Originally published in Digital by Default News on 19 October, 15
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has chosen Fruition Partners UK and ServiceNow to provide a cloud-based solution for digital services.
The new cloud project will use ServiceNow’s software to manage HR, facilities management and IT services. The initiative will also support the training and education services provided by NES.
So far, the team has introduced the self-service portal which “speeds employees’ access to many common requests they have, such as computer issues that arise, as well as access to the multiple training management systems and repositories of training materials”.
It is hoped that the move will ultimately improve the organisation’s efficiency and set a standard for cloud services across the Scottish public sector.
NES is a special health board developing and delivering education and training for those who work in NHSS supporting NHS services. Its vision is to provide ‘Quality Education for a Healthier Scotland.’
‘Cloud First’ objective
NES appointed Fruition Partners UK, a Master Solutions Partner for ServiceNow, to apply the cloud-based solution, which was sourced through the Government’s G-Cloud supplier framework.
The first roll-out of the ServiceNow IT service management suite was achieved within 30 days, accomplishing the first stage of “streamlining and integrating IT support across the organisation as part of the UK Government’s ‘Cloud First’ objective of using cloud computing in the public sector to save money and improve efficiency”.
A ‘wider adoption of the cloud across the public sector’
Christopher Wroath, the interim director of Digital Transformation at NES, has commented on the organisation’s aim to establish a unified platform throughout all of its IT systems.
He said: “The NES board has set an ambitious goal to create a single cloud-based platform for digital service delivery by August 2016. This project is being supported by Fruition Partners and ServiceNow and forms a core plank of this strategy. It also meets the UK Government’s Cloud First goal to encourage wider adoption of the cloud across the public sector.
“Our plan is to create a unified platform across all our IT systems which delivers a consistent, easy-to-use, ‘consumerised’ experience. We’ve delivered this initially with IT support, based on the ServiceNow platform, and we will soon be extending it to a wide range of other digital services.”
Paul Donnelly, Cloud Transition Manager at NES, said that, “although it’s early days”, the user feedback has thus far been “extremely positive”, adding that the team now has “far greater information about how IT support is being accessed and managed”.
Currently, the NES Digital Transformation team is working towards the succeeding phases of development for the cloud-based portal, expanding it to other IT functions, HR and facilities management.