Intellect Blog

Credit Crunch – now what?

James Harbidge — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:53:13 +0000

As you may have heard at some point over the last couple of years, the economic situation has been somewhat turbulent. The reasons for this have been covered extensively and my days as a history student are now firmly behind me. The Intellect Financial Services Group convened for its first Conference halfway up one of the strangest buildings to grace the English capital – the eye-catching Gherkin - in late February determined to look forward. Enough of the past, what about the opportunity to move ahead with UK technology at the helm?

Why does the Digital Dividend Matter to Voters?

Henry Parker — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:51:38 +0000

The government plans to direct Ofcom (the first it has ever done this) to implement the, glamorously titled, Wireless Spectrum Modernisation Programme. Through it, The Digital Dividend is about to become a reality, as analogue TV is switched off by the end of 2011. You, civil servants, parliamentarians and their researchers look on, slightly [...]

Live Blogging: Intellect-OGC Conference - ‘doing more for less’ (part 1 & 2)

Jon Lindberg — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:41:02 +0000

Part 1 The annual Intellect-OGC Conference is now halfway through, with the morning session setting the context and landscape of the public sector. As we all know, tough economic times means that the public sector finds itself in a predicament. While budgets are getting cut and savings/efficiency being maximized, the demand for public services is increasing. [...]

Is consumerism healthcare’s holy grail?

Melissa Frewin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:23:40 +0000

The great and the good convened at 1 Plough Place this morning – home of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts – for the launch of a new report on how the NHS can save a whopping £20 billion (and to hear what Andrew Lansley had to say about the whole [...]

Railing into the Future

Jon Lindberg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:01:58 +0000

The ‘Sage of Omaha’ Warren Buffet has just bought one of America’s largest freight railway firms, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) for $26bn in an “all-in wager” of America’s economic future. He could have gotten a big chunk of a UK bank for that price, but Mr Buffet thinks that ‘railroads will get a decent return’ [...]

EU awakens to the power of ICT?

Jon Lindberg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:36:58 +0000

Are we witnessing an EU awakening to the role ICT plays in creating a flourishing and sustainable European society? Looking at the recently published proposal for ‘A Green Knowledge Society: An ICT policy agenda to 2015 for Europe’s future knowledge society’ by the Swedish EU presidency one would think so. More so, the [...]

The wall of paper and where will it lead?

Henry Parker — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:31:14 +0000

Despite what my colleagues may think, I really do make an effort to keep my desk clear. It’s becoming increasingly difficult. The government is simply producing so much paper on telecoms at the moment. There are no less than five meaty consultations, a select committee inquiry and, lets not forget, the mighty tome that is [...]

Q: What role does industry play in public sector efficiency savings?

Jon Lindberg — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:23:22 +0000

I think the answer is obvious (but would welcome other ideas as well). It must be that industry demonstrates on the one hand, that ICT costs need to be managed effectively and provide value, and on the other that strategic investment in ICT has the potential to cut operational costs and generate wider efficiency savings [...]

The Post Office network – more than meets the eye?

Previous staff — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:55:11 +0000

Yesterday, the FSB launched a new report urging the Government to transform post offices into small business hubs. A number of interesting ideas were put forward, including establishing a business desk at each Post Office with specially trained staff or offering meeting room facilities to start-ups and micro businesses. I welcome the report and its call [...]

Privacy, smart meters and marijuana

Previous staff — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:43:57 +0000

The relationship between privacy issues and smart metering was always going to be fraught with concern. As such, I was interested to read this article which includes a summary of some of the key issues being faced in Canada and Netherlands. Firstly, to Canada, where law-enforcers have monitored energy usage as part of gathering evidence [...]