This blog post was published on 26th April 2023 and the information may be out of date.

What do you consider when you think of the applications you use at work?

I think everyone uses a baseline of Microsoft Office products like Outlook, Teams, Word, and other products from that suite. How much further does it go? In a large organisation like a council, we probably have at least one specialist bit of software per department, and maybe even per team. A system for social care records, another for street defects, transport and waste routes, building inventories, call centre systems; the list can go on forever.

Those are all big pieces of software. What if you need to ask ICT for a little utility app to convert a file to another type? A plugin for PowerPoint to create a certain type of graphic? A companion piece of software to a camera or scanner?

We have to think about every single application that gets used in our organisation. That includes “traditional” applications that get installed on your Windows computer, apps that come from the Google Play Store and iOS App Store, and even websites that are fully fledged applications — the likes of Padlet and Miro.

Here are just a few of the things we have to think about when we decide if an app can be run on our infrastructure or not:

Does something already exist that does the job of this application? We have a large department of ICT experts, many of which look after large application portfolios.

Our first question is whether the functionality exists in Microsoft 365, since we are already licensed for a large suite of applications. For example, if you ask to use Trello, we might ask one of our Digital Champions, or User Adoption colleagues, to show you how to use Planner. The same might go for lesser known products like Microsoft Whiteboard, which is now quickly catching up to the functionality of third-party options. (We’re also very excited about Microsoft Loop.)

We’ll also ask our applications teams if they already have something outside the Microsoft suite that does what is being requested. Another consideration is that our hard-working directorate ICT teams look after close to 400 different pieces of software, without counting the Microsoft suite and standard productivity tools like Adobe Reader. We want to prevent adding more to their workload if we can absolutely avoid it — it helps them, and the quality of support you receive for existing applications.

Is the developer reputable? For example, we’re highly likely to trust software developers like Microsoft and Adobe, who are industry leaders with well-known names and established catalogues of software. We’ll need to do more investigation on companies or individuals who have only produced a few smaller utilities or who don’t have much of a presence.

What are the terms of use for the application? Sometimes we get requests for free applications, but the license requires payment for professional use. It’s getting quite common that this applies if more than X number of staff from the organisation are using it — something that’s free for small teams, but not an organisation the size of DC.

Where is the data stored, how is it transmitted, and how is it processed? This is becoming a bigger issue now that a lot of applications are moving into the cloud. Our experts are of course in the Data Protection team, but we always make sure to check for obvious concerns. Our preference is always for our data to be stored in the UK, or if not, in Europe. The same goes for processing — do they process our data, and why do they process it? Do they send it off to partners or sell it to the highest bidder? We also need to be assured it’s transmitted securely.

Does the application have any known vulnerabilities, and does it get updated regularly? We have a vulnerability management system, which scans all our devices to look for security issues in applications, but as always, prevention is better than cure. If you ask for a piece of software that was last updated in 2016, we’re a lot less likely to approve it for cyber security reasons.

As you can see, there are a lot of considerations that go into adding a new application to the ICT portfolio. Submitting a request for a small utility might seem like a quick ask — you just want it installed! — but we have to engage multiple experts inside and outside ICT, and reach a decision that helps protect you, the council, and our customers.

The most helpful thing you can do is engage us as soon as you have a requirement, and carefully explain what functionality you need. You might not get the exact piece of software you asked for, but we will do our best to make sure you get something that helps you do your job.