Walsall Council

As we mentioned earlier on in the year, Walsall Council have chosen Zipporah’s system to handle appointments within their Registrars Department, with our proven track record in the Public Sector being an important factor in the decision to award us the contract. A key function of the solution will be to help the Registration Department achieve a more efficient service, handling a range of appointment types including Birth and Death Registrations. Over the coming weeks we’ll be working closely with the authority, taking into account their specific requirements with the aim of delivering a successful solution in the near future.

The Midlands area is fast becoming something of a hot-spot for Zipporah, with Walsall joining Sandwell, Dudley, Leicester and Warwickshire as users of a number of our solutions, providing us with a valuable insight to the needs of end users in this area.

Zipporah welcomes the new team members

The new additions to the Zipporah team and our current expansion plans have meant that my role as business development Manager for Zipporah could never be more exciting. I was disappointed that valued colleague and project manager had decided to leave us recently for a complete career change, but what cannot be described as disappointing was my Directors response to this change of circumstance to the organisation.

Following a thorough review of the various links between the client and Zipporah’s own departments, coupled with the long-term expansion plans it was decided to put in place an entirely new team whose sole focus will be on the delivery of client and internal projects.

From the Sales department’s perspective it could not be better, knowing that when passing a new project over; we will now have two new business analysts to handle the often complex client workflow and matching the business process requirements against our own solutions to ensure that we deliver on-time and exactly to the agreed specification.

The expansion didn’t just stop with the two new business analysts, because recognising how important it is to deliver a project on time and to spec is only half the story, what also needs to be considered is a rigorous testing process to ensure that applications actually work error free. So for the first time an experienced Software tester has been employed to develop the existing testing process, develop a strategy for specific client testing and monitoring the process for client releases for any bugs fixes etc.

I cannot praise this new team more highly, as after working with them for several weeks and following the commencement of my first project under this regime, the benefits of the strong link they have already formed between the clients and sales has already become very apparent.

I look forward to working with them on many new and existing Zipporah projects.

Zipporah and its high customer satifaction rate

As one of the youngest members of the Zipporah team working within the Sales Department, I always enjoy attending meetings and demos, getting the opportunity to see first hand the positive reaction we seem to receive wherever we go. However one thing I’ve realised is that this attitude towards Zipporah is not restricted to new or potential customers, but also existing clients that in some cases have worked alongside us for long periods of time.

This week along with Scott, I visited Buckinghamshire County Council, who has been enjoying the benefits of a range of our solutions for a number of years, including our Registrars system, as well as ZIPI. The main purpose of the meeting was to demo another of our modules, but while we were there, it gave both parties the opportunity to have a small review of how everything was working with the existing Zipporah solutions that they already had. It was great for me to see just how well we were received at the council, everyone seemed to know all about Zipporah, and were particularly aware of all the hard work that we have put in over the years to ensure that we provided the council with a solution that was to the highest of standards. 

This sound attitude toward us is not limited to just one or two clients, in fact you would struggle to find one of our customers that doesn’t have something good to say about the company, and I for one am looking forward to creating more positive partnerships with potential customers across the UK and beyond.

Social Media Marketing

I’ve been writing my blogs for a few weeks now, and checking in on Zipporah’s Facebook, whilst also making sure LinkedIn requests are all set and trying to ensure everyone is up to date with my tweets.  All whilst trying to do the job that I actually get paid for.  I never thought of myself as the sort of person who would have an issue with all this but I think I must be getting old as trying to juggle all this is exhausting.

No sooner do I complete a meeting but I should be tweeting about it, making contact with the people at the meeting via LinkedIn and thinking whether it will make a blog story.  Not to mention trying to answer the variety of emails that await.  The only problem is that it has to be done.  OK, right now no-one reads my blog except for you and my Facebook page only has friends who work in Zipporah or want me to send them £1,000 so in return they will send me £10,000 and I have no idea what purpose my LinkedIn serves but it’s all part of the strategy and these days it’s a key element of marketing.  I’m promised that one day you will be joined by lots of blog readers and Zipporah will achieve the fame it so richly deserves.  I believe it too, a good marketing strategy and the use of social media makes a big difference these days.  I’m lucky in many ways, I only have to write this – someone else will sort out posting, someone else does the main task of making sure stories are posted on Facebook and I have the right contacts on LinkedIn so I shouldn’t really complain.

So here’s to you being joined by many more and to the next marketing craze and a quick thanks to Kayleigh who is trying to control all of this.  For those of you trying to manage such a campaign on your own then you have my sympathy, it’s not easy to do this without forgetting about the day job which is what all this is for.  If you can get help do….

Government Procurement Service

Zipporah success in joining the buying solutions framework took on a more significant position in its goal to deliver more solutions to wider public sector audience when The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, recently sponsored a Strategic Review of Buying Solutions. This review considered how Buying Solutions could effectively support the cross Government plans to reform procurement, deliver significant cost reductions and improve its service to customers. Following this review it was concluded that a transformed Buying Solutions will operate at the heart of the newly created Government Procurement and will play a key role in delivering centralised procurement of common goods and services.

As part of its changing business model, Buying Solutions will:

• Change its name to Government Procurement Service
• Increase transparency and accountability by establishing clear, transparent governance for the delivery of sustainable savings for Government against key agreed metrics;
• Be at the forefront of the new Government e-Marketplace which will enable Departments to access the centrally negotiated deals easily and transact;
• Use proven enabling technologies to support effective service provision and deliver sustainable savings;
• Develop a team providing a specific ‘Spot Buy’ service for customers.

There has been significant media coverage on Government Procurement in recent months and procurement efficiency has never been higher on the Government agenda. They are there to deliver value for money and commercial procurement solutions for all of our customers and prospects across Government and the public sector.

Being part of this Framework will be an essential tool as Zipporah looks to continue its drive to help public sector organisations streamline process and save money.

Tell Us Once

With Zipporah working with a large number of Registration Services throughout the U.K, it’s important for us to be up to date with any changes to services or processes within the sector in order to enable us to understand whether these potential changes could be incorporated within our solution. A programme that is currently being rolled out across the UK is ‘Tell Us Once’, which removes the need for customers to provide information to government many times when they are least likely to want to keep repeating themselves.

The birth of a child or losing a loved one is hard enough without the stress of paperwork and telephone calls to make. Research has shown that the average bereaved family contacts central and local government 7 or 8 times following bereavement. Tell Us Once aims to ease this burden by allowing people to tell multiple government agencies about a death or birth, at the same time.

Shortly, local authorities across the country will be introducing this national service which they hope will make things easier for public. The new service, which will usually be offered at your death/birth registration appointment, will mean that you can just tell them once and they will in turn, on your behalf, notify organisations that participate in the service.

Zipporah’s solution will be key to ensure that the booking and processing of a ‘Tell us once’ appointment is both simple and correct for staff and public, thus preventing people having to be told twice.

Philosophy in IT

Philosophers ask if a tree falls and there is no-one to hear it does it make a sound?  I’ve never understood this fully, how can it not make a sound?  Then I was listening to Radio Wales (The Rhod Gilbert Show bizarrely) and it all became clear.  If no-one is around to hear it then how can it be a noise?  OK, explanation aside I still think it must make a noise but it got me thinking,  is an online system really online if no-one knows how to use it?

Online systems are a wonderful thing, of course they are.  The more customers that use the system online then the lower the transaction costs and the more time that can be dedicated to working on something else other than dealing with enquiries that could be dealt with online. Customers gets quick responses and the business gets the information quickly and easily, the planet is saved by less trees being cut down.  My only issue is, is that I go to various sites and it’s very hard to find what they actually offer online.  Public sector or private I get the same thing - the vaguest hint that there is the opportunity for online interaction followed by a search through every website section to find what I want. 

Ok, this may be a cunning marketing tool as I sometimes stumble upon something else of interest but the frustration outweighs the benefit.  Especially when I then find online means to them, that I fill out a request which sends and email – which I might as well have done directly rather than wasting time on the website.  The recent EU Service Directive review from SOCITM says the same for a lot of sites in the public sector (sadly no-one watches the private sector).  So let this be a call to arms to everyone, get your online services front and centre and see what benefits they can really bring and for those of you slinking away at the back – get yourself some online services to make your life and mine much easier!

Oh yes, and to answer my question – No, if people can’t use it then you are not really providing online services!

Zipporah’s expansion plans start to take shape

With our team already stronger than ever, these new additions can only improve us further as we prepare for the challenging projects that we are due to face in the coming months.

Zipporah is currently moving through some interesting and exciting times, and with that in mind, we are delighted to announce the arrival of two new highly skilled team members to the company.

Over the last twelve months, Zipporah’s client base has grown substantially, and we have realised improving the size and quality of our team is key in achieving the company’s long term success.

Happy Birthday – Another year older but fitter than ever

On July 9^th, Zipporah will have been established for 8 years.  During that time we have been through a variety of changes and have grown with the ever changing marketplace in which we work but right now Zipporah is proceeding with its biggest changes yet.  We are reviewing all aspects of the business and we are working on enhancing and diversifying our services more than ever to give the best value to our clients and offer them the sort of services they need to deliver results. 

As an organisation we are expanding to create a new “delivery team” made of dedicated project managers, BPR experts and testers who will work closely with our clients and our sales and technical teams to ensure that any solution is clearly identified defined and delivered to the customer requirements.  The directors will be turning their attention to anticipating your needs in more close contact and developing our strategies for improvements, new marketplaces and the international business that has started to develop.  The directors’ closer contact will allow us to better identify your requirements early and offer the expertise in implementation that you may need.  Our delivery team will also be able to give you a professional service level of delivery if you require not just for our own projects but if you need us to help you get other projects off the ground or to the all important conclusion.

Right now the changes planned for the coming 12 months are not only intended to see us through to our ninth birthday but to ensure that the business it fit to see our 80^th birthday and beyond, a structure which will be extensible, flexible and suitable to meet the demands of the large organisations we have as clients………a bit like the software itself.  We look forward to continuing business with our existing clients and we welcome those clients that we will be meeting over the next year.  So today we can celebrate another year and say Happy Birthday Zipporah, here’s to the next one and the exciting year it will bring.

Online vs. Offline

Technology has improved beyond recognition and the target market has grown-up with the internet forming important part of most people’s daily lives. Why is it then that a number of organisations still persist with off-line or manual systems that leave them drowning in paper process?

A number of possible reasons spring to mind from the initial capital outlay to inherent reluctance to change. Exploring the capital outlay against the long-term savings gives rise to good reasoning for questioning if this is in fact a valid enough reason for continuing with the existing process, when you consider that in most cases online solutions very often provide a substantial return on investment within eighteen months.

Perhaps the hardest obstacle to overcome is a culture where an end-user is either unwilling or reluctant to change the way in which the complete their daily role. This can be easily addressed by examining how much time and effort is used in completing the most simple and complex set of tasks against a solution that requires little or no user input.

With a public that is demanding more and more services via the internet, organisations that fail to embrace online solutions to supply their customers could very quickly find themselves without any customers at all.

Buying Solutions Tender Process

Zipporah is pleased to announce that after an extensive tender process we were successful in joining the Buying Solutions Framework agreement for Libraries, Museums and Leisure related Software Application Solutions.

Zipporah specifically targeted this agreement because of its perfect match with the solutions we currently provide to all of these public sector business areas.

Buying Solutions is the national procurement partner for all UK public services and is part of the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office. The role of Buying Solutions is to maximise the value for money obtained by Government departments and other public bodies through the procurement and supply of goods and services. The procurement arrangements they establish with organisations such as Zipporah allow public sector organisations to save time and money.

Zipporah selected as booking provider by Milton Keynes Council

Zipporah is pleased to announce another recent success, after a complex and intensive tender process Milton Keynes Council selected Zipporah as their corporate bookings provider.

Initially the booking system will provide a forward facing interface to enable members of the public to book and pay for resources and facilities held and managed by the Council.   The solution is able to support multiple internal and external sites, to allow individual administrators to manage their facilities but be segregated from other Council Facility sites. In addition our solution will be required to support internal resource booking as well as public facing facilities / resource allocation and availability. 

The long term project will see Zipporah solutions utilised to provide bookings for schools, HR and adult training courses, registrars appointments, caravan plots and leisure services.