opportunities for greater efficiency and deliver services at the point of need,” commented Steve Shakespeare, Managing Director, Civica Services
John Hood, Chief Technology Officer at Civica, further explained: “From a data insight and analytics perspective the last ten years have seen public sector organisations progress only 20% of the way through the business transformation journey, with the remaining 80% to be delivered over the next ten years. For innovation to happen we need to step out of this era of data blindness.”
Self-service social nation
Public service organisations are under increasing pressure to focus on the user experience by enabling greater opportunities to self-serve. Today, consumers need to be able to access information at a time, from a location, through a channel and via a device of their choice. To pre-empt needs and better manage resources, the leaders urge their public service counterparts not to overlook wearables which can be used to identify a problem before it develops further, allowing for preventative action to be taken. And yet, according to Civica research, only 9% of local government heads of service and IT directors believe wearables for supporting integrated patient care will be commonplace in five years’ time.
“We need to improve the user experience; that’s what people really care about. The provision of services need to flex how, when and what the consumer wants – exactly as is expected in other service industries,” added Richard Jones, Senior Partner at Moorhouse Consulting.
Outcome-based intervention
Driving change in public service delivery means organisations must think differently. The technology leaders also called for budgets to be released and a more joined-up approach to procurement. Public sector organisations need to change from being focused on service supply and delivery to becoming much more customer-centric. Part of this approach requires creating a safe, blame free environment in which people can experiment freely and innovate continually.
Steve Shakespeare, Managing Director, Civica Services explained: “We can’t underestimate the importance of getting under the skin of consumers. In this digital era, consumers of all ages have become accustomed to a certain style and level of instant service, making them impatient and demanding for organisations on the back foot. Technology has a critical role to play in reimagining public service delivery and enduring the cross-fertilisation of new ideas between public and private sector organisations.”
Radical shift in culture
The technology leaders agreed that an information rich environment, a self-service nation and outcome-based intervention will not happen in time unless there is concurrent shift in culture.
However, cultural change and technology innovation needs to be trailblazed from the top by a CIO with a bold, strategic vision which goes beyond the parameters of technology-based transformation. Such CIOs are also known as agents of change. According to the report contributors, only about 10% fall within this category.
Jonathan Mitchell of Harvey Nash concluded, “The CIO is crucial to any IT-based transformation project. In reality, it’s never about technology; it’s all about change management and being willing to bite the bullet.”
Download the report today and start the conversation with Civica.
ENDS
Notes to editor
Technology Leaders Forum attendees:
1. John Hood, Chief Technology Officer, Civica
2. Steve Shakespeare, Managing Director, Civica Services
3. Tony Hughes, Product Strategy Director, Civica
4. Juliet Purcell, Head of Marketing, Civica Services
5. Chris White, CIO, Clyde & Co
6. Jackie Walley, Head of Modernising Education at Denbighshire County Council
7. Stuart Mitchenall, SCITO, Head of Business Support, Tandridge District Council
8. Richard Jones, Senior Partner, Moorhouse Consulting
9. Jonathan Mitchell, CIO, Harvey Nash
10. Gerard Doyle, Consultant
About the research
Civica, in partnership with Local Government Chronicle conducted research with 149 heads of service and 28 IT Directors in local authorities across the UK in May 2015.