Local Authorities & Data
Between 2010 to 2018, government funding for Local Authorities fell by an estimated 49.1% in real terms. According to a report by the Local Government Association (LGA), this funding gap is projected to grow to £7.8 billion by 2025.
As a result, Local Authorities are being asked to do more with less, whilst at the same time, embracing and implementing digital transformation and the benefits it will bring them.
The LGA has said, ‘The use of data plays an increasing role in designing, delivering, and transforming public services to improve outcomes and drive efficiencies within current financial constraints’ and supports a number of initiatives to help local authorities develop the best data management practices.
Local Authorities hold a raft of sensitive data, from social housing waiting lists, to benefits applications, planning applications, and so on, and that’s excluding any internal data from staff working in the organisation.
Managing, searching, and accessing this data, whilst ensuring valuable information is kept both safe and secure is crucial.
What are the challenges around legacy data for Local Authorities in particular?
While legacy technology is a challenge across the public sector, it’s one especially felt by Local Authorities.
Legacy data – information stored in an old or obsolete format or computer system – is often difficult to search across and access.
Many outdated systems are no longer supported by the manufacturer. As a result, a single unpatched vulnerability can enable attackers to access all applications, middleware, and databases running on the server platform. In addition, without modern backup and disaster recovery solutions and other security solutions and services, the organisation will never be able to properly safeguard its data today and tomorrow.
Compliance standards, such as Cyber Essentials, require that your technology be supported. Not only are audits difficult and costly to conduct in environments with legacy technology, but a breach can result in expensive fees and penalties.
As recently as Feb 2022, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council had to report four serious breaches of personal data. This comes after the Council suffered a cyber-attack in February 2020 which cost it £8.7m and left about 135,000 people without online access to public services.
What’s the answer?
Accredited to ISO 9001 and ISO 27001, the Nalytics Preserve solution can provide a secure repository of archived legacy data, helping Local Authorities easily find and access what they need to meet their regulatory requirements, including GDPR, and data retention policies.
Providing enhanced search capabilities, Nalytics Preserve can index and provide access to data stored in a Local Authority’s Social Care case management system such as CareFirst, Swift, or legacy finance or housing management systems. The result is a much better search experience without the associated training on old legacy software or complex reporting tools.
A cost effective, secure, cloud-based legacy document ‘library’, which respects document integrity, the Nalytics Preserve solution enables fast and simple access for users.
How could Local Authorities benefit?
As well as supporting successful digital transformation, Nalytics Preserve is a secure, highly searchable, cloud-based legacy data solution that instantly improves Local Authorities data searchability and ‘preserves’ all data.
All documents, including emails, and attachments, along with all associated metadata, can be securely stored and accessed through a single cloud-based service which can be seamlessly integrated into the organisation’s current content/document management platform(s).
The need for any further investment in new hardware would not be necessary, as well as having to manage huge amounts of data within any on-premise hardware, which can be time consuming and costly.
Nalytics Preserve provides a robust solution for legacy documents without having to maintain all the licenses and hardware required to retain a Local Authority’s IT infrastructure over the coming years.
What are the results you could expect?
Cost Reductions
Your IT infrastructure and Operating Expenses (OPEX) costs are reduced – can be up to 70% reduction in IT costs.
Significant Savings
Due to a reduction in data management overheads, as well as potentially up to 80% time saving on searching, accessing, and managing all your data.
Increased Efficiency
Up to 40% increased productivity, enabling more effective working.
Reduced Risk
Of non-compliance and cyber-breach incidents.
More Efficient Flexible Working
Your data is safe and secure in a cloud-based legacy data solution.
Take the Next Step
Arrange a demo of Nalytics Preserve and find out more about how this easy to use, fast, and effective solution could overcome your legacy data challenges.
