Hampshire IT Gains National Acclaim  

25/03/2008 12:00:00

Hampshire is the first County Council in the country and one of only a handful of public sector organisations nationally, to receive a highly acclaimed and internationally recognised accreditation for IT.

The ISO 20000 Accreditation which is widely sought-after by high profile blue chip companies, recognises best practise in IT service management, information security arrangements and the efficient operation of IT.

The County Council is understood to be the first in the country to gain this accolade which is the result of significant work by the authority’s IT department over 18 months to streamline and standardise the way it delivers IT, following industry best practice. To qualify for the award, the authority had to satisfy three independent audits and a rigorous external review by the British Standards Institute (BSI).

Gaining this high profile standard will allow the authority to provide its 1.26 million residents in Hampshire with the highest quality IT performance, develop services more efficiently and continuously improve reliability and availability of IT to support public services across the county.

This is not the first time the County Council has gained high profile acclaim for IT efficiency. The Hantsnet service, the County Council’s staff intranet, has scooped top prizes at the Excellent IT and Effective IT Awards, to celebrate best practice in the industry.

Hantsnet connects some 14,000 staff across more than 1,000 sites in Hampshire, including schools, with a flexible and cost-effective IT network that underpins the way the County Council delivers services to the public. This creates greater efficiencies in support areas and more resources for frontline services.

Leader of the County Council, Cllr Ken Thornber said: “Gaining this latest recognition is an excellent achievement and I commend the hard work of our IT teams. This demonstrates how once again the County Council is taking the lead for professionalism, innovation and best value in the use of technology, at a time when the use of IT is critical to the delivery of our services.”

Looking after Hampshire, looking out for you www.hants.gov.uk/mediacentre Issued by: Suzie Southgate, Media Communications Officer, on 01962 847367

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