subject: What The Uk Elections Means For Public Sector Technology Support. [print this page] At the time of writing the result of the UK election is a week away and its apparently going to be a close run affair. One thing is for sure however and that is WHOEVER sits in No 10 for the next 4 years will have a massive uphill struggle balancing the UK's books. Tax rises, public spending cuts are on every party's agency.
So what does this mean for public funded organisations and government bodies who need to ensure they get "extra mileage" out of current systems, hardware, software and technology?
In short it means ensuring that the best support, experience, pricing and proven success is extracted from whichever company they employ to manage their challenges. Life expectancy of hardware and software systems will have to be extended and provision made to guarantee continuity and performance from every piece of hardware, every software program and every maintenance/support program.
Now is the time to be thinking about tendering or putting in place a mechanism to prepare for the inevitable glitch or breakdown. T's crossed and i's dotted now will pay dividends in the future during the expected 2-3 years of squeezed funding.
Perhaps the unthinkable will prevail and staff cut backs will have to be made. Not always bad news (other than for the recipients of course) as in so many cases, sensible and intelligent use of technology coupled to productivity improvements will ensure service is maintained with a lower staff head count.
Areas to consider:
1.Maintenance contracts
2. IT support
3. Document Management implementation or improvements. (estimated 48% increase in paper handling productivity)
4. Outsourcing of labour intensive operations e.g. document archive scanning, records management etc
The times they are a changing but managed professionally the forecast cash cuts will have minimal impact on support services. Like commercial businesses, local government bodies will have to run leaner and meaner but that doesnt necessarily mean normal service cannot be maintained.
For FREE advice and consultation on items 3. and 4. above please contact the author.
Contact the author for FREE consultation on any aspects of records or document management. Click2Scan are the UK's fastest growing independent document management experts and official resellers for ABBY and Spielberg software plus Canon, Kodak and Fujitsu hardware.
