Local Authorities Can Learn From NHS

NHS Direct recently partnered with an IT Services organisation to channel shift services online resulting in more than £10 million annual savings. This is just one way of how partnering and using the right technology can reduce costs and Improve efficiencies. With budget cuts driving changes in the public sector, organisations are looking at developing more sophisticated channels of providing their services using today’s technology.One way to address the challenge is to deploy a Software Asset Management (SAM) solution. Recent SAM solutions such as Certero’s Assetstudio® and SoftwareMetering For Decision Makers provide all the functionality required to enable an auditable licence compatibility process, and enforces access policies to ensure licensing rules, a function that is also valuable for PC’s.
For organisations such as NHS Wiltshire – with an IT estate comprising 5000 computers across more than 200 sites, Certero SAM solution will enable them to detect and end duplicate and unnecessary licenses. With organisations across all sectors facing a wide range of challenges centred around controlling costs and diminishing budgets - particularly in IT departments – solutions with a low cost set up that are powerful yet simple to use can help play a role in driving new efficiencies. The NHS Shared Business Services Model, which in 2011 paid the NHS back £1 million, promises Trusts 30% costs
savings. So you can see its attraction for budget restricted healthcare providers.
Local Government organisation Xentrall Shared Services - a partnership between Stockton on Tees and Darlington Borough Council demonstrates the ability of a Shared Services model to reign in and control expenditure with respect to streamlining back end systems.
The group was quick to consolidate its two incumbent IT asset management solutions to provide a single comprehensive hardware and software inventory of their client computers; not surprisingly, as cost reduction is the top reason for investing in software asset management and IT asset management activities, according to surveys conducted by the International Business Software Managers Association (IBSMA) from 2005 to 2009. Kelvin McIvor, Business Analyst at Xentrall Shared Services is adamant that the single IT asset management approach has delivered on expectations. "We now have the information we need to free up and transfer existing licences to new users as we grow and expand.”
Public Sector organisations accept that they will have to show where they have made cost savings, and the value of the initiatives they have implemented to lower costs and improve service. Certero SAM solution has already proven on its ability to Optimise software usages and provide evidence of compliance.
For more information
Tel: 01925 868 970
E-mail: info@certero.co.uk
Web: www.cetero.co.uk