THURROCK Council’s new “transformation” chief, Cllr Val Morris-Cook, says she was pleased that the first item she had to introduce concerned the authority’s IT systems.
Speaking at Wednesday (5 June) evening’s cabinet meeting, she said: “I don’t think I need to explain this to members, they all know the council’s ICT and telephone system is not only old fashioned but totally out of date.
“There has been a lack of investment over many years and I’m asking cabinet to change that – investing now will save money over time.”
She said the plan was to invest in new desktop computers and a modern telephone system, adding: “We are not updating them for the sake of it; we are updating them because we have to.
“Our existing systems are literally at the end of their lives and cannot be upgraded and if we don’t do it, they won’t be compliant with official information security requirements within a year.”
Cllr Morris-Cook said: “First it needs to be said that if we don’t do this, we would have to spend £5.7 million just to replace what we already have – but without the benefits.
“If we agree this, we will spend £1.8 million in capital; and we will save £2½ million in cash efficiencies over the next five years.
“It’s also worth noting that further savings have been made because the implementation will be done by the council and Serco together and all the procurement will be done through government procurement frameworks, cutting time and money.”
She explained how the upgrades will enable members and staff to work remotely and more efficiently, allowing “staff such as social workers and planners to access and process information wherever they are working, cutting travel and manual record keeping needs”.
Cabinet agreed a vision for IT in March so the council could better connect with communities and partners, “this business case is one of the first building blocks to deliver that” she said.
“The telephone solution will mean calls will get to case workers directly – improving speed of response; it will reduce call charges – as most will be placed over the internet rather than the national telephone network; and it will help cut travel costs as conference calling and linkages with people’s calendars and email will be much easier.”
Oh wow! Valerie Morris-Cook is a Transformer? What can she turn into? LOL
Is there really any position left that this woman has not had a try at, are they moving her around just to see where she actually fits in as the past posts have been a complete disaster with her in charge.