Kent CC has awarded a £10m five year contract to IBM to modernise its administrative system technology, it announced on 31 August 2005.
The contract involves the replacing of existing email, storage and server technology within the council. About 9,000 computers will also be refreshed on a rolling basis to ensure that staff have access to devices less than three years old. Kent hopes that providing administrative systems for staff at a lower price resources can be spent elsewhere.
"If we can get back office services cheaper then we can provide the IT infrastructure for less, reducing overheads and spending the money elsewhere," Information Services Group programme manager Peter Bole told Government Computing News.
"The strategic objectives of the council are always at the forefront. We're managing our priorities to keep our overheads as low as possible."
Kent plans to upgrade its operating system and transfer staff onto the latest version of software applications. "We would hope for productivity gains from the latest software," added Bole.
Although council staff will manage the software, systems and services delivered through the infrastructure, IBM will retain ownership of the technology.
Kent chief executive Peter Gilroy, said: "The council set itself the objective of establishing a means of infrastructure provision that would realise the vision of technology as an enabler. This required a solution that allowed for constant refresh of infrastructure, while remaining cost effective.
"It was essential that the approach be sufficiently flexible to support diverse information technology requirements across the full range of council functions and responsibilities."
Kevin Lynes, cabinet member for resources for Kent, said: "At Kent CC we recognised the need to move away from the traditional stop/start models of ICT provision, where core infrastructure only remains current for a small part of the hardware lifecycle.
"With best value always a concern for public service it is gratifying that the twin goals of higher service levels and lower costs can still be attained."
Quelle: KableNET, 31.08.2005
