End of My High Wire Days

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or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/

There’s a spooky thing in todays' news, two articles strangely connected, but not that obviously, but enough to make me nearly choke on my croissant. Jeeves did give me a thoughtful stare!

Today BT switched off its dial-up internet service, so no more listening to this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHW1ho8L7V8 . The company said it was taking the step as only a “tiny number” of its customers still went online, using a dial-up modem. Estimates suggest about 200,000 people still used dial up at 56K. While the majority of these users could migrate to broadband, in many rural areas, this can be quite expensive and often for barely 400kbs. Indeed, just 4 miles out of Warrington (quite a built up urban area), I know friends struggling with expensive BB from BT/Openreach at about these sluggish speeds.

These people can continue with dial-up however with BT subsidiary PlusNet, (what those nice Yorkshire folk? Yes the very same....).

Next to this news was that the cost of HS2 has grown already to £42Bn with a £14Bn contingency. Boss of the project Alison Munro says that “It is not true that costs are out of control”. Our chancellor (and MP just down the road from me in wealthy Tatton), assured the BBC today that he is “passionate” about the multi-billion pound high speed project, despite rumours that costs are spiralling.

This is a project to bring faster trains from Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds to London Euston, with many estimates using “savings in work time” to help justify this infrastructure. The idea is that less time will be spent on a faster train, meaning more time in the office. I can understand how many of these advantages could have been formulated back in 2008, when many of us were on dial-up internet, I seriously wonder if the numbers stack up now, nearly 6 years later. The Institute of Directors don’t seem to and they have a track record in knowing what makes business thrive.

Most of the ‘office crowd’ I mix with seem to spend and be encouraged to be less in the office, as its cheaper and productivity can be much higher.  On shorter rail journeys I am less inclined to get my laptop or tablet out and do some work. I don’t know it that is similar to your experience. Also the scope of HS2 for the estimated cost seems pretty humble.

In Japan, the Tokaido line of the Shinkansen (bullet train) was apparently in profit after just 6 years of operation.  Even if the quantity of passengers could be found to pay the premium these services will demand, how long will it take HS2 to break even. You only need to look at the queues at Euston now for the first evening off-peak trains north after 6.30pm, while the earlier pricier ones are only 2/3rds full, but four times the fare. A standard walk-on peak return London/Manchester on Virgin is £308 or £441 in first class. Now in the latter I must point out that in the 2 hour and 12 minute journey, you can drink as much as you can, with unlimited sandwiches, crisps and snacks. Even with my 12” plate packed in my laptop bag, I would struggle to consume £133 of freebies in that time.

You can see why a Skype / Webex conference, or 2 hours of chatting as a group as audio teleconference, may seem a more modern and practical alternative. Of course, sometimes there is no alternative to just being there. These things are not possible however if broadband infrastructure is not available. That is the connection with these two articles. What would be the cost to bring broadband to every community in England and Wales, rather than fast rail links to barely a handful of places?  I mean southern Cornwall, bits of Somerset, Hampshire, Brecon, Bala, bits of Northumbria, yes everywhere.

Even if we gave the job to BT/Openreach, I would be surprised we could not manage it for £42Bn with a £14Bn contingency. That would really change our country, energise business and innovation, providing a chance to catch up with South Korea and others where 4/5G and fast internet access is the norm. Now for me that would be a brilliant way to move forward, I agree with the protesters looking for super-fast broadband not HS2. We should have taken the chance to improve rail links in the 1980s/90s, let’s hope we don’t miss our chance in this decade to create a solid foundation for our digital future. 

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Read on to asset management software and how its being swallowed up :

http://tonysmiththathousingitguy.blogspot.com/2013/08/promaster-and-servant.html

Psychedelic Furs - Highwire Days.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS As usual, if there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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Home Computer

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK

or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/


Working in housing or general IT nobody can have missed that channel shifting going on, to try to drive customer requests towards the web.

I was only with a customer this week where they are looking to make this a reality to reduce customer service centre traffic and also improve satisfaction. The latter a tall order as there is a battle to drive the general public onto the internet to access services and particularly those categorised as “Digitally Excluded”. Top of the list include many residents in social housing and the elderly.

In the UK, government agencies have seen huge success in driving much traffic on-line and reducing back office jobs. Some that I use a lot are buying my car tax disk and filing income tax/vat on a regular basis. These work very well and have weaned us off using a post office (dwindling in number) or local tax offices by providing the convenience of doing it yourself.

Universal Credit, just a few days off now is structured around internet access being key. Putting aside the flaws of bedroom tax and other aspects of changes, this will be a big ask, particularly for many claimants who have had no real access to computers or web enabled smartphones. This news article from Wales earlier this month http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21733644 highlights some of the difficulties.

Indeed, the community library at Grappenhall (see http://grappenhall.org.uk/)  that I am involved with, has a catchment area of affluent retirees, who are cash poor and need a way to access benefits. In a climate where we are losing libraries because its perceived we all use the internet to garner our information, the community library is proving a useful hub in helping these people access the benefits to which they are entitled.  

A number of RSL’s have woken up to the agenda of digital exclusion and are doing what they can to provide access for residents, also silver surfer training. This can save £250 or more annually on shopping costs as well as plugging them in to the new online benefits culture. In theory, particularly older claimants can be signing up to all the benefits they don’t know about currently, as with UC they will all be in one place.

Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust are one local to me that I am aware of that are providing internet access at many of their retirement schemes. They have also provided some degree of training and shared access equipment where practicable which is fantastic for their customers. While nobody would claim this was a silver (surfer) bullet, it’s a great step forward and over a couple of years has increased internet penetration for them from around and estimated 6% to nearer 40%. Not to forget too, the wifi provided can also be used by housing staff to access main systems via the internet or Citrix Receiver. I have myself become a fan of ‘Receiver’ using it on an iPad touch. It’s easily usable on even a small device like that for small amounts of work, rather than spending much more cash on dedicated mobile solutions.

Another avenue is the refurb of old smartphone kit for the digitally excluded and supply ultra-cheap or nearly free. See http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2013/03/28/moduslink-and-newton-circus-join-forces-increase-digital-inclusion A great idea and a super name in ‘Silverline’ geddit? Now this is one angle that might work for our demographic. It would be hoped that sons & daughters might gift tablets to their parents to get them on-line, but older devices and targeted apps might be the way forward.

If you have some initiatives on-going as usual, please get in touch. Thanks everyone for getting in contact, feedback always welcome!

Read on to : The Channel shift Agenda - Are you embracing it?

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Kraftwerk - Home Computer.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS If there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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Little Fluffy Clouds

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK

Never a week goes by without someone, generally a user or department manager asking me about ‘cloud computing’. How are other housing associations and groups getting on with this and should all their computer systems be in ‘the cloud’. It always makes me frown a bit, I must admit. Having said that if I had £50 for each of those queries, I would have a useful top up to my pension fund!

The hype and advertising collateral has done a great job of confusing users and making many rash promises that in many cases are simplistic at best. “Put all your applications in the cloud and have them work together seamlessly, access them everywhere on any device, yadda, yadda, yadda...”.  In many cases suppliers are offering what used to be the dull and boringly named ‘hosting’. IE move your data to their servers to host, offsite, rather than in your IT department or data centre. Depending on the application, this might not even make it more accessible on more types of devices; smartphones, tablets, ipads etc, without more expense.

Please however, don’t get the idea that I am anti-cloud, I am certainly not. Many applications (or ‘apps’ as the you’t would have it) work and belong in the cloud. Webmail, Spotify, Evernote all spring to mind. In the housing world, applications like TPTracker and EBS React are often delivered using a similar model, with no software required to be installed on PC’s, laptops or other devices. Integrated links with Housing Management Systems (HMS) can pose challenges, but are not insurmountable. Some HMS systems or part of them can be accessed via browsers, this is more a delivery method than use of the ‘cloud’ however. A true cloud app does not require local software to be installed. Microsoft’s Office365 breaks this rule where used in large business situations. For interfaces with the traditional HMS applications, fat client installs will almost certainly be needed.

Using cloud storage and services does provide scalability. Peaks in requirement can be easily managed, you just rent a bit more of the service, bandwidth or space. The lack of big upfront costs attract many smaller organisations. Rather than spend £30K on a little server area, a similar amount can be paid on more of a pay as you go model, over fixed term contracts, monthly. Strong SLA’s and guarantee of service are essential. Sometimes a ‘private cloud’ can be the best option, for larger organisations, particularly where vast quantities of data are being managed or generated. Costs based on data volumes or bandwidth can often be expensive. One other factor can be your bandwidth availability to the outside world. If you are on the edge of a town or conurbation, an upgrade to your local node might be a pre-requisite. If you cannot, it may derail your plans.

How fast applications run will certainly be affected by cloud hosting. While I don’t mind waiting 10 seconds to complete my Amazon or Ticketmaster purchase, you probably would not like your staff waiting around too long to update a rent account or a repair request. Use of a private cloud might be more controllable however.

The last elephant in the room is can you rely on your sensitive resident data being stored in the cloud, maybe not in the UK or even Europe. All those NI, HB numbers, DD sort codes and accounts, birth dates etc. Extremely useful if hacked. For me I would be reluctant to put sensitive customer data in the cloud or an application that provides competitive advantage. It’s a tough call and if you feel you want to, needs a reliable partner with some tight contracts!

Read on to: Why you need to name your projects well

Chillout to this.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk

File Under: 360,1stTouch,4Js,Aareon,Academy,ActiveH,Alignment,ALMO,Anite,Apex,ArchHouse,Archouse,asbestos,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Aurora,Average IT Costs,BO,BPR,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Process Review,Business social networking,Castle,CBL,Cedar Open Accounts,Change,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics,

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