Why two council CIOs are bidding to build a London Supercloud

Camden Council's John Jackson explains how he wants all 33 of London's boroughs to be able to tap into a secure, regional cloud

Camden Council CIO John Jackson and Newham and Havering ICT director Geoff Connell are spearheading a programme dubbed the London Supercloud. The aim is for all 33 of London's boroughs, as well as health authorities, and possibly other public-sector bodies, to be able to tap into the same IT resources with the aim of providing better, cheaper services to residents and businesses.

Below, Jackson explains the rationale behind the initiative:

If we are to save money, solve complex problems in health and social care and prepare for devolution we must rewire our digital platforms around the needs of our citizens and businesses.

This means:
• Supporting shared services and partnership working which saves money on back-office administration as well as making it easier for front line services to operate efficiently;

• Mashing up information across sectors so we gain new insights and intelligence that enable us to use scarce resources more effectively and help our most vulnerable citizens sooner;

• Saving money on IT; we can't afford the luxury of running 60-plus data centres and heavily customised local solutions when fundamentally much of what we do is common;

• Breaking down silos to enable the free flow of information between citizen and state so complex processes such as hospital discharges can be simplified and deliver better outcomes through automation;

• Not being locked into proprietary IT systems and ecosystems that are difficult to use, difficult to change and straitjacket service delivery.

The focus on delivering better outcomes at lower cost is energising CIOs in London to think and act collaboratively and to explore radical options. The development of a pan-London Supercloud is one of the initiatives we are exploring.

Fundamentally, it's about harnessing cloud computing in a secure, regional cloud that enables the transformation outlined above. We know that a pan-London approach works because:

• We already run a pan-London admissions service that successfully co-ordinates the allocation of school places and enables parental choice across the capital each year;

• We provide a regional service for claiming pupil premiums that has generated five times more income for schools than the cost of the IT system in its first six months of operation;

• We know from earlier regional initiatives such as public Wi-Fi that we achieve significantly lower costs and greater innovation from suppliers when London acts together and harnesses its huge buying power.

So we are now actively exploring how we integrate IT services, dump aging data centres and enable regional devolution through a London Supercloud. By doing so we can deliver better and cheaper services for residents and businesses as well as building a foundation that supports and amplifies London's leadership in digital innovation.

John Jackson is CIO at Camden Council