London council to implement Google apps
London council to implement Google apps
The council of the London borough of Hillingdon is set to move to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and implement Google Apps for Business.
This could signal an important stage in the shift across to cloud computing services, as the council has given final approval to move 3,500 of its staff to the web-based applications. In doing so, it is one of the first of the UK councils to embrace SaaS services as it starts to increase its reliance of Google apps such as the calendar, email, word processing, documents and video conferencing programmes.
Councillor Jonathan Bianco explained that the move is largely driven by financial requirements: “Going with Google makes the most sense for Hillingdon economically and it will enable us to realise the tremendous opportunities afforded by cloud computing," he said.
Indeed, the move could save Hillingdon in the region of £3 million over the course of the next four years.
Mr Bianco added that by making the move now, the council is “ahead of the curve” in terms of anticipating changes in technology over the next few years. In addition, the organisation will also have “more opportunities to look at how we communicate with local residents and organisations in the borough, such as remote working”.
The councillor concluded by noting that the change makes “financial and business transformational sense”. The London 2012 Travel Advice for Business team recently told City AM to look into private networks and alternative IT solutions to increase the options available to their workforce.
The organisation remarked: “You can also create a secure private network, so employees can access the intranet and internally hosted files and data from home. Broadband internet access is essential and audio conferencing facilities can be useful, so staff can continue to communicate remotely with colleagues and external contacts from home.”
Businesses looking to move services into the cloud should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.
