SteriaSTORM command and control selected by Kent Fire and Rescue
IT-enabled business services provider Steria has announced a new six-year, £900k contract with Kent Fire and Rescue Service to provide it with the SteriaSTORM command and control system. SteriaSTORM has already been used by Kent Police for the past 10 years. The new contract, with a go-live date of February 2015, will enable the two emergency services to work together more effectively and to share information relating to the mobilisation of resources in response to incidents as they arise. This will deliver a more resilient and efficient 999 service for the people of Kent and Medway, maximising the benefits of having two of their emergency services co-located within the same control room and utilising a collaborative command and control system. Underpinned by Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, SteriaSTORM overlays real-time information about the location of emergency services resources onto detailed electronic area maps. This enables control room operators to make rapid decisions and deploy the appropriate resources where they are required. Sharing a common infrastructure with Kent Police will also be much more cost-effective for Kent Fire and Rescue Service, the company says. SteriaSTORM will also provide both emergency services with enhanced sharing of information to arm both emergency services with the facts they need; and improved resilience and interoperability. The deal delivers a "Blue Light" collaboration that encompasses both Police and Fire & Rescue Service, providing a fully integrated system for Kent.
Pictured: The Fire Station, Sandwich, Kent, by David Mills / Geograph.org.uk
Steria Command and Control: www.steria.com/uk/your-business/homeland-security/command-and-control
Police Scotland and Scottish Fire pick Civica Tranman for fleet management
Both Scottish Fire and Police Scotland have renewed fleet management systems contracts with specialist systems supplier Civica, the company has announced. Following the combination in 2013 of the eight Scottish police forces and eight fire services to form Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service respectively, both organisations selected chose Civica's Tranman software to manage their national fleets. Civica's experience of integrating multiple and large datasets into a single database while driving out savings was a key factor in the decision for both organisations, the company says. The organisations will be using Tranman's touchscreen technology in their workshops spread across Scotland, allowing data to be easily input by technicians directly into the system, giving the central teams immediate visibility of current availability and costs. The contracts mean Civica now provides national fleet management systems to all three emergency services in Scotland, including the Scottish Ambulance Service, as well as half of the 32 Scottish local authorities.
Civica Tranman: www.civica.co.uk/tranman
Three universities choose Sunrise service desk platform
Three UK universities have selected the Service Desk platform from Service Management Software company Sunrise Software in recent months, the company has said. Plymouth University, York St John University and one other are all implementing Sunrise ITSM across departments including IT, libraries and estate management, with extended deployments planned in areas including social media support. Sunrise's capability for social media interaction will enable universities to provide support through channels such as Twitter and Facebook, which are rapidly becoming the communication channel of choice for students, the company says. "For many students Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have replaced more traditional methods of communication such as email and telephone," said Sunrise Software sales director Geoff Rees. "our Service Desk platform allows universities to embrace this shift in the use of technology." Sunrise allows Service Desks to actively listen to social media channels such as Twitter for comments based on hashtags, keywords, phrases or public messages. Such automated searches provide important early warnings of potential customer service issues, even before they are communicated formally to the Service Desk, the company says. At any point in the processing of a Service Request or Incident, the Service Desk can automatically send messages via their favoured social media channels informing the customer of progress so far. Service teams can then proactively broadcast the status of specific identified problems via social media channels.
Sunrise Software: sunrisesoftware.co.uk
