Public Sector Roundup: Upgrading IT management

Isle of Wight gets email management
The Isle of Wight Council has signed on with Clearswift's MIMEsweeper managed email service for its 5,000 employees who receive some 700,000 external emails a month - leading to major security issues.

Jonathan Sheath, senior ICT security officer for the council, said: "We rely heavily on email to contact all our customers - from suppliers to residents - regarding all sorts of issues, many of which are time critical... The software we were using prior to MIMEsweeper kept good control over spam levels and we never suffered any problems with viruses. However, the time it took to administer the system was significant and when it reached upwards of three hours a day, we realised we needed to consider an alternative solution".

He added: "The service is outstripping all expectations and is saving significant man hours, enabling the team to concentrate on the daily business critical tasks. This represents a huge saving in resources, which was the ultimate objective in installing the service."

London NHS trust upgrades service desks
The West London Mental Health NHS Trust has signed on to use Touchpaper to improve service desk and support functions based on IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practice.

Touchpaper's IT Business Management suite was rolled out to 2,500 staff across 30 sites.

Bob Roberts, service manager at the trust said: "In reviewing our service desk, we knew that not only did we need a new system that would help us to become more ITIL-compatible, but that we also needed to upgrade the existing system completely to take a more holistic approach to customer service.

Cabinet Office uses web forum to gauge flood response
The government has set up an online review to help the public share experiences of the recent floods, as part of the Lessons Learned review.

Sir Michael Pitt, the independent chair overseeing the review, said: "I intend to spend time visiting affected communities, talking to residents, local businesses and members of front-line services to get their first-hand experiences... In the meantime, I'd like people to log on to the website and share their comments - all contributions will be taken on board and will factor into the review process."