In tough times, the frequent recourse of hard-pressed management in local authorities is to top-slice departmental budgets, perhaps with some ring-fencing of sensitive areas. The problem with this is it impacts morale across the organisation, puts customers on the look-out for falls in service quality, and above all focuses staff attention on maintaining services as they are.

Rochford District Council (RDC) faced important decisions regarding future options for its outsourced ICT service. The contract was awarded for 10 years and they were approaching the option for an extension for up to two more years. Since the award of the contract in 2001 the charges had significantly increased fuelled by indexation and contracted changes. Options to be considered included the two-year extension, re-letting the contract, or bringing the service in-house. In particular, the Council was concerned the option it chose supported the financial savings it needed to achieve over the forthcoming years. Equally it wished to remain flexible in order to take advantage of any shared services opportunities. It was necessary to ensure a timely decision was made on the extension in order to allow enough time for a procurement project to re-let the contract.

Suffolk Coastal District Council has implemented the most cost-effective, reliable and flexible option for maintaining and developing its ICT Services following an outsourcing options appraisal by Socitm Consulting. By advising the Council on the future of its ICT Service following the expiry of its existing outsourced contract, Socitm Consulting helped the Council to select the most effective option for supporting its key strategic priorities of efficiency, maintenance of service quality and obligations to county-level shared services.

In an effort to make “Learning” more focused on the specific needs of our membership, we have reviewed our course offerings and launched a completely new programme for the next 12 months. The new programme offers a wider range of course, at more locations, and with more detail provided on each, to help you judge better who to nominate for the course, and the likely benefits to be achieved from it.

Socitm Consulting help LBS to achieve a significant reduction in the future costs of their voice and data services amounting to an actual reduction in the contractually agreed prices of £ 78,000 over 5 years.

If - like everyone else in local government at the moment - you're looking for non-destructive cost savings, have you considered an expert analysis of your organisation's voice, data and mobile costs?

With local authority budgets under pressure and technology being seen as the main driver of transformational change, the quality of your ICT team is increasingly under the spotlight. Socitm Consulting with its partner Outsource UK provides a one-stop shop for the best interim, contract and permanent managerial and technical staff for your council’s ICT service.

Socitm Consulting has long been recognised as a leading provider of experienced and energetic interim Heads of IT and programme/project managers to local government.

"Skills to manage services or commission them from third parties, managing on outcomes (not volumes or processes) and potentially on a risk/reward basis"