Agenda item

ICT Investment Roadmap

To consider the report of the Chief Officer Commercial, Chief Officer Resources and Chief Operating Officer (SRS).

Minutes:

 

Councillor Wayne Hodgins declared an interest in the following item and remained in the meeting.

 

Consideration was given to the joint report of the Chief Officer Commercial; Chief Officer Resources; and Chief Operating Officer, SRS which was presented to provide the Corporate Overview Scrutiny with a full set of proposals on investment options required to maintain a stable and resilient ICT infrastructure.

 

The Chief Officer Commercial introduced the report and gave an overview of the report which included that the last 12 months had shown how important ICT was in terms of resilience and providing services.  A number of changes had taken place in a short period of time with a strong infrastructure behind the changes to ensure that the systems remain active and supported in the medium and longer term.

 

The Chief Operating Officer, SRS, highlighted each of the different elements of the infrastructure and commented on the benefits of maintaining an up-to-date infrastructure.

 

In response to a Member’s question regarding costs for renewing equipment every five years, the Chief Operating Officer said there would be an annual cost every year to replace the equipment, this had been shown over five years in the Medium Term Financial Plan.  In previous years, replacement of equipment had been carried out on an ad hoc basis when equipment failed.  There was now a move to plan more effectively especially with remote working currently in place. 

 

The Chief Officer Commercial said the aim was to be in a position to know exactly what the ongoing investment needed to be in relation to the ICT infrastructure and a more strategic approach was needed to look at what that investment requirement was in order to maintain the services in a timely manner.

 

A Member commented that during the pandemic people relied more heavily on technology and this was a proactive approach by the Council, whereas historically they had been reactive.  The Chief Officer Commercial said this approach provided an opportunity to control the spend in this area and make cost effective decisions if planned in advance.

 

In response to a Member’s question regarding the Contact Centre infrastructure, the Chief Operating Officer explained that the Contact Centre infrastructure was shared with other local authorities.  There were separate call queues for each authority but the same hardware infrastructure.  SRS provided an Out of Hours service for Torfaen County Borough Council and could look to provide a similar service for Blaenau Gwent.  The Chief Officer Commercial added they were currently looking at the Out of Hours arrangement as part of the review of C2BG.

 

The Chief Officer Resources highlighted the infrastructure investment proposals, the revenue costs for the implementation of Teams Telephony and Contact Centre and the transitional costs moving from one system to another.

 

A Member referred to Microsoft Office 365.  The Chief Operating Officer confirmed that running costs for Microsoft Office 365 were already included in the revenue budget.

 

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 1; namely that the Committee recommend the ICT Infrastructure Investment to Executive prior to approval by Council.

Supporting documents: