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Newsletter: It really is still January

Authors and contributors: Alexandra Murphy
Cute child bored at a desk during a school lesson.

This year the society is officially middle-aged (or does that start at 50 now?), so we’re plundering the archives for a glimpse into our (and your) past…Socitm at 40.

How much do you remember? Have we missed one of your favourite moments? Emailhello@socitm.net with subject Socitm@40. Thank you 🙂

Keep getting everything you can from your membership. You’re the most vital part of this community.

In your membership: content and people

Browse your members-only resource hub.

Share what’s working for you
If you were at an in-person event, that thing you’ve been working on (or have already done) might have been exactly what the person next to you needed to fix a problem or project they’re working on. The next best virtual alternative is sharing that thing in a case study or blog post.

Your experiences and perspectives matter, so please share them with members.

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In your membership: Courses

Registration is open for 2026 courses.

Bring your favourite course in-house
Which course have enjoyed the most? With slight adjustment, could it meet the requirements of your whole team or organisation?

We can personalise training for you and deliver it in house.

Please just ask about it and how much it might cost on hello@socitm.net

Registering for training
Read your guide to using training points. Log in for the current number of available points. Don’t have enough or you’ve run out? Let us know.
Things happen. If you can’t make the date of your training course let us know ASAP and we’ll get you onto the next suitable one available. And your training points will transfer with you.
Please note: non-attendance without letting us know will mean training points getting deducted from your organisation’s annual total.

Browse the 2026 calendar
National conference Sheffield 2024

In your membership: events

Lunchtime webinars from 13:00 to 14:00

Wed-28-Jan | Data (Use and Access) Act starts with 1 thing: knowing your data | Teams | Hosts: Safe Online
Make sure you know what DUAA really requires and why visibility of your data is the foundation of compliance.

Fri-30-Jan | Future-proofing infrastructure: Strategic connectivity for smarter public services | Teams | Hosts: Commsworld (with North Lanarkshire Council)
Explore how to use high-powered fibre networks, embrace alt-nets, and align connectivity decisions with your long-term digital ambitions.

Mon-9-Feb | 14:00 to 16:00 | Roundtable: Improving Access to Python and R | Teams | Host: Matthew Fraser
Tell us how you’re using (or not) advanced data processing tools such as Python or R. Your perspective is crucial in exploring how IT and data teams can collaborate effectively to streamline processes. To join email matthew.fraser@socitm.net.

Wed-11-Feb | Grant management within digital transformation. From isolated programmes to a shared council capability | Teams | Hosts: Submit (with Suffolk County Council)
Often overlooked in digital transformation programmes, grant management is one of the clearest opportunities for you to move from fragmented, manual processes to a unified, data-driven digital capability.

Lunchtime webinars from 13:00 to 14:00

President’s Conference 2026
Socitm at 40: From legacy to leadership
Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 June | London SW6 1UD
Registration is open for this year’s annual conference. Get it into your calendar now. Review the past 40 years with us and carry on the search for what works best now and next for our local public services.
Wanted: your Socitm memories, milestones and photos for our 40th birthday.

Partners’ events and updates

January

February

March

How local authorities have come together to secure public sector supply chains

Facing rising supply chain cyber attacks and fragmented, isolated risk management methods, as well as resource constraints, a pioneering group of 20 councils teamed up with Risk Ledger to test a new “Defend-as-One” strategy.

By pooling intelligence and connecting to 800 third party suppliers on the Risk Ledger platform, they uncovered what individual risk assessments can’t, including potential single points of failure and previously hidden concentration risks.

Learn in this Special Report how collaboration significantly reduced unnecessary duplication of work and fixed the public sector supply chain security gap, turning an urgent risk factor into a collaborative success story.

Break free from ageing telephony

West Lindsey District Council has broken free of an ageing telephony system and laid the foundations for large-scale customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) innovation.

Since transitioning to Kerv’s Genesys Cloud, the Council has transformed its contact centre with live chat, a website bot, smart call deflection, analytics, real-time reporting and more.

Now, with a single user interface and workspace, officers feel in control and less stressed. They start on the front foot when handling phone, email and messaging conversations. In addition, all call records and recordings are directly linked to CRM customer profiles, further improving insight and reducing effort.

Results achieved include increased productivity and customer satisfaction, underpinned by significant improvements in call waiting and handling time, first contact resolution and self-service adoption.

Thank you for reading (or scrolling) this far! Just one more thing…

A few of the things I’ve been looking at (and sharing with colleagues) this week:

  1. Beautiful photos from the annual GeoPlace calendar competition
  2. Competing perspectives on AI in the NHS
    1. NHS England backs AI-notetaking tech
      Peterborough’s Julian Patmore will be talking about ambient notetakers during 2026’s first Nations and Regions Forum on the afternoon of Thursday 18 March.
    2. NHS not ready for AI – Royal College of Physicians
  3. ICYMI The NCSC encourages local government and critical infrastructure operators to harden their ‘denial of service’ (DoS) defences
  4. AI’s Chief Problem — Tribes and Tribulations
  5. Microsoft’s Winter 2026 virtual training hours are now live.

Take care. I hope you can have a great weekend when it arrives.

Best wishes,

Alex.

Conference attendees chatting during President's Conference 2023

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