President's Week 2021

Kevin White, Head of Digital Accessibility, Scottish Government 

Kevin will open the event with a focus on people, a golden thread running throughout the four days.

It’s crucial that services are inclusive and accessible for all citizens, something Kevin will touch on in the context of a successful recovery for our communities following the COVID-19 crisis.

Kevin will also explain how the day is an opportunity to learn about the different approaches taken from around the world, as we welcome contributions from international experts who will share their innovative responses.

Kevin White, Head of Digital Accessibility, Scottish Government (Chair) | Dr Alan Shark, Executive Director, Public Technology Institute (now part of CompTIA) | Michael Dugina, Executive Director Customer and Corporate Services, City of Greater Geelong | Jörn Riedel, Chief Information Officer, Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg | Robin Heilig, Head of PACE FastLane Digital Innovation and FastLane, Vienna | Olivia Neal, Director of the Public Sector Center of Expertise, Microsoft

International views and discussion about building post COVID-19 recovery and resilience.

Grab a tea or coffee, take a breather and the opportunity to virtually mingle and network.

Oliver Cronk, Chief IT Architect, Tanium

Early in 2020, as the pandemic struck, businesses around the world found themselves emptying their offices and shifting to a remote workforce. The transition caught most IT organisations by surprise. However, Enterprise IT teams across the World achieved the unimaginable by transforming their environments overnight to cope. If such massive changes are possible, what can we achieve in 2021 and 2022 to further improve our IT? We asked senior IT professionals from 500 Enteprises and we will share the findings with you during this keynote.

Mike Manson, Chief Executive, Association of Local Government Information Management

Innovation and transition in New Zealand local government.

Sarah-Jane Smyth, Principal, Netcompany | Sissel Ørts Gadgaard, Senior Consultant, Netcompany

The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted children in the boundaries of care. Case loads have increased and those in care have difficulties navigating the system. In this talk, Netcompany will present its social care platform, DUBU, a central tool used in Denmark by over 4,000 social workers who help bring a brighter future to vulnerable children and young people. DUBU offers social workers a platform that is reliable, highly intuitive, user-friendly and compliant with requirements for handling sensitive personal data. Discover DUBU’s potential and how the platform can transform social care in the UK for good.

Grab some refreshments, network with fellow delegates and digest the morning’s talking points.

Kevin White, Head of Digital Accessibility, Scottish Government (Chair) | Kate Walker, Digital Programme Director, Suffolk & North East Essex Integrated Care Systems | Lord Porter of Spalding (Leader of South Holland District Council) | Matt Oliver, Head of Think Communities, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council | Erika Lewis, Cyber Security and Digital Identity, DCMS | Tim Kidd, Head of Public Sector, Hitachi Solutions | Paul Jackson, RVP of UKI Public Sector, Tanium

Bringing the discussion to a UK perspective on building post COVID-19 recovery and resilience.

Lee Waters MS, Deputy Minister for Climate change

Discover how the Welsh Government has put people at the heart of its strategy development. Through collaboration and feedback with a broad range of stakeholders, they have produced a plan influenced by groups including the Wales Race Forum, businesses and children and young people with learning disabilities.  

Colin Cook, Digital Director, Scottish Government

Hear how Scotland’s future will be forged in a digital world. It’s a world in which data and digital technologies are transforming every element of the nation – people, place, economy and government.

Kevin White, Head of Digital Accessibility, Scottish Government 

Sam Smith, Assistant Director of IT & Digital Services, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council

The vital importance of collecting and sharing data has underpinned our experiences in tackling COVID-19. Access to relevant information shapes what we do and how we do it. And without it, time and money are wasted. With data collection and sharing comes the responsibility to use it safely and securely. President Sam Smith will lead us through a day of best practice and case studies in harnessing data for better outcomes.

Alan Hill, Director, Public Sector Strategic Solutions, Splunk | Julian Kaine, Public Sector Strategy Director, Splunk

“Data – its collection, storage, management and use – is perhaps the highest priority reported by CIOs” in Socitm’s report on Digital trends in local public services 2021.

No decisions should be made without data. As local government turns its attention to economic recovery, are you listening to all your data assets? We will show you how key business decisions can be supported with data that tells you what is happening right now and not just what has happened in the past.

Dr Mahlet (Milly) Zimeta, Head of Public Policy, Open Data Institute

During the pandemic, we have seen extraordinary innovation in the way that data has been used to identify the needs of people, communities and businesses, and to target support, resources and voluntary effort effectively. Working with a range of partners, the ODI is at the forefront of developing the standards, ethical designs and capabilities needed to effectively harness data and intelligence to build evidence-based recovery and resilience.

Alyssa Blackburn, Director of Records & Information Management, AvePoint | Karen MacFarlane, Digital Services Manager, North Lanarkshire Council

Many organisations prefer to have their governance and records controls in place before launching a new collaborative platforms like Microsoft Teams. However given the pandemic, this simply wasn’t a luxury many organisations had.

Join AvePoint’s keynote where Alyssa will be interviewing Karen MacFarlane. Karen will be sharing share their journey in Microsoft 365, and how the pandemic not only accelerated M365 internal collaboration, but how they are now having to retrofit records & governance controls since the pandemic.

Alyssa and Karen will be discussing:

• What does M365 digital collaboration look like for North Lanarkshire Council
• How North Lanarkshire are building efficient record management to boost collaboration with Microsoft Teams
• What are the top priorities now post pandemic
• What advice would you give to other councils when it comes to implementing governance & records controls for Microsoft 365

Grab a tea or coffee, take a breather and the opportunity to virtually mingle and network.

Dave Vincent, Chief Digital Officer, Tourism Northern Ireland

Learn from Tourism Northern Ireland about how to improve the experiences of visitors to your communities through the intelligent use of data.

Dave will describe how his organisation has been benefitting from an agile data-driven approach to innovation delivering real time insights, supporting tourism recovery planning and on-going visitor experience.

Steve Brandwood, Executive Director of Engagement, Geoplace

Hear about the results of a collaborative project with the LGA to discover the use of open UPRNs by authorities responding to COVID-19. Find out how we can use location-based data to overcome challenges presented by working with large amounts of disparate data in supporting recovery.

Tony Doyle, Head of IT Services, Blackpool Council

Come on a journey through Blackpool’s 2030 Prospectus from the North Atlantic Loop, across silicon sands, along the smart promenade, harnessing data for better health, building sustainability, and ensuring that nobody is left behind.

Huw Ynyr, Head of IT, Cyngor Gwynedd Council

Established norms and practices have been overturned during the pandemic. For rural areas this has brought new challenges around digital exclusion and access to services for isolated communities that may not have the connectivity, devices or skills to access services online. How can we reduce social and economic inequalities and embrace a more integrated approach to health, care and wellbeing recover into more resilient and self-reliant communities. Join Huw as he explores the opportunities presented for harnessing digital technologies and data to unleash the potential and practical opportunities whether this is through remote and more flexible working, services anytime from anywhere, infrastructure development, virtual democratic engagement, volunteering, local sourcing, reduced reliance on the car, environmental awareness, sustainability actions and much more.

Katherine Szelesi, Enterprise Account Manager, Veeam

In Veeam’s session you will:

• Gain deep insights into the fast-changing dynamics and complexities of protecting your data today in the Data Protection Research Report 2021
• Learn how to assess your data protection plan to gain visibility of vulnerabilities or any data protection gaps
• Discover how to plan a fully automated modern data protection strategy to ensure that your data is protected and always secured
• Develop testing that allows you to recover and restore successfully in an outage event with confidence
• See how you can train your employees to defend against cyberattacks and how to properly protect data
• Understand why you should partner with a third-party vendor like us who possesses the vast expertise and experience in modern data protection

Tracey Hannan-Jones, Governance, Risk & Compliance Consultant, Phoenix

The National Cyber Security Centre recently published a report* that saw 46% of UK businesses identify cyber security breaches in the last 12 months. Among the 46% that reported breaches or attacks, 27% needed new measures to prevent future attacks, 20% needed to add staff to deal with the breach of inform others, 14% had staff stopped from carrying out their daily work and 32% identified at least one breach or attack a week – yes, a week.

The stats are staggering and made even worse by the fact that there has been a visible increase since the start of the pandemic. So what can you do to ensure you have the right people, processes, governance and systems in place to protect against these attacks?

Should the unthinkable happen (which it often can and does), to successfully recover from a cyber attack, it’s critical to have a clear cyber recovery strategy in place which is aligned to the business needs and prioritises recovering the most critical processes and data first. Join Phoenix Software, in partnership with Dell Technologies, in this engaging session as we look at:

• What is cyber recovery?
• What to do when an attack happens – it’s not an if
• How attacks can unfold – the journey of an event
• Governance, risk and compliance planning
• Business continuity, disaster recovery, CSIRP and cyber insurance – what’s needed and why
• Questions

*Source: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s ‘Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2020’

Professor Robin Hambleton, Emeritus Professor of City Leadership, University of the West of England, Bristol

What are the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for place-based leadership?  In this keynote address Robin Hambleton will draw out lessons from his new international book, Cities and Communities Beyond COVID-19. How local leadership can change our future for the better.  The presentation will:

• Identify the four major challenges now facing local leaders
• Provide insights on how to understand the power and potential of place
• Outline how local leaders can build collaborative governance and promote bold public innovation
• Illustrate how this One City approach has been developed and delivered by Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, and civic leaders in Bristol
• Highlight practical lessons for policy and practice

Grab some refreshments, network with fellow delegates and digest the morning’s talking points.

Sam Smith, Assistant Director of IT & Digital Services, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council (Chair) | Clair Hayward, Category Lead, Crown Commercial Services | Alan Hill, Director, Public Sector Strategic Solutions, Splunk | Daniela Gheorghe, Delivery Director, Peak Indicators | Tom Barden, Head of Business Intelligence, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council | Kate Lindley, Client Services Director, Socitm Advisory

Panellists will explore:

• using data to drive better outcomes
• data ethics
• sharing and integrating data
• analytical capabilities and skills
• data visualisation
• building citizens’ trust

Sam Smith, Assistant Director of IT & Digital Services, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council | Nadira Hussain, Director of Leadership, Development and Research, Socitm

We will be show casing the work that we have been doing with a Skills Centre in The Gambia; working with a group of young ladies to help them develop their digital and business skills to become familiar with how technology, tools and the appropriate skills can help with independence and self-sufficiency.

Sam Smith, Assistant Director of IT & Digital Services, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council

Our current president, Sam Smith, reflects on the achievements of Socitm over the last year, and outlines her objectives and aspirations for the upcoming year.

The AGM is open to members only.

Alison Hughes, Assistant Director ICT, Digital and Customer, Liverpool City Council

Socitm Vice President Alison Hughes will draw together the themes from days 1 and 2 to assess whether we have the tools, knowledge, and skills to do what we want to do. Wherever you are on your modernisation journey, reflect with us today. There is no one size fits all solution, so meet service providers and service users to inform your thoughts and planning.

Jackie Weaver, Chief Officer, Cheshire Association of Local Councils 

Hear and learn from Jackie who will talk from a personal perspective on the challenges to ensure local democracy continued during lockdown. What changes were established, what were the benefits, what are the opportunities and what are the threats that lie ahead. Huge changes are happening but Jackie will present a case for always thinking about people who are accessing services and what their needs are.

Andy Start, Chief Executive Officer, Government Services, Capita 

While 72% of senior council officers say the past 12 months have impacted their organisations negatively, 86% recognised that they have changed faster than thought possible and 44% believe this new pace of change can be sustained. How do make the most of the disruption caused by the pandemic? Do we evolve or transform? How do we make sure everyone benefits? What is the Great Opportunity?

Gareth Williams, Marketing Director, IP Performance | Top Talent Cardiff 2021 Cohort

Join Gareth from our Top Talent Cardiff partner, IP Performance, as he introduces what promises to be an inspiring and energetic session!

Colleagues from the March 2021 cohort will share their experiences of the programme and the benefits of participating.

Hear also about the outputs and recommendations from the project they have been working on collectively – developing a business case for securing the technology to facilitate flexible working, enabling workers to perform their roles and responsibilities regardless of location or device.

Take to the virtual stage and ask them questions in this interactive workshop.

Grab a tea or coffee, take a breather and the opportunity to virtually mingle and network.

Steve Masters, Chief Technology Officer, Jisc

COVID-19 has changed expectations regarding how and where we work whilst also disrupting public service delivery. How can the public sector embrace this opportunity to benefit staff experience and collaboration, and improve effectiveness of services to citizens?

More importantly, what are the fundamental steps we need to take to achieve a secure digital environment to mitigate against cyber-attacks, and to protect staff, citizens and organisations and to safeguard their reputation?

Learn how other public sector organisations have identified opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness across both internal teams and external stakeholders, and to embed security.

Paul Rutland, Account Director, Deep Secure

Join Deep Secure as they bring to life what operating in a Zero Trust environment means for local authorities. Citing examples to set the public sector scene, the team will demonstrate how this works, relating it to the current guidelines. The session will offer plenty of opportunities for questions, before rounding off with conclusions to takeaway. So, no matter what size or type of organisation you belong to, this session is a must for those looking to understand more about ‘Zero Trust’ as part of improvements to cyber security.

Lilian Brett, Head of Workplace, Southwark | Natalie Preston, Business Transformation Project Manager, Southwark

Learn how Southwark Council in response to COVID-19, has accelerated the pace of new ways of working for staff, together with changes to service delivery.
What challenges lie ahead for Southwark as it identifies hybrid working as the future without knowing the full extent? What changes are needed to ensure such a system is successfully delivered and future proof?

Discover the benefits the authority has evidenced, including positively affecting the health and wellbeing of the workforce. This is all while balancing a consensus for office space to facilitate problem solving, promoting learning and maintaining positive relationships.

A packed session which will provide fascinating insights and learnings you can take away.

Alison Hughes, Assistant Director ICT, Digital and Customer, Liverpool City Council | Philip Jude, Director – EMEA Channels, PCI Pal | Russell Tilsed, Senior Director – Public Sector, 8×8

In 2020, spurred on by lockdown, public sector IT leaders found themselves at the forefront of a digital communications revolution. The race to keep staff and the local community connected saw many abandon their outdated on-premises systems in favour of cloud communications.

Once the immediate need to securely enable a remote contact centre was addressed, innovative organisations, like Liverpool City Council, quickly realised that cloud communications provide far-reaching opportunities to reimagine how they serve the public.

Join Liverpool City Council’s Assistant Director ICT—Alison Hughes, PCI Pal’s Phil Jude and 8×8’s Public Sector Director—Russell Tilsed as we discuss service delivery best-practice beyond the cloud contact centre and why the public sector is leading the way.

• The challenges and opportunities of enabling a cloud contact centre
• Lessons learned about empowering an agile workforce
• What does good communication look like in the post-pandemic era?
• How IT leaders can shape public service delivery models
• Maximising performance using AI and IVR automation
• How public sector organisations can secure payments while operating remotely

Kris Burtwistle, Head of UK Local Government Manager, AWS | Haidi Jenkin, Professional Services Practice Manager – Local Government, Education & Not for Profit, AWS | Julian Patmore, Head of ICT, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council

In late December 2020, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council needed to establish a COVID-19 isolation support service. Up to 450 agents would be hired to contact people who had tested positive, or had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19, to provide help, advice, and support for self-isolation.

As timelines were extremely short and the team wanted to have a working prototype before Christmas, Head of IT at Peterborough, Julian Patmore, contacted AWS Professional Services to support the effort. Working collaboratively, AWS and council IT and contact centre teams ultimately delivered 2 call centres with identity and CRM integration and allowed the councils to set up and run call centres without the need to invest in telephony hardware.

This session will explain how the teams were able to get the solution up and running and some of the dependencies to consider when looking to set up a rapid call centre using Amazon Connect.

Grab some refreshments, network with fellow delegates and digest the morning’s talking points.

Duncan Ross, Network and Security Engineer, IP Performance

Join Duncan Ross of IP Performance as he explains the assume breach approach, the disadvantages of traditional pen testing and how to leverage the latest hacking techniques to mimic real-world attack scenarios.

Jos Creese, CEO and Founder, Creese Consulting

This session will define a new context for IT delivery for 2021, helping CIOs and their teams to consider future scenarios, and to survive the challenges ahead. Based on the global trends research carried out by Socitm for this year, the session combines insights from public and private sectors, exploring the changing digital priorities for public services and how CIOs in particular need to address the new pressures and opportunities.

Alison Hughes, Assistant Director ICT, Digital and Customer, Liverpool City Council (Chair) | Michael McDonagh, CEO, CIPFA C.Co | Julie Towers, Managing Director, Penna | Kate Fitzsimons, Business Development Director, Capita | Mark Lumley, Director Digital & IT, London Borough of Hounslow | Russ Charlesworth, Practice Director – Integrated Care, Socitm Advisory

Panellists will be coming together to share and discuss their views on the effects, opportunities and challenges the evolution of the workforce brings and look at what this means in terms of agility, culture, impacts, management as we bring together, people, place and communities and debate the What, How and Why. Potential utopian or dystopian future – What’s your view?

Alison Hughes, Assistant Director ICT, Digital and Customer, Liverpool City Council

Huw McKee, Head of Information Technology and Digital Transformation, Conwy County Borough Council

As we reflect on all the discussions from President’s Week, it’s people within our organisations and our communities that are at the centre of creating systems and services that work effectively and efficiently. Discover new people, companies and technologies that can inspire you and your team. Socitm Vice President Huw McKee will guide us through this final day and knit together elements from all the sessions.

Alison McKenzie-Folan, Chief Executive, Wigan Council

Alison will share her experience of the award-winning approach they have adopted in Wigan to improving community engagement and delivering successful outcomes, and how their continued efforts of focusing on achieving an open, empathetic and optimistic culture will help them create an even more resilient place.

Steven Grier, Country Regional Manager, Microsoft UK | Prajakt Deotale, Industry Lead / CDO for Local & Regional Govt, Microsoft Consulting Services | Nicole Miners, Local Government Services Specialist, Microsoft Consulting Services

Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed the rapid need for digital citizen services as the world responded to the pandemic. But as we move forward from this point, it is important to build upon the transformation achieved and switch the service design approach to digital first. We will explore how culture, digital inclusion and technology can come together to reimagine service design and transform delivery.

Phil Herrington, Infrastructure Manager, Doncaster Council | Rob Egley,Territory Manager, Rubrik

Hear how Doncaster Council has implemented a cloud data system to manage its business-critical systems and ensure it’s up and running 24/7. Using this technology, the returns on functionality, recovery and security compliance allow them to sleep easy at night!

Grab a tea or coffee, take a breather and the opportunity to virtually mingle and network.

Sonia Patel, Chief Information Officer, NHSX

Sir Robert Devereux KCB, AVP, Strategy, Salesforce

Robert will reflect on his experience of service transformation, both as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions and latterly working with Salesforce. He will draw out lessons for successful and rapid transformation, in particular in leadership, governance, and approaches to technology.

David Crichton, Sector Director, Canon | Gerry Baker, Digital Projects Manager, Norfolk County Council | Neil Jones, Programme Manager, Canon

The challenges the UK Public Sector is facing are already daunting. The global pandemic adding yet another layer of complexity, has created a need to accelerate digital transformation.

As digital working grows in importance, we share how imaging solutions can capture and manage information, whilst transforming business processes helping your digital transformation.

Alongside Gerry Baker, Digital Projects Manager, Norfolk County Council, we will showcase the innovative Information Management solutions at the council’s new Digital Services facility. Providing a physical and digital platform for delivery, new offerings have been developed including futuristic Document Management and Communications services.

Helen Milner OBE, Chief Executive, Good Things Foundation

A lack of basic digital skills and a connected device can have a huge negative impact on a person’s life, leading to; poorer health outcomes and a lower life expectancy, increased loneliness and social isolation and less access to jobs and education. It can mean; paying more for essentials, financial exclusion and an increased risk of falling into poverty. Digitally excluded people also lack a voice and visibility in the modern world, as government services and democracy increasingly move online.

Helen explores the important role of public service ICT leaders in ensuring that 100% of UK citizens are digitally included and benefit from future transformation.

Kit Collingwood, Assistant Director, Digital and Customer Services, Royal Borough of Greenwich

This keynote will focus on what Kit Collingwood did during her first year leading digital, data, technology and customer services at Royal Greenwich Council. You’ll hear about the foundations that Kit has put in place for successful digital transformation of the council and the borough.  and hear Kit’s thoughts on the main factors that local authorities should consider when they begin a journey of modernisation.

Come and join with your network for a virtual mingle to pick up on the discussion so far, along with the chance to explore and exchange ideas in a relaxed setting.

Make sure your glass or mug of whatever you’re drinking is topped up, as during the break we’ll be celebrating the society’s success in this toughest of years.

Awards to be presented include Leadership Advocate of the Year, Member of the Year and Region of the Year. (All awards and their descriptions can be seen here: https://socitm.net/socitm-awards)

So, get your glad rags on and cheer all our winners!

Nadira Hussain, Director of Leadership, Development and Research, Socitm (Chair) | May-N Leow, Head of Local Digital Collaboration Unit, Minstry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Rob McNally, Head of City ICT Strategy and Solutions ​, Leeds City Council | Carol Williams, Interim Director Transformation & Digital (SIRO), Walsall Metropolitan Borough Counicl | Eddie Copeland, Director, London Office of Technology and Innovation | Iggy O’Doherty, Director of Digital Shared Services, Department of Finance | Steve Russell, Data Consultant, UKCloud

Panellists will be sharing their views and experiences of how they have used technology, data and digital solutions to respond effectively during the pandemic and as they transition to support their recovery plans post-Covid. How can we use the lessons learnt to ensure that going forwards we design and develop public services that are accessible by all?

Huw McKee, Head of Information Technology and Digital Transformation, Conwy County Borough Council

Join our host Huw McKee as he brings down the curtain on this year’s conference.

In true Top of the Pops style, Huw will give us the run down from 10 to the coveted number 1 slot, of insights we’ve learned over the last four days.