Agenda item

To consider the report of Chris Powell, Chief Operating Officer Strata Service Solutions Ltd.

The Chief Operating Officer presented the report providing an update on the progress with the Implementation Plan.

·         Overall Plan close to original timetable meeting quality targets and on budget. A six week delay in installation of new Wide Area Network (WAN) and internet had been reduced from four and to two weeks and would be operational by September. Savings of £2.2 million achieved in staff costs (third of total costs to be saved). Single telephony supplier selected. Internet upgrade for Exeter from10 MB to 400 MB due in the next few weeks;

·         Organisational progress – interviews are being conducted for three apprentices, one to be located at each main site; and Ex Head of South Hams ICT appointed as Strata Manager Security and Compliance in February;

·         Contract novation was a priority, with suppliers given the opportunity to supply three rather than two or one authority(ies) and Strata would be looking for a subsequent reduction in overall costs;

·         Engagement working well with all authorities. A report on a proposal to reduce the number of Executive and Scrutiny meetings from four to three a year, both meetings to be held close to one another, would be submitted to the next Joint meeting;

·         Risks identified and being managed included the level of change that users would experience when the new Strata infrastructure is fully deployed, especially for Skype and MS Office update;

·         Some recent examples of  success in securing savings from some suppliers were presented;

·         Teignbridge experiencing greater number of incidents with their IT infrastructure – this is being managed keeping in mind that the majority of the main infrastructure will be replaced in a year’s time;

·         A number of opportunities from the project were presented.  These included consolidating website design, introduction of iphones, in-cab technology being used by Exeter City Council to be rolled out at Teignbridge;

·         Channel Shift Infrastructure under development – Netcall - new voice recognition system implemented at Exeter. Channel shift allowed shifting the requests of service to the council to the cheapest option for dealing with the query – in most cases by taking the request online;

·         Opportunities for combining systems such as planning, building control, environmental health etc. of all authorities were under consideration;

·         Faster internet connection being introduced with Exeter users to see impact from August.

He responded as follows to Members’ queries:-

·         East Devon would meet the IT costs relating to its relocation of offices – this includes the requirement for new data lines into the two offices at Honiton and Exmouth;

·         The Lync system was explained to the Committee as a similar system to Skype, both provided by Microsoft, and to be re-branded Skype for  Business;

·         With regard to contract novation, the three authorities will continue to receive and pay invoices until all relevant contracts are novated to Strata.  These costs are then charged across to Strata;

·         The potential for extending mapping facilities within each Council to attempt to secure overlap with each other would be examined. This would be of value where searches were instigated in respect of an area where neighbouring authorities’ boundaries overlapped.

Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee noted the progress of the implementation plan.