K2 Comments are short, incisive analyst pieces on subjects that we believe are of value to our members and readers. We don’t publish every day but endeavour to provide insight rather than repeating industry gossip or tweaking stories from the general press.
If you would like to suggest a topic or subject for us to cover please get in touch.
Receive the monthly “CIO Pulse” Research Update to learn which new research has been produced, which CIO events are taking place, and how to get involved.
Sign up now »
Small, research-led briefings for CIOs.
By invitation only.
Find out more »
K2 Advisory helped Serco build an understanding of central government appetite for Cloud-based services
View all client work »
www.siftmedia.co.uk - Interactive community publishing | Sift Media - Registered in England & Wales No. 05923499 | Terms of use | Privacy
Atos, EMC and VMWare have launched a new joint venture called Canopy, which will provide a "one stop shop" for buyers of Cloud services – according to the suppliers. The tagline for Canopy is "The open Cloud company" – emphasising that the suppliers are promising that you will be able to avoid lock-in. Atos is in a lead role and has already invested "a few tens of millions of Euros".
The Public Services Network (PSN) is the most advanced part of the G-Cloud strategy, and so its development can be seen as an indicator of the likely wider success of that aspect of the current Government ICT strategy. The idea behind the PSN is that it will create a “network of networks” for the public sector from the existing commercial networks, and that it will develop a market place providing opportunities for industry, and savings for the public sector.
Whatever job you do, and whatever sector you work in, it can always be difficult to find and keep good staff. Furthermore, once you've onboarded those staff members, there is the on-going challenge of maintaining their training and ensuring that they're able to be innovative and proactive in how they help you support the objectives of the business.
In the UK and EMEA I've never found CSC to be a complacent company, so the title to this comments piece needs to be clarified: for an organisation serving enterprises, the company has developed a good range of market-leading IaaS capabilities, as have most suppliers that are able to work very closely with VMware. It can probably provide a solution to suit most enterprises moving towards Cloud delivery.
Not for the first time, I took a trip down to Bristol to visit HP Labs (@hplabs). The facility is HP's second-largest central research location, and it sits nestled amongst other industrial giants based nearby including British Aerospace and Rolls-Royce. The Labs plays host to a range of guests who can learn about its research, from school children to George Osbourne. However, in the main it welcomes CIOs and their colleagues for visits and workshops.
Is your organisation struggling to ensure that a particular business process is compliant with legislative requirements? Has a sudden increase in applications meant that a largely paper-based process is becoming highly inefficient? Does the amount of inbound data mean that important documents are becoming less visible than they should be? If so, you may be interested in a company that was recently introduced to me by its CEO Andrew Anderson.
Following the recent appointment of Andy Nelson to the position of Government CIO, I was reminded of a recent debate I had with a group of CIOs where we spoke about the challenges they face in terms of influencing people inside the organisation. Looking at Nelson's situation, he faces tricky relationships with Ministers as well as the challenges that come with working with such a large range of public sector organisations.
The 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Durban, South Africa at the end of last year may have been eclipsed by the Euro Crisis, but in the UK the large public and private sector organisations responsible for around 10% of carbon emissions are being held to account for their energy management strategies.
Public Sector ICT leader - Ann Moises, CIO of the Scottish Government
Last week I attended the UK Public Sector Digital Awards at London's Guildhall. K2 Advisory had the pleasure of presenting the "Best Sustainability Initiative", which recognises organisations that demonstrate best practice examples of sustainability in action. The very worthy winner was Warrington Collegiate – based up in Cheshire.