Priority Four
Maintaining Highly Available and Secure Technology Services
Why do we need to do this?
Maintaining high availability of the technology services on which all everyone that works for us replies upon, requires a focus on maintenance as well as moving forward innovation projects. Like other organisations we are driven by product roadmaps, with the Service forced to upgrade software and hardware to maintain vendor support which is essential to achieve high availability and gain the greatest protection from cyber criminals. There is a continual need to upgrade server and desktop operating systems, databases and interrogation tools for data analysis, and all business applications. This is in addition to replacing hardware before it becomes unsupportable or end of life.
Cyber security will become an even higher priority as the replacement for Airwave will require a higher level of security to be in place. This will require the service to obtain a new security certification forcing the continuing need to respond to vendor product roadmaps in upgrading and patching software.
In responding to the Pandemic, we were able to conduct our business virtually largely due to the foresight to provide laptops rather than fixed desktop devices and remote services infrastructure. Conducting business virtually has also been possible due to the rapid deployment of Microsoft Teams, also reducing costs associated with work related travel, contributing to the delivery of the Authority’s climate impact reduction plan.