The Highland Council

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The Highland Council

Fujitsu worked with the council to develop an ongoing IS strategy advising on the need for integration, security and authentication. As a result, the council adopted e-gif (Government Interchange Format). A crucial element of this strategy was the gradual integration of back and front office systems to enable customer Service Points to deal with a wider range of queries and transactions.

The Challenge

Through a partnership contract dating from 1998, Fujitsu manages the Highland Council’s mainframe, midrange servers, desktops and network, which covers 500 sites. "We had basic problems of inadequate IT provision, incompatibility and Y2K compliance," reported John Grieve, IS Manager. “The challenge is that the potential for technology is unlimited. We have to bring infinite possibilities down to a number of practical projects. The council’s primary objective is to improve service. Within an area the size of Belgium, some customers are in extremely remote areas. They are all entitled to the same standard of service and the council aims to deal with 80% of queries at the first point of contact. The council’s second objective is to cut operating costs."

The Solution

The council’s primary objective is to improve service. Within an area the size of Belgium, some customers are in extremely remote areas. They are all entitled to the same standard of service and the council aims to deal with 80% of queries at the first point of contact. The council’s second objective is to cut operating costs."

The Benefits

"We are able to concentrate on running our business and focus on the problems only we can solve. There is no fire fighting. I do not worry about telecommunications, suppliers, routers and virus attacks. I’ve got thinking time," said John Grieve. "We’ve got clearer transparency with regard to IT, which is now a commodity. We can see what is delivered and how much it is costing; and we have a guarantee that the services provided through the original contract will cost less each year. This leaves us free to bring the same level of scrutiny to other areas and reorganise ourselves to best exploit technology."

The council particularly wanted to achieve more customer focus through its network of 30 Service Points. One specific requirement was to be able to accept other payments in addition to rent. The BizTalk system allows the council to have a simplified and standardised interface. This means that new functions can easily be added to the cash receipting system without the need for a new interface.

"The Service Points can now accept payment of District Court fines," reported John Grieve, "and the front desks are being enhanced in other ways through the integration of back and front office systems. The council can also call upon a much wider variety of technical skills."

The Implementation

As part of the contract, Fujitsu takes the initiative to identify more effective ways of operating. One ecommendation was for a different approach to document management. In a pilot scheme, it has replaced 24 low quality printers, fax machines and photo copiers with 8 specialist multi-task devices that can scan, copy, print and receive faxes. Fujitsu estimated that if it rationalised printing across the council’s existing estate of 1650 printers, there would be the opportunity to reduce costs by 50%. This could be achieved through a complete remote service that achieved economies of scale on printers, consumables and maintenance; monitored printer use and effectiveness; eliminated waste through a charging scheme and reduced expenditure on photocopiers and fax machines.

The Expertise

"Fujitsu helps the council to articulate ideas, crystallise objectives and develop strategy," commented John Grieve. "We can access a very high level of technical expertise, for example, the Fujitsu expert on BizTalk. Were we not in the partnership, we would have had to choose a supplier and then train our own staff. This would have been costly and time consuming and we would have ended up with more specialist knowledge than we really needed."