The Cabinet Office Technology Transformation programme aims to provide civil servants there with the most effective technology to do their job, fit for a modern Civil Service and as good as they have at home.
In this short video, Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Richard Heaton and Tom Read, Transformation Director for the programme, talk about why a new approach was needed, while Carly Freeston and Olivia Burman talk about the difference the new technology has made to how they work.
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Comment by Gamerfork posted on
It doesn't actually say how it's done. Just talks about browser based apps and the Internet.
Is it Apple Mac and Google implementation?
Can you consume PSN services on the devices and do you actively manage those EUDs so you have assurance about who's accessing your data?
What about offline services ?
Thanks
Comment by John posted on
Can we have a transcript for those that can't access the video either due to departmental IT restrictions or those with personal accessibility needs?
Comment by Richard Barrell posted on
I typed this out while watching it, so any errors below are probably mine:
[Slide: “Better technology for Cabinet Office staff”]
[Slide: “What was the problem?”]
Carly Freeston, Senior Policy Advisor, Cabinet Office: “The laptop that I had was very difficult to link to the wifi in the room that I'm currently in, because the wifi was quite poor in that area of the building.”
Richard Heaton, Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office: “Everything was based on word-processing platforms. There was very little use of internet tools.”
Olivia Burma, Head of Corporate Governance Strategy, Cabinet Office: “It would take a good fifteen, twenty, twenty-five minutes to log in.”
Tom Read, Technology Transformation Director, Cabinet Office: “We had around 70% of users in the Cabinet Office who rated their technology as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.”
Olivia Burma: “The number of websites you would go to, where it says ‘oh, this browser is out of date…’”
Tom Read: “They found that it just became a barrier to how they wanted to work.”
Olivia Burma: “I would bring my own iPad in because actually using Internet Explorer 6 was impossible.”
Tom Read: “People want fast wifi. They don't want cables plugging in. People want smartphones. They expect to be able to have apps on there, the same way that they do at home.
[Slide: “How was it fixed?”]
Richard Heaton: “Our IT was coming to the end of its contract. This was an opportunity to renew it and provide technology that worked better for civil servants.”
Carly Freeston: “The new system has made my life a lot easier. I'm able to bring my laptop into meetings, log onto the internet, update work, don't have to use a notebook any more.”
Richard Heaton: “The wifi itself is transformationally better. It will enable colleagues, civil servants in the Cabinet Office, to use the latest generation of web tools.”
Olivia Burma: “People are getting very excited about trying different applications or tools, or looking at what else they could potentially do. There are so many more options available to them now.”
Tom Read: “Use cloud applications. Use the services that come through a browser: it makes everything simpler, and users tend to love it.”
Carly Freeston: “It makes work a lot easier and a lot faster. Spend less time worrying about IT and more time working.”
[Slide: “Like water or electricity.”]
Tom Read: “So in five years time, I would expect that we'll move to a much simpler IT estate. I think laptops and thin devices will be everywhere. I think virtually all applications will be consumed through a browser. And if you do that a lot of your technology becomes like water or electricity, it's just like a commodity service and you can actually focus on the things that you're here to do.”
Richard Heaton: “There's a chance to roll out IT in a completel different way.”
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