Agenda item

The Executive Member for Economic Development submitted a report that summarised the ICT Strategy for East Herts Council.

The Head of Business and Technology Services referred to the Shared IT Service and advised that the East Herts IT Strategy for 2015 – 2018 would be a 4 year strategy solely for East Herts Council.

Members were advised that the Strategy set out the current situation regarding East Herts Council’s IT services.  The report also detailed the work required to improve IT systems as well as savings that were being achieved due to the business case for the IT Shared Service.

The Head of Business and Technology Services provided a comprehensive summary of each of the sections of the IT Strategy for 2015 – 2018 and highlighted the recommendations.  Members were advised that the strategy referred to improved wireless systems at Wallfields, Hertford Theatre and Charringtons House.

The Head of Business and Technology Services confirmed to Councillor M Pope that there were no immediate plans to use IT Cloud services.  He advised that he was unaware of any Council that relied solely on IT Cloud systems for storing electronic data.

The Director of Finance and Support Services advised that the Authority had two local IT data centres that were geographically remote from each other.  The Head of Business and Technology Services emphasised that the Authority could now have systems back up and running inside 4 hours instead of 2 to 3 days due to the daily operation of the IT service being significantly more resilient.

The Head of Business and Technology Services commented that there was now more efficient collaboration in the procurement of IT systems and the Authority also had a more equitable IT Service for Officers and Customers.

The Head of Business and Technology Services updated Members in respect of the recent baseline assessment of key business applications.  Councillor Wing stressed the importance of IT Officers seeing through projects from start to finish to avoid customers facing staff being left to resolve IT problems.

The Director advised that the Authority had very strong governance arrangements in place regarding improvements in performance monitoring.  The Executive Member for Economic Development confirmed that the IT function would be driven by the business needs of the Authority.

Councillor Pope commented on the cost effectiveness of using external resources to support ongoing IT projects.  The Head of Business and Technology Services confirmed that the Authority now had sufficient Officers employed internally although if further resources were required to ensure delivery of specific projects then the case for employing additional resource would have to form part of the overall project business case.  He confirmed to Councillor Page that Officers were mindful of the Customer Services Strategy in ensuring that there was a human element to the experience of customers using the Council’s IT systems.

The Head of Business and Technology Services confirmed that a review of Member IT support would include consideration of whether there was a demand for an out of hours service to deal with any critical IT issues. 

The Committee received the report and agreed that the recommendations detailed in the 2015 – 2018 East Herts IT Strategy be commended to the Executive for approval.

RESOLVED – that (A) the report be received; and

(B)   the recommendations detailed in the 2015 – 2018 East Herts IT Strategy be commended to the Executive for approval.