Category Archives: change

Are SIAMs the new SIs?

Posted on 10/05/2012 | 3 comments

In this guest blog, John Jones and John Pendlebury-Green, co-founders of strategic sales architects Landseer Partners, take a look at the development of a new generation of outsourcing in ICT and the creation of a new breed of integration and manageement specialists dubbed ‘SIAMs’. This article is also carried on Landseer Partners’ website.

We now live in an age of austerity where we have to live within our means and this includes the Government  which has just announced the need for Departments to find a further £16bn in savings. 

All Departments and Agencies are having to make real year-on-year cuts to their budgets – effectively having to do  the same for less money for some considerable time to come.  This is leading to new models for the delivery of services (third generation outsourcing) as Government becomes more about “policy and strategy” and leaves the delivery of public services to the private sector.

Industry has already played a major part in first and second generation of outsourcing including what is now more commonly called “outcome-based contracting”. 

The recent contract awards of new prison builds and operations similar to the likes of G4S and Interserve provide exemplars of outcome-based contracting. The Work Programme Initiative at the Department of Work and Pensions is another relatively recent example of second generation outsourcing with payment linked directly to outcomes.  Lessons learned are only now emerging as to the efficacy of these contracts.

What is interesting is that now we are starting to witness a new third-generation of outsourcing in ICT – Service Integration and Management (SIAM).  The consequences for the ICT Industry and the delivery of ICT within and to Government are likely to be profound. 

At Landseer Partners, we believe that the shape and players of the ICT market will change significantly in the next two to five years.  The net effect on the role of existing System Integrators (SI) is likely to be significant.

So what is SIAM all about and, importantly, what will make SIAM a success and its implications for the big SIs?

SIAMs are the ICT Managing Agent for the Customer

So, what are SIAMs – well, for starters, there is no agreed de facto industry definition of what a SIAM is. Rather, there are emerging trends in the private sector and in the current government procurements at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that identify key characteristics of what Service Integrators and Management Services may look like. 

For instance, the MoJ and FCO both plan to award contracts to SIAM providers that can successfully demonstrate the ability to integrate services and manage a number of Tower service providers that (typically) provide one or more commoditised services of: data hosting, LAN/WAN provision, Applications Management and Support and some Security related services.  Importantly, the SIAMs will be characterised by:

  • Taking the risks for “end to end” delivery of the services and their continuing operations
  • Creating new commercial constructs to balance risk versus delivery
  • Not necessarily holding direct contracts with the Tower service providers
  • Providing full 24/7 service desks to support national and global needs of the customer
  • Working hand-in-glove and be contract-managed by the retained Intelligent Client Function (or Informed Partner as they are sometimes known) of the Contracting Authority

In effect, the UK public sector is now requesting what has long happened in the construction industry; they are looking to award contracts to Managing Agents to help deliver and manage critical  ICT services back to Departments/Agencies.

Expected Benefits

So, with the advent of SIAMs  what are the expected benefits?  Reading the prospectuses of the government procurements we would expect the benefits to be large and varied and include:

  • Reduced cost of ICT services to the commissioning Department/Agency – this might come about by greater efficiencies in programme delivery; but significant cash savings are also expected as staff are transferred move to more cost-effective private sector pensions schemes
  • Better risk management with continuous incentives to improve service quality to users
  • Greater innovation by the SIAMs, possibly by the use of niche SMEs which will assist with more agile delivery and innovation methods

The Future

Given the real lack of experience and reliable data on the likely impact of the creation of SIAMs it is difficult to say at this particular time whether SIAMs will effective in the longer term]– will SIAMs be effective in the longer term?  Will they help to drive down cost of ICT services?  Will they help in the delivery of better public services?

Landseer Partners’s view is that, although it is early days, SIAMs are likely to be here to stay, at least in the foreseeable future. The status quo, keeping large in-house Intelligent Customer Functions and Service Desk provision, is  neither desirable nor efficient and future procurements will build on the lessons learned from the current MoJ and FCO procurements.

The key thing now is for System Integrators to recognise that change is in the air, that different business models are appearing and that, to be in the market, a change in attitude, behaviours and delivery will be needed in order to become Service Integrators and Managing Agents to Government.

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Posted in Campaign4Change, change, change management, government, Government IT, managing change, managing outsourced services, outsourcing, procurement

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Is DWP stance on Universal Credit reports mocking FOI?

Posted on 27/04/2012 | 1 comment

By Tony Collins

The Department for Work and Pensions, which has remained as secretive over the progress or otherwise of its IT-based projects as before the 2005 Freedom of Information Act, has, as expected, rejected our FOI request for reports on the state of the Universal Credit project.

We have appealed and the DWP has, as is customary, delayed its response. It appears that the Department works on the principle that the longer it delays FOI responses the more out of date will be its reports when the Information Commissioner eventually rules they must be published.

In its reply to us, the DWP gave reasons for hiding a report it has already put in the public domain: a “Starting Gate Review” of Universal Credit.

Hiding reports under its jumper

The review was carried out in February 2011. That the DWP is keeping under its jumper a public report suggests that its responses to the FOI Act owe more to instinct than proper consideration.

The DWP also refused to publish, under the FOI Act, a Universal Credit “Project Assessment Review in November 2011” by the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority.

These are the reasons Ethna Harnett, Universal Credit Division, DWP,  gave for refusing our FOI request for Universal Credit project progress reports:

– “Further reviews, by the Major Project Authority and by the National Audit Office are planned.”

– “Elements of the information you requested is being withheld as it falls under the exemption in Section 36 (2) (b) and (c) of the Freedom of Information Act. This exemption requires the public interest for and against disclosure to be balanced.”

– “The information you have requested includes details of a sensitive nature whose publication would prejudice effective conduct of public affairs. There is a strong public interest in the Department maintaining an efficient and effective risk management and assurance process and in ensuring that this process is not undermined by premature disclosure particularly where risks are not yet fully mitigated.”

– “There is also a strong public interest in the Department being able to carry out and use frank assessments, including unrestrained and candid contributions from business areas. ”

– “The assurance reports produced by the Major Project Authority are not shared beyond the Senior Responsible Owner and interested parties within Government.”

– “DWP Ministers have, however, committed to update Parliament on the Universal Credit programme through written ministerial statements. These statements are available on the Parliamentary website – www.parliament.uk.”

– “The Major Projects Authority will publish information on the progress of the Government’s high-risk and high-value projects, referred to collectively as the government major projects portfolio, alongside the first annual report at the end of this financial year.”

Comment:

The DWP has never met any of our FOI requests and has, in every case, delayed its responses to our requests for internal appeals. The result of the appeals is always the same – the upholding of the original decision. We are in awe of the DWP’s ability to detach its IT operations from the FOI Act.

The DWP considers it is acting in the public interest: that assessments of its IT-based projects such as Universal Credit would not be candid if they were put in the public domain.

But if the DWP had got this right and that its assurance reports would be less effective if published, we’d expect to see successes with major DWP IT-based projects. We don’t see the evidence.

Indeed the signs are that Universal Credit, the DWP’s biggest project, is in trouble; and after 20 years the Department is still having trouble combining its various benefit systems.

The National Audit Office has qualified the DWP’s accounts every year for the last 23 years, largely because of the level of official error and fraud.

Is this a department that is getting IT right?  There is no evidence it is; and some evidence suggests it isn’t.

The DWP needs to change. It needs to see openness as an opportunity not a threat. Openness would show that officials are prepared to be measured publicly against the findings of their assessment reports. That needs self-confidence.

On the other hand secrecy permits an uneasy introspection, allows weaknesses to take hold, and gives officials comfort in not changing.

Somerset Maugham put it well in his excellent book Of human Bondage. He said: “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.”

Time for truth on Universal Credit

Millions of pounds of secret DWP reports

Universal Credit latest

FOI blog

Trying to kill the FOI Act?

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Posted in Campaign4Change, change, culture, DWP, excessive secrecy, Freedom of Information, Government IT, HMRC, Major Projects Authority, openness and transparency, Universal Credit

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Cash-strapped council IT teams to get backing for innovation projects

Posted on 27/04/2012 | 2 comments

By David Bicknell

IT teams in cash-strapped councils are being given a helping hand to drive new IT projects where teams believe technology innovation could drive positive change in local communities.

It follows the launch of a Future Fund created by mobile telecomms company O2 to help forward-thinking councils get to grips with new methods of engaging their staff, citizens and communities.

Successful local authorities applying for the scheme will be awarded access to O2 consultancy time, services and technology to help them turn their project ideas into reality.

The Future Fund open for applications on 25th April with three grant funding packages available to the value of £125,000, £75,000 and £50,000.

60 councils attended the launch event with the scheme focused on authorities developing ideas and services against three broad themes: reducing cost and improving efficiencies; finding new ways of engaging with citizens; and empowering the community to do more for itself.

Each of the topics points to more effective service delivery, by empowering staff or by expanding the concept of ‘self-service’.

To support the Fund’s launch, O2 plans to showcase 17 different parts of its business, each with their own unique slant on the digital age, from established technologies such as wi-fi to ‘people’ skills, social media expertise, mobile advertising and location-based services, as well as business engagement and apps development. Councils will be able to pick which selection of services to use to build their idea and weave into their bid.

O2 says it has created the Future Fund through its Local Government Futures Forum, which aims to understand what the role of IT should be in modernising councils in challenging times.

It argues that as technology advances at a rapid pace, with people creating and consuming data in more diverse and immediate ways, councils face a challenge to use these channels to demonstrate communications nous and find new ways to engage with their communities.

A recent consultation exercise found that budget cuts across the public sector have resulted in an expected automatic squeeze on resources, with mounting pressure across all departments to operate more efficiently and do more with less. 

With ongoing pressure to reduce spending, council decision-makers are opting for solutions that make an immediate impact – cutting services, and in turn cost – rather than looking at ways of adapting them, with IT departments facing an uphill struggle to retain and control their destinies, often competing for de-centralised budgets across multiple teams with no place or input at a board level.

Ben Dowd, Director of Business at O2 says: “O2 believes that the right application of technology has the potential to drive real change. Our findings through our work with local government IT departments support this belief. What is different is that the Future Fund will give a glimpse of what is possible with a bit of imagination and we will support the winning bids by providing investment in their IT infrastructure coupled with resource and expertise.

“So it is up to the councils to determine how it can be applied to their own council, citizens or community, ultimately giving local government the ability to shape their own destiny in a project they are passionate about.”

Applications for the Fund will be judged by a panel of experts from O2 and independent parties. Councils will then have eight weeks to develop and deliver their ideas, before selection takes place later this year.

www.o2.co.uk/futurefund

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Posted in change, cost reduction, efficiency savings, government, Government IT, innovation, local government, public sector, public services, SME

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New York’s new CIO to create centre of excellence to prevent failing IT projects

Posted on 25/04/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

New York’s recent problems with IT projects have been well documented.

Its latest solution: appoint a new CIO, with a wide remit that includes innovation and the setting up of a ‘centre of excellence’  to nail down failing projects.

Rahul Merchant joins with a background served at US mortgage and housing specialist Fannie Mae and at financial services company Merrill Lynch.

He will become the first Citywide Chief Information and Innovation Officer and Commissioner of the Department of Information, Technology and Telecommunications reporting to New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg.

His role will involve overseeing New York’s information technology development and management, with a focus on delivering technology projects on-time and on-budget.

Merchant will succeed Carole Post, who recently announced she will be leaving for a position at New York Law School.

“By bringing the City’s IT infrastructure and development under one office, we can ensure we are using best practices across agencies, leveraging the City’s enormous IT infrastructure to our maximum advantage and holding contractors accountable for delivering results,” said Bloomberg. “Rahul is a seasoned executive who has proven himself time and again as a leader and an innovator in the industry.  He is going to do an outstanding job as New York City’s first Chief Information and Innovation Officer and we are excited to add him to our talented team.”

Merchant will be responsible for New York City’s IT infrastructure, as well as oversight of the implementation of key technology initiatives that enable the City’s various agencies to serve 8.4 million New Yorkers.

What will be worth watching is seeing how he tackles New York’s reputation for troubled IT projects by creating a Centre of Excellence that will  “standardise business processes for the implementation of large technology projects, institute a system of vendor evaluation to hold contractors accountable for meeting project milestones, and update the City’s technology contracts to focus on the delivery of established milestones to meet agency business needs.”

According to Bloomberg, Merchant will work closely with agency commissioners and chief information officers “to ensure that IT projects leverage existing infrastructure and software to the maximum possible extent, and that the City’s overall IT budget meets core agency business needs and the City’s overall technology objectives.”

He will also spearhead the New York’s efforts to remain a leader in technology innovation, by leveraging its  technology assets and partnerships with academic institutions, technology firms, and entrepreneurs.

He won’t be short of people to help. Merchant will lead a 1,200-strong staff responsible for managing the City’s information technology infrastructure as well as serving the information technology needs of 45 mayoral agencies, dozens of other governmental entities, and nearly 300,000 employees.

Here’s how local sites reported Merchant’s appointment:

Crain’s New York Business: Major taps Merrill Lynch vet to tame tech projects

Tech President: New York City just radically changed who manages its IT projects

Government Technology: NYC names Rahul Merchant to CIO and Innovation role

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Posted in change, change management, CIO, contractors, Government IT, innovation, IT projects, IT-related failures, technology, US Government

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Desktop virtualisation may solve corporate data challenge but success relies on project clarity

Posted on 05/04/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

I recently read a blog by Clarence Villanueva which made the worthy point that although many organisations now have smartphones and iPads, they still need to get corporate data on them.

Recent surveys  have suggested that 27% of companies support the iPad today, while another 31% plan to support it in the future. As Villanueva points out, as organisations begin to support connected devices such as iPads and smartphones, they will want to connect them to their enterprise data and applications. One solution for achieving that is desktop virtualisation.

According to Villanueva’s blog,  desktop virtualisation is an option because:

  • It facilitates employee access to enterprise data and applications from any platform-neutral device.
  • Certain solutions allow you to convert your existing laptops/desktops into thin clients, enabling you to lengthen the life cycles of the equipment, and
  • Patch management and updates are controlled more effectively, potentially lowering internal management costs.

The problem, as the blog points out, is that many organisations don’t know where to start on desktop virtualisation. And that hints  at some IT project problems further down the line, because solicitation of information from suppliers is messy.

As the blog says, “As companies reach out to these vendors, Forrester sees that incomplete information is shared and/or project goals are unclear, which results in confusion to the vendor and multiple rounds of questions and answers.

“One of the ways to overcome this challenge is to focus on internal collaboration and organise yourself before going out to market. The transformation of the desktop from the traditional status quo to a virtualised environment is complicated — it requires the collaboration of a variety of people. Desktop virtualisation  projects affect a multitude of business and IT areas….successful projects enlist the help of companies’ internal desktop management, networking, storage, security, and software licensing professionals for a unified solution.”

One organisation that seems to be making some headway on desktop virtualisation by knowing where it is headed is National Air Traffic Services (NATS).

The company recently gave a presentation on its move to a virtualised desktop environment as part of a business growth strategy that will see it target new international regions, new services and partners, and involve it in possible merger and acquisition activity.

NATS believes adopting desktop virtualisation will give it the ability to, according to Gavin Walker, its head of information solutions, “..scale at a fast pace….a key requirement.” 

NATS has 6000 employees, including operational. technical and general office workers who all have different user profiles in their use of IT. Many of them work across multiple sites, which is why NATS wants to have remote access to the corporate network from anywhere at any time.

It also wants to use the Cloud to enable it to scale as and when required and to adopt role-based computing with integrated identity management to help it deploy services and applications based on user profiling to improve the users’ experiences.

NATS says it has now completed the planning and discovery of the desktop virtualisation project, and by working with a virtualisation company, Point to Point,  now has a scaled down version of the desktop virtualisation system with Office 2010. The version, dubbed ‘Springboard’ has been rolled out to 100 people across the organisation, including NATS’ chief executive Richard Deakin and his executive team.

“Getting stakeholder investment can be a challenge as IT is seen to be taking money away from tbe bottom line,” says Walker. “Springboard helped us to demonstrate immediate results and provided an indication of what the system would be able to do once in place. This really is a change management programme supported by technology.”

Other Links

Computer Weekly: NATS delivers Office 2010, Visio and MS Project on virtual desktops

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Posted in Campaign4Change, change, change management, IT projects, project management, virtualisation

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Universal Credit: who’ll be responsible if it goes wrong?

Posted on 27/03/2012 | 1 comment

By Tony Collins

When asked whether Universal Credit will work, be on budget and on time, Ian Watmore, Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, gave a deft reply. He told Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke on 13 March 2012:

“From where I sit today, I think all the signs are very positive. I am never going to predict that something is going to be on time and on budget until it is.”

If the plans do not fall into place who, if anyone, will be responsible? In theory it’ll be Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. But as Watmore told the Public Administration Committee, there are several other organisations involved. Although the DWP and HMRC are building the IT systems, the success of Universal Credit also relies on local authorities, which are overseen by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

There are also the Cabinet Office and the Treasury whose officials seek to “ensure that what is going on is appropriate” said Watmore.

If Univeral Credit goes awry all the departments may be able to blame the private sector: the employers that must pass PAYE information to HMRC so that the Revenue’s Real-Time Information element of Universal Credit can work.

David Gauke is the minister responsible for HMRC so would he take some of the blame if Real-Time Information didn’t work, or was not on budget, or was delayed?

Or would the main IT suppliers Accenture and IBM take any of the blame? Highly unlikely, whatever the circumstances.

There is also a dependency on the banks.

But nothing is wrong … is it?

All those putatively responsible for Universal Credit continue to say that all is going well.

Duncan Smith told the House of Commons on 5 March 2012:

“We are making good progress towards the delivery of universal credit in 2013, and I have fortnightly progress meetings with officials and weekly reports from my office. I also chair the universal credit senior sponsorship group, which brings together all Government Departments and agencies that are relevant to the delivery of universal credit.

“Design work is well under way and is being continually tested with staff and claimants, and the development of the necessary IT systems will continue in parallel.”

He said that universal credit will reduce complexity by putting together all the benefits that are relevant to people going back to work – though benefit systems that are not relevant to the coalition’s “Work programme” will not be included in the DWP’s Universal Credit IT consolidation.

To reduce risks Universal Credit will be phased in over four years from October 2013, each stage bringing in a different group of claimants.

But …

Campaign4Change has asked the DWP to publish its various reports on the progress of Universal Credit and it has refused, even under the Freedom of Information Act. It seems the DWP’s secretiveness is partly because all of the risks related to Universal Credit have not been mitigated. We will report more on this in the next few days.

Meanwhile to try and answer the question in our headline: who’ll be responsible if Universal Credit goes wrong? The answer is: the private sector probably. Or rather nobody in the public sector.

Can hundreds of millions be spent on Universal Credit in an agile way?

Universal Credit suppliers Accenture and IBM look to India for skills.

Is Universal Credit a brilliant idea that’s bound to fail?

Universal Credit latest

Universal Credit and the banks.

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Posted in Agile, Campaign4Change, capacity building, change, change management, Freedom of Information, Government IT, IBM, India, IT projects, local government, managing change, managing outsourced services, openness and transparency, outsourcing, oversight, Politics, procurement, project management, public sector, Real-Time Information, reducing cost strategically, risk, Universal Credit

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Change division helps Bendigo Bank transform IT project outlook

Posted on 14/03/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

A report from Australia has suggested that scrapping the chief information officer’s (CIO) role and replacing it with a change division enabled Bendigo Bank in Australia to slash its IT project failure rate.

According to an article in ITNews, establishing the change division  prompted better project delivery priorities and outcomes over the past two years, and may have  improved the rate of successful projects by 50 percent.

ITNews reported that, “In early 2010, the bank’s CIO Andrew Watts became the executive of a new ‘change’ division, which included 140 technologists, such as business analysts and project managers.

“Those technologists joined some 60 staff from elsewhere in the business, with the division aimed at overseeing business architecture and project delivery across ‘people, process and technology’.

“Other technologists formed a rebranded ‘technology services’ team, led by general manager Gary Doig and charged with managing the bank’s IT operations.”

Bendigo Bank believes that high business ownership across its projects has become  one of the most important foundations to deliver project success.

Related Links

Reuters: Banks team up to cut tech spend burden

ITNews (Australia) site

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Posted in change, change management, CIO, IT projects

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New child support system has 90,000 requirements – in phase one

Posted on 29/02/2012 | 3 comments

                               A new old-style government IT disaster?

By Tony Collins

While officials in the Cabinet Office offcials try to simplify and cut costs of Government IT, a part of the Department for Work and Pensions has commissioned a system with 90,000 requirements in phase one.

The projected costs of the child maintenance system have risen by 85% and the delivery date has slipped by more than two years.

Even with 90,000 requirements, phase one, which is due to go live in October, excludes 70 requirements that are “deemed critical” says a report published today by the National Audit Office.

The NAO report indicates that the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has commissioned an old-style large IT system using traditional developing techniques and relying on large companies.

G-Cloud and SMEs have not featured in the Commission’s IT strategy – and it abandoned agile techniques last year on its child maintenance project.

The Commission put the cost of its new child maintenance system at £149m in January 2011. Ten months later it put the cost at £275m, an 85% increase. The Commission was unable to give the NAO a full explanation for the difference.

Lessons from past failures not learned?

Today’s NAO report says there is a risk the Commission will repeat mistakes by the Child Support Agency whose IT system and business processes were criticised in several Parliamentary reports. The Commission takes in the work of the Child Support Agency – and indeed runs its own systems and the Child Support Agency’s in parallel.

Officials at the Commission told the NAO they have a good track record of holding back IT releases until they are satisfied they will work.  “Nevertheless, we found that the Commission is at risk of repeating many of the mistakes of 2003,” said the NAO. Those mistakes include over-optimism and a lack of internal expertise to handle suppliers.

Mixing “agile” and “waterfall” doesn’t work

Initially civil servants at the Commission tried to “mix and match” agile and traditional developing techniques – which Agile advocates say should not be attempted.

In 2011 the Commission gave up on agile and “reverted to a more traditional approach to system development” says the NAO report.

The mix and match approach meant there were two distinct routes for specifying requirements and “resulted in duplicated, conflicting and ambiguous specifications”.  The Commission did not have previous experience of using the agile approach.

The Commission’s child maintenance system was due to go live in April 2010 but the delivery date has slipped three times. Phase one is now due to go live in October 2012 and phase two in July next year but the NAO report raises questions about whether the go-lives will happen successfully. The Commission has not planned in its financial estimates for the failure of the system.

The NAO finds that the Commission has struggled to make its requirements for the new system clear. The Commission’s main developer Tata Consulting Services has had protracted discussions over the meaning and implementation of requirements.

The NAO also hints that IT costs may be out of control. It says the Commission may not secure value for money without properly considering alternative options for restructuring and “adequately controlling its IT development …”

These are some of the NAO’s findings:

IT costs could increase further

“The new system is based on ‘commercial off-the-shelf’ products. However, a recent audit by Oracle identified that the performance, maintainability and adaptability of the new system would be key risks. This could increase the cost of supporting the system. The scheme does not yet include plans for the integration with HM Revenue & Customs’ Real Time Information system due to be implemented in 2013, or introducing Universal Credit because of the differing timescales,” says the NAO which adds:

“Achieving the Commission’s plans without further cost increases or delays appears unlikely. The Commission reported to the audit committee in October 2011 on the high risk that the change programme may not deliver phase two functionality within agreed timescales … The Commission did not develop a benefits realisation plan until November 2011.”

103,000 of Commission’s 1.1m cases are handled manually

“Ongoing technical problems have resulted in a large number of cases being removed from the IT system and managed manually. These are known as clerical cases … The Commission has had to operate the ‘old’ and ‘current’ schemes in parallel.  Due to flaws in the IT systems for each scheme, some 100,000 cases have had to be processe:d separately by clerical staff at a cost of £48 million,” says the NAO. It takes 900 contractors to manage the clerical cases.

Comment

Despite numerous NAO reports on failures of Government IT-based projects over the past 30 years the disasters are still happening, with the same mistakes repeated: over-optimism in every aspect of the project including timetables and financial estimates; excessive complexity and over-specification, no sign of cost-consciousness and, worst of all, an apparent indifference to being held accountable for a major failure.

A glance at the monthly outgoings of the Commission (well done to the coalition for requiring departments and agencies to publish contracts over £25,000) show sizeable and regular payments to familiar names among the large suppliers: HP Enterprise Services (formerly EDS), Capgemini, Tata Consultancy Services, BT Global Services and Capita. There is hardly an SME in sight and no sign of imaginative thinking.

Meanwhile some senior officials at the Commission put in monthly expenses for thousands of pounds in travel, accomodation and subsistence for “Commission meetings”. One wonders: to what useful effect?

Officials at the Cabinet Office are trying to change the culture of departments and agencies. They are encouraging departmental heads to do things differently. They advocate the use of  SMEs to show how new ways of working can trounce traditional approaches to projects.

But the Cabinet Office has little influence on the Department of Work and Pensions. Indeed the DWP has lost its impressive chief innovator James Gardner.

We praise the NAO for noting that the Commission risks repeating the IT-related and project management mistakes of the Child Support Agency. But we note with concern that the NAO still puts up with Whitehall’s non-publication of  Gateway reviews, which are independent reports on the progress or otherwise of big and risky IT-based projects.

Would the Commission have been so apparently careless of the risks if it had known that regular Gateway reports on its shortcomings would be published?

How many more government IT-based projects are late, over budget and at risk of failing, their weaknesses hidden by an unwritten agreement between the coalition and civil servants to keep Gateway reviews secret?

NAO report – Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission: cost reduction

Government repeating child support mistakes – ComputerworldUK

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Posted in Agile, capacity building, change, change management, CIO, Gateway reviews, Government IT, India, IT projects, managing change, managing outsourced services, openness and transparency, operational issues, outsourcing, private sector lessons for the public sector, project management, public sector, public services

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Can officials stop TPP offering gifts to GPs?

Posted on 10/02/2012 | 3 comments

By Tony Collins

On 13 July 2011 CSC gave this written assurance to NHS Connecting for Health at its headquarters in Leeds.

“CSC can confirm that its subcontractor TPP will no longer be sending out letters to practices offering  gifts in return for organising demonstrations of SystmOne.”

TPP has continued to offer gifts, and the Department of Health is now concerned enough to divulge the letters it has sent to CSC.

It can do little more, for GPs are not bound by NHS rules on the acceptance of gifts.

NHS Connecting for Health became involved after TPP sent out a letter in April 2011 offering tea at The Ritz or two tickets to a West End show of the GP choice.

“All we ask for in return is a short slot at your [local practice manager] meeting so we can demonstrate the benefits of SystmOne,” TPP said. “We’re [sic] a proven system and a real alternative to EMIS and Vision. With a third of the country’s patient records and more than 90,000 users, SystmOne is the leader in hosted clinical systems.

“Following recent success in the London area, TPP are looking to sponsor local practice manager meetings. We’ll provide lunch and refreshments for all your attendees. As a thank-you the organiser of the event will will also receive afternoon tea at The Ritz or two tickets to a West End show of their choice …Don’t wait around for an alternative that might not arrive – SystmOne is available, right here, right now…”

SystmOne is supplied to the NHS by CSC under the National Programme for IT, at a cost to taxpayers that remains confidential under NPfIT contracts. GPs can also buy the system directly under GP Systems of Choice. Some PCTs are said to be putting pressure on GP practices to replace existing systems with SystmOne.

Three months after TPP’s “tea at The Ritz” letter, on 6 July 2011, NHS Connecting for Health’s Programme Director, GP IT, wrote to CSC.

Dear Sirs

GPSoC [GP Systems of Choice] Marketing Activity by Subcontractor (TPP)

It has come to the attention of the Authority [Connecting for Health/Department of Health] that TPP have been sending letters to practices which include offers of gifts in return for organising meetings of practice managers  during which SystmOne would be demonstrated. The gifts on offer include tea at The Ritz, two tickets to a West End show and £50 of Marks and Spencer vouchers.

The activities being carried out by TPP state that they are in relation to the provision of SystmOne through GP Systems of Choice. As the Supplier of SystmOne under the Framework Agreement, the Authority requests that CSC review these activities and provides a response to the Authority, by no later than 13 July, to advise whether TPP, as their subcontractor, will be continuing with such activity.”

CSC’s Primary Care Product Executive replied on 13 July:

“CSC was not aware of such activities being undertaken by TPP and immediately entered into dialogue with TPP.

CSC can confirm that its subcontractor TPP will not be sending out letters to practices offering gifts in return for organising demonstrations of SystmOne.”

In December 2011 Campaign4Change learned that TPP was offering £25 Marks and Spencer vouchers to GPs in return for a “short slot at your meeting so we can talk to you and demonstrate the benefits of SystmOne”. By that time TPP put the number of its users at more than 100,000.

We asked the Department of Health in December 2011 whether it approved of TPP’s incentives. It replied:

“We were made aware and asked the supplier about this activity. The supplier has subsequently confirmed that they have ceased offering incentives to GPs.”

Then we learned of a TPP offer of Hotel Chocolat chocolates.

“Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year from TPP.

“To find out why 1800 GP practices have already moved to SystmOne, just call me on the number below to book your short GP demo. Book before 24th December to get a box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates on the day of your demonstration…”

This month, February 2012, TPP sent out this message:

TPP sponsorship for your practice meeting

“TPP are looking to sponsor your practice manager meeting! We’ll provide lunch and refreshments for all of your attendees. As a thank-you, the organiser of the meeting will also receive £25 Marks and Spencer vouchers! All we ask for in return is a short slot at your meeting so we can talk to your attendees and demonstrate the benefits of SystmOne to those practices not yet using it. Anyone that books a SystmOne demonstration on the day of the meeting will also recieve £25 Marks and Spencer vouchers!

“You already know all the great reasons to move to SystmOne, why not share them with other practices in your area? The more practices that move to SystmOne, the more benefits you’ll see.

“To arrange sponsorship for your next meeting and take advantage of this great offer, just contact us on the number below or reply to this email.”

We asked DH why it had suggested that the gift offers had ceased when they hadn’t. Its reply:

“The Department contacted CSC (as the GPSoC supplier) about this activity by their subcontractor TPP. CSC confirmed that TPP would cease offering gifts to GPs in return for organising demonstrations of SystmOne. We have contacted CSC about TPP’s position which is not in line with the assurances previously provided.”

We also asked the DH why it was concerned about the gifts. It did not reply directly but sent us copies of the letter it had sent to CSC, and CSC’s reply.

Is the DH powerless to stop TPP offering gifts?

TPP told Pulse this week:  “We momentarily stopped offering the incentives over Christmas but will be resuming during February … The incentives were offered only to GPs and practice managers and were completely optional.

“Our ‘Tea at the Ritz’ offer actually costs considerably less than the cost of catering for such a practice meeting. We at TPP appreciate that GPs and their staff are extremely busy and so any thank-you gifts we offer staff are simply that, a thank-you for an hour or two of their time.”

CSC has made no comment.

Pulse reports that the GP Systems of Choice framework agreement prohibits software providers from offering gifts to any servant of the authority or a PCT. The ban does not include GPs because they do not sign the framework. Suppliers can offer gifts to GPs without breaching the framework agreement says Pulse.

It quotes Dr Charlie Stuart-Buttle, a former chair of the EMIS user group and a GP in Tonbridge, Kent, as saying the incentives were an unacceptable way of going about things. It also quotes Dr Trefor Roscoe, a GP in Sheffield and former medical IT consultant, as saying the incentives were not a problem as long as the GPs felt the system in question was worth demonstrating in the first place.

Comment

Some will say that GPs are bombarded with offers of freebies from drug companies. So why does it matter if an IT company offers gifts?

Another argument is that drugs are different. GPs can stop offering drugs that become too expensive. They cannot simply stop using a GP system. It’s a big decision for any GP practice to choose a new system even with subsidies from the Department of Health under GP Systems of Choice GPs, while the GPSoC framework lasts. Any new GP system is likely to be a long-term commitment because of the disruption of changing.

GPs should surely choose their IT supplier on the basis of the facts and after shortlisting suppliers.

We dislike the expression “level playing field” but if applied here it would mean that GPs chose new systems only after demos at which all shortlisted suppliers offered tea at the Ritz or Marks and Spencer vouchers to certain GPs.

Alternatively the suppliers could agree that none offers gifts.

IT company’s tea at The Ritz offer to GPs.

Pulse article on TPP incentives

Are PCTs putting GPs under pressure to switch to SystmOne?

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Posted in change, Government IT, health, health records, managing outsourced services, NHS, npfit, outsourcing, Politics, procurement, supplier relationships

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CIOs must lead business change with consumerisation, Cloud focus

Posted on 03/02/2012 | Leave a comment

By David Bicknell

Some work published by PwC in the US has argued that top-performing U.S. organisations show greater mastery in how they leverage digital technologies by the way they embrace consumerisation, the Cloud and social media.

The management company’s Digital IQ survey says these companies are offering mobile tools for customers, measuring data through social media, mobilising applications to the public cloud and are applying innovative use of business intelligence. It also finds that most enterprises are still playing catch-up on the consumerisation of IT.

PwC believes the CIO plays a critical role in the planning process for increasing a company’s Digital IQ. It argues that CIOs must be excellent at managing the internal factory, but also excel at mobilising new plans into action.  

The Digital IQ findings call for business leaders — and, in particular, today’s CIOs — to lead their organisations to change and innovate from the inside out. The report findings suggest that excellence in IT has not been commoditised and is still differentiating as a competitive advantage. Indeed, IT-enabled, multi-channel connections with customers can make a marked difference to business results. But to succeed, today’s CIOs — and the C-suite more broadly — must excel at not just managing internally, but also mobilising new plans into action.

PwC argues that a high Digital IQ requires the CIO to find better ways to sift through and drive insight from the increasing torrent of data streaming from every manner of device and interaction, and to create a platform that can deliver these capabilities across a varied set of changing mobile devices.

PwC’s survey showed that 63 percent of respondents revealed their greatest challenge is the inability to gather, understand and act on customer data. Fifty-eight percent cite an inability to quickly understand and adopt the new information technologies needed to be competitive.

“Consumerisation of IT is on the rise, and in the Survey we continue to see a need to serve the mobile customer, move to cloud services, and use data more effectively,” said Chris Curran, principal at PwC. “Organisations that have an integrated strategy—which includes technology—seem to perform better.”

For those interested in the consumerisation of IT, the Corporate IT Forum is holding a summit on the subject in London on 22nd February.  You can find out more details here

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Posted in change, change management, CIO, Cloud, Consumerisation, innovation, IT projects

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