Keep getting everything you can from your membership this year and into 2026.
In your membership: content and people
- New blog post: Shadow AI in the public sector: innovation without oversight?
- Share what’s working for you
If you were at Socitm Cymru this month, 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. - New events
- Wed-29-Oct | 09:30 to 13:30 | Building the foundations for a secure computing environment [Northern Ireland-only]
- Wed-5-Nov | 10:00 to 11:00 | Performance Benchmarking [Northern Ireland-only]
- Wed-5-Nov | 13:00 to 14:00 | GenAI contact centres: From pilot to proven practice
- Wed-12-Nov | 13:00 to 14:00 | Round-the-clock defence: Why MDR matters
- Wed-19-Nov | 13:00 to 14:00 | What you didn’t know Microsoft could do: A live demo of modern finance
- Tue-9-Dec | 13:00 to 14:00 | Navigating LGR: Challenges, opportunities and innovation
- Meet members and collaborate at local meetings
- Did you miss this? All the new case studies in AI@Socitm
Browse your members-only resource hub.
You will need a user account on socitm.net to access member-only resources. Let us know if need any support.
What’s in your membership?
- Accessibility testing with Silktide
- Benchmarking
- Conferences, meetings and webinars
- Courses
- Innovation session/lab with Civiteq
- IT policy audit [Essential+/Enhanced/Executive] from PPS
- Resources
Member-only discounts for
- Place Insight: your own social progress index [England-only]
- Courses with the IT Management and Leadership Institute, Leadership Through Data, and QA
- Tue-11 and Wed-12-Nov | 13:30 to 17:00 | M365 Teams Information Governance and Protection
- WeChange.AI‘s Framework for Change. Watch WeChange in 3 minutes 🙂
We calculated the £value of your Socitm membership so you don’t have to.
Keep getting all you can from membership: log into your account.
In your membership: Courses
Core skills (on Teams)
| Course | Dates | Time | Training points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to emotional intelligence | Tuesday 4 November | 09:30 to 12:30 | 1 |
| Equality, diversity, and inclusion | Wednesday 12 November | 09:30 to 12:30 | 1 |
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.
In your 2025 membership: benchmarking
Complimentary use of 1 module
Choose from: cost, delivery, performance or user skills.
With all the financial challenges facing the sector, use the cost module this year to baseline your transformation work.
Find out what you can do and how in the Benchmarking Services Help Centre, then email benchmarking@socitm.net to claim your module.
In your membership: events
Lunchtime webinars from 13:00 to 14:00
| Wednesday 29 October | The new leadership team: How HR + IT can jointly build your future workforce The future of public service isn’t about replacing staff with machines. It’s about pairing human talent with digital assistants (that take care of the repetitive admin) so you can focus on work that makes the biggest difference in your communities. |
- Wednesday 5 November | GenAI contact centres: From pilot to proven practice
See how GenAI and agentic technology are working in practice – handling everything from straightforward enquiries to complex pathways in adult social care, benefits, and housing. - Wednesday 12 November | Round-the-clock defence: Why Managed Detection and Response matters.
- Friday 14 November | Zero Trust in the AI Era – Moving to a SASE Architecture
- Wednesday 19 November | What you didn’t know Microsoft could do: A live demo of modern finance for the public sector
- Tuesday 9 December | Navigating LGR: Challenges, opportunities and innovation
Meetings
- Wednesday 29 October | 09:30 to 13:30 | Building the foundations for a secure computing environment [Northern Ireland-only]
- Wednesday 5 November | 10:00 to 11:00 | Performance Benchmarking [Northern Ireland-only]
- FULLY BOOKED Wednesday 3 December | 09:30 to 11:00 | Maximising social value in procurement. A practical workshop for public sector buyers. Email us to be added to the waiting list.
Partners’ events and updates
- Wed-5-Nov | 10:00 to 12:00 | Microsoft Innovation and Collaboration Forum
- Wed-12 to Thu-13-Nov | 08:45 to 18:00 | TechShare Pro 2025 [London]
- Thu-13-Nov
- 12:30 to 15:30 | Local Gov London Roundtable: Talking IT challenges – led by Tanium’s Senior Security Advisor Dan Jones (previously Head of Cyber at the MOD) [London]
- 13:00 to 14:00 | Breaking Bias with Belbin
- Tue-18 to Wed-19-Nov | 08:45 to 17:00 | LGPN South [Heathrow]
Full of your Socitm community: CEO Nadira Hussain, Emeritus President Mark Lumley (Hounslow), VP Yogita Popat (Barnet), LSE Chair Rehana Ramesh (Hackney), VP Kevin Taylor (Suffolk), and Trustee Jonathan Stephenson (Brentwood and Rochford). - Wed-19-Nov | 11:00 to 12:00 | Proactive cyber defence with AI-driven threat intelligence
- Mon-24-Nov | 12:00 to 16:00 | AI in Local Government Fair [Cambridge]
- Wed-26 to Thu-27-Nov | Local government innovation hackathon on homelessness and rough sleeping [Birmingham]
- Wed-26 to Fri-28-Nov | 11:00 to 12:30 | AI, Automation and Bots4Good 2025
| The boundaries between IT and OT are disappearing, creating both opportunities and new risks. Traditional patching and perimeter models are no longer enough. Resilience now depends on visibility, segmentation and Zero Trust collaboration between SOC analysts and operational teams. For Scottish councils and critical service providers, aligning OT security with national resilience frameworks strengthens continuity and public confidence. In their latest blog, e2e discuss continuous monitoring across all environments and involving OT asset owners in every cyber security conversation. |
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:
- Signing up for the next Public Sector Challenge: London Bridges Walk on Saturday 17 January
- From Computer Weekly: From Whitehall to WhatsApp: The rise of conversational government
- Watch Jonathan Pownall on why the NAO’s latest report is critical reading for anyone accountable for cyber security in government.
Take care. I hope you can have a great weekend when it arrives.
Best wishes,
Alex.
