Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Chairman welcomed Sean Green, the new IT Director, to his first meeting of the Committee.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which advised Members of the key discussions which had taken place during recent meetings of the Committee’s Sub-Committees.

A Member noted that the report indicated that alternative options to Microsoft Licensing and Cloud Productivity suite were not considered to be viable in the available timeframe and asked whether there may be a significant financial incentive to pursue these alternative options. The Chamberlain explained that the cheapest alternative option was to use open source software. This would allow savings to be made on licensing costs, but was likely to require increased funding for support, security, training and integration. Therefore, it was not anticipated that this alternative option was capable of delivering a significant financial saving.

A Member commented that, while some staff at the Corporation would require a wide suite of Microsoft products and required integration between these projects, there may be a significant number of staff who only required access to a small number of products, with minimal integration. He suggested that tailoring the provision of licences to the needs of staff could create some savings.

RESOLVED – That the Committee notes the report.