Insight

Last week the Information Commissioner’s Office issued telecoms company Talk Talk with a record £400,000 fine for the security failings which led to the access by cyber-attack of nearly 160,000 customer files last year. In a statement announcing the fine, the Information Commissioner criticised Talk Talk for failing in the "basic principles" of cyber-security. The case is a pow ...

As part of the health and social care integration work undertaken by the EBP, I have been interviewing people from across the sector - finding stories and experiences that can inspire others and give practical guidance. I recently interviewed Karl Goatley, Director of IT at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, about the formation of SEEN (South East of England Data Networks ...

I am feeling optimistic. I am new to working with Local Government - having spent the last few years running tech events, where I worked with developers, start-ups, incubation labs - anyone innovating and using tech to transform the way we do business and live our lives. I anticipated that working with local government would be a lot slower and I didn’t expect to see as much in ...

Is the cloud-first policy a sensible one for local government? In my view yes, but how it should be applied has to reflect the legacy application estates of each council, the priorities of the organisation, the differences in demography, risk appetite, geography and a range of other policy issues. Mandating a cloud-first policy within local government might help, but could prov ...

This article was originally published in WearableTech The relationship between health and social care professionals and their patients is changing, as a result of the increasing access we all have to personal data and online information. With a relatively small collection of wearable consumer devices, linked to a smartphone, I can amass details about my general health, a medica ...

This article was originally published in the MJ There is no doubt that some councils are in the vanguard of organisations exploiting digital in any sector. Arguably they need to be, given the enormous pressures in the public sector to protect critical services in the face of unprecedented cuts. Recent reports suggest that some of the most innovative CIOs and most competent IT t ...

  Directors of finance have been all-powerful in most sectors for hundreds of years, frequently first in line for a vacant chief executive position. But in the public sector that influence has waned over the last 20 years with the rise of technology. This article was originally published in the MJ Technology has automated many finance and audit functions and given non-finance m ...

Talking to IT teams and business leaders, it is clear that the benefits of cloud in supporting new business models for the delivery of council services are now well-understood. There is also a growing consensus that the different business model for IT operations which is enabled by cloud IT, could add substantial value to the organisation as they shape and reshape services in t ...

Last week, as part of my work with the Executive Briefing Programme, I attended the LGC and HSJ Integration Summit. From my work with Jos Creese on the Health and Social Care Integration report, I am beginning to understand the vast complexities around this topic and massive challenges that exist. The stakeholders that need to come together are diverse, and would be forgiven fo ...

When considering the priorities for the Executive Briefing Programme (EBP) this year, health and social care integration came top of the list. This was not just because of the political priority currently placed on the topic, or because of the digital transformation challenges it contains, but also the opportunity to make a real difference to the public sector and to the public ...