computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 1

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brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

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solveNcy II

dowNtIme

pound65m datacentre underpins tescorsquos

online strategyStreamlined datacentre iS key to retailerrsquoS multi-channel future

20-26 November 2012 | ComputerWeeklycom

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 2

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News

NHs trust cHalleNges Ico

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goverNmeNt allows IPHoNe use for seNsItIve data

beNettoN INstore wI-fI serves staff

aNd sHoPPers

brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

the week in it

Government amp public sectorDWP CIO Philip Langsdale oversees Universal Credit overhaulThe Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) CIO Philip Langsdale is overseeing a major overhaul of the departmentrsquos flagship Universal Credit programme according to senior Whitehall sources The Universal Credit programme has seen a number of key figures leave the DWP project after the IT underpinning the project ran into problems

Government amp public sectorFirst departmental sites move to GovukTwo government departments have migrated onto the Govuk site in moves to bring all departmental information under a single domain The home pages of the Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government the Building Regulations Advisory Committee and the Planning Inspectorate are now available on Govuk

Government amp public sectorNHS reiterates commitment to digitise patient records by 2015The Department of Health has reiterated its commitment to get all patient records online by 2015 in its first mandate between the government and the NHS Commissioning Board Electronic health records must be linked across all health-care settings The NHS has also commit-ted to a 2017 deadline for implementing telehealth technology for people with long-term conditions

Mobile hardwareTexas Instruments to cut 1700 jobs in move away from mobile marketTexas Instruments has announced 1700 job cuts and a change in strategy to steer the company away from the mobile mar-ket Texas Instruments makes chips for a number of mobile devices including Amazonrsquos Kindle Fire but has been talking in recent months of moving away from the industry to focus on other areas where it has more opportunity to grow

Hackers amp cyber crime preventionUK citizens back pre-emptive strikesNearly two-thirds of UK citizens back pre-emptive cyber strikes on foreign states that pose a credible threat to national security a survey has revealed However 46 of those believe it depends on the level of threat posed according to a poll of 1000 people by OnePoll for security firm LogRhythm

Cloud computing servicesCIOs distrust public cloud for mission-critical work says IDCEnterprise mission-critical applications and workloads are rising but IT execu-tives are still not confident about running them on public cloud platforms according to research firm IDC Mission-critical systems remain at the core of the data-centre ldquoFor CIOs mission-critical work-loads are the life of business operations and they see it as critical to run business efficientlyrdquo said IDCrsquos Thomas Meyer

Age UK lAUnches mobile

service for the elderly

While phones are getting smarter and smarter charity age uk has launched a simple-to-use mobile phone service for the older generation

the age uk my Phone is a lightweight credit-card sized mobile phone weighing a mere 40g it comes with a maximum of eight pre-customised buttons to quickly contact family friends or emergency services

access the latest it news via rss feed

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 3

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goverNmeNt allows IPHoNe use for seNsItIve data

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brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

edItorrsquos commeNt

oPINIoN

buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

the week in it

access the latest it news via rss feed

Mobile hardwareBYOD devices to double by 2014The number of consumer smartphones and tablets brought into workplaces will more than double by 2014 according to a recent study Juniper Research claims the number of devices being used in the corporate environment will reach 350 mil-lion globally compared with 150 million already used in 2012

Financial servicesNo link between high-frequency trading and market manipulationResearch commissioned by the Bank of England on high-frequency trading shows no correlation between high-frequency trading and increased market abuse Five years of data from the London Stock Exchange and Euronext in Paris was used for the research

Financial servicesBanks ramp up investment in innovation despite slowdownAlmost three-quarters of retail banks are increasing how much they spend on inno-vation as they attempt to better engage customers through mobile and online channels According to a study of 300 banks in 66 countries carried out by IT supplier Infosys and banking association Efma 70 of respondents are planning to increase their spending on innovation

Web developmentMillions use insecure browsersNearly a quarter of worldwide internet users are still running outdated browsers creating huge gaps in online security a study has revealed Out of a random sam-ple of 10 million customers security firm Kaspersky found 23 were using brows-ers that are not enabled with the latest security features

Cloud computing servicesVMware seeks to increase support for Amazon Web ServicesVirtualisation and cloud provider VMware is looking to increase support for Amazon Web Services (AWS) the frontrunner in the cloud computing services market VMware is conducting a survey urging its users to share their AWS usage details

Social media technologyTwitter apologises for unnecessary hacking warningsTwitter has apologised after telling mem-bers their accounts had been hacked and forcing them to reset their passwords Twitter sent out a large number of emails telling members to change their log-in details but gave no indication of the cause or source of the compromise and would not share details of the size of the issue n

2013 WorldWide enterprise it spending by sector

Source Gartner

Of total enterprise IT spend $2679tn in 2013

$445bn

$187bn

$126bn

$426bn

$478bn

$460bn

Manufacturing and natural resources

Banking and securities

Government

Communications media and services

Insurance

Transportation

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 4

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NHs trust cHalleNges Ico

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aNd sHoPPers

brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

edItorrsquos commeNt

oPINIoN

buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

analysis

An NHS trust fined after reporting a data breach is appealing the penalty and the precedent will affect how organisations see the ICO says Warwick Ashford

Will the ICOrsquos lsquobig stickrsquo approach backfire on voluntary reporting

The Information Commissionerrsquos Office (ICO) claims to be about helping organisations to do the right thing yet

it punishes organisations that report breaches But does this make sense Is this really a good policy

The best-known case is the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust which was hit with a pound325000 fine earlier this year after voluntarily reporting a breach

At the time the trust said it would chal-lenge the ICO and appeal against the fine to the Information Tribunal but backed down in June opting instead to pay a reduced penalty of pound260000

NHS trust challenges ICO fineHowever another unnamed trust ndash under-stood to be in a similar position of being hit with a fine after going to the ICO ndash is push-ing forward with its challenge

The trust has lodged an appeal against the penalty with the Information Tribunal with the case set to start in early December

This will be the first of the NHS trusts hit by penalties to challenge the ICO If it wins the appeal it will set an interesting precedent that could prompt appeals by other trusts also fined after coming forward

But Information commissioner Christopher Graham appears to be set on using the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and the coming Information Tribunal hearing to demonstrate his power and authority

He told attendees of a recent Westminster eForum in London that ndash while the ICO is about engaging with business enabling organisations to keep data safe empowering individuals to assert their rights and educat-ing people around data protection ndash it is also about enforcement

The penalty against the Brighton and

information commissioner christopher Graham says he wants to brandish ldquothe big stick in the cupboardrdquo

How to avoid

regulatory action by

the ICO

ICO penalising

public sector harder than

private firms

Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust related to the discovery of highly sensitive personal data belonging to tens of thousands of patients and staff on hard drives sold on internet auction site eBay in October and November 2010

The trust disputed the ICOrsquos findings that it was negligent but Graham is adamant that the ICOrsquos investigation ndash conducted after the trust reported the issue ndash revealed that as the data controller it was not in the least bit in control

In the case of the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Graham said ldquoIt was serious stuff containing sensitive personal information You donrsquot get off that just by saying lsquoOops we made a mistakersquordquo

The information commissioner warned that balancing all the other roles of the ICO is enforcement ldquoThere is a big stick in the cupboard ndash the fact that we are not waving it around all the time doesnrsquot mean it isnrsquot

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 5

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NHs trust cHalleNges Ico

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aNd sHoPPers

brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

edItorrsquos commeNt

oPINIoN

buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

Setting legal precedentHe believes this should be tested in court ldquoThere is a very good argument to say that the process following a voluntary report of an incident is an assessment and is there-fore subject to the carve out on the financial penaltyrdquo Room said

This will all be argued in front of the Information Tribunal in December and turns on different interpretations of the law

While a victory for the NHS trust chal-lenger could have some interesting implica-tions for others in a similar position victory for the ICO will undoubtedly have at least one negative effect of discouraging organi-sations from reporting data breaches

Organisations are unlikely to seek advice about data breaches if they see a pattern of fines emerging said Room

ldquoThere is a genuine legal issue here and also a genuine concernrdquo he said

Win or lose the case raises some impor-tant questions about the ICO as an effective regulator and whether its stance in this case is good long-term policy in building a rela-tionship with UK data controllers

Victory for Graham may help bolster his authority and prove once and for all he is willing and able to use his ldquobig stickrdquo ndash but it may also undermine trust in the ICO n

there and wonrsquot be used in appropriate circumstancesrdquo Graham said

Yet it is balance that the trust is appealing to the Information Tribunal for and which will be the basis of its appeal next month

Balancing reporting and penaltiesStewart Room partner at Field Fisher Waterhouse a legal firm working on the appeal for the trust told the Westminster eForum that ndash in terms of ldquoblack letter lawrdquo (the basic standard elements of law which are generally known and free from debate) ndash any situation where the information commissioner performs an assessment or where there has been an assessment notice comprises an exception to the rule requiring monetary penalties

ldquoThe regulator can coerce an organisation to participate in an assessment notice and they will not be finedrdquo Room said

ldquoOr he can go to an organisation and say lsquoI want to carry out an auditrsquo and if they sign up for that and he discovers bad stuff they are not finedrdquo

Yet said Room when an organisation in exactly the same position ndash where there is a concern about compliance with the Data Protection Act ndash goes to the ICO to report its concerns it is fined

analysis

the ico And the pUblic sector

Private firms have got off lighter than the public sector when it comes to fines for data breaches handed out by the information commissionerrsquos office (ico) Between march 2011 and february 2012 there were 730 self-reported data breaches the private sector was responsible for 263 of these but only received one financial penalty By contrast there have been a string of public sector fines imposed by the ico in recent yearsn in october 2012 the ico fined Stoke-on-trent city council pound120000 after a solicitor working for the authority sent emails containing data about a child protection suit to the wrong personn in august 2012 the ico imposed a penalty of pound175000 on an nhS trust in torquay after the sensitive details of over 1000 employees were published accidentally on the trustrsquos websiten in april 30 2012 the ico fined the Welsh aneurin Bevan health Board pound70000 after a report containing explicit details relating to a patientrsquos health was sent to the wrong person n in february 2012 the ico fined croydon council pound100000 for losing sensitive data after a bag containing information about a victim in a child sex abuse case went missing in a pub n in January 2012 the ico imposed a penalty of pound140000 on midlothian council for breaching personal data midlothian council the first Scottish organisation to receive a monetary penalty from the ico sent sensitive personal data about children and their carers to the wrong peoplen in June 2011 Surrey county council was hit with a pound120000 fine after it sent sensitive infor-mation to incorrect email addresses on three separate occasions

How otherVDI solutionssee your users

How Citrix Desktop Virtualization

sees them

copy 2012 Citrix Systems Inc All rights reserved Citrixreg is a registered trademark of Citrix Systems Inc andor one or moreof its subsidiaries and may be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries

Everyone has unique needs when it comes to accessing desktops apps and data Only Citrix desktop virtualization with FlexCast goes beyond VDI to cost-effectively deliver personalized secure desktops as uniqueas your users

Visit wwwcitrixcomdesktopvirtualization now to learn more

Citrix Desktop VirtualizationBecause no two users are virtually the same

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 7

Home

News

NHs trust cHalleNges Ico

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aNd sHoPPers

brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

edItorrsquos commeNt

oPINIoN

buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

analysis

Government has reviewed criteria for public sector mobile devices in a bid to end reliance on BlackBerrys but what are the data risks Kathleen Hall reports

GCHQ approves iPhone iOS6 use for sensitive government information

Government has given the nod to Whitehall departments to use iPhones to handle sensitive data in a

bid to increase the number of mobile devices approved for public sector use

Under revised guidelines civil servants and ministers could use the Apple devices for restricted information which could compro-mise the workings of government if released to third parties

Until now BlackBerry was the only device accredited for use with restricted information by government security arm CESG

The news comes amid mounting concerns over the long-term viability of BlackBerry which has seen a successive fall in sales

According to Whitehall sources the gov-ernment currently has around 20000 BlackBerry devices in circulation

Peter Sommer cyber war expert at the London School of Economics said the move was a sensible continuity plan because of the troubles plaguing BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM)

ldquoThere is an urgent requirement to find an alternative to BlackBerry and that is entirely sensiblerdquo he said

A review by CESG concluded that iOS6 the latest operating system (OS) for iPhones is now secure enough to handle restricted government data so long as departments build in additional security controls

CESG has warned that security on iOS6 requires organisations to extend their net-work monitoring and security systems and relies on users correctly using the iPhone security features Failure to follow any of these controls could compromise informa-tion security said the guidelines

BlackBerry handsets are still the most secure device for government as they oper-ate a more closed system but Apple offers the second most secure OS for the workings

Mobile device

management Itrsquos about

strategy not machines

RIM loses stranglehold

on government mobile market

of government said Sommer ldquoIf it canrsquot rely on RIM being in business the next best bet is Applerdquo he said

ldquoThe risks of moving from BlackBerry to Apple are largely ones of careful implemen-tation If they are hurried problems will occurrdquo said Sommer

Maintaining data security standardsA spokeswoman from the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) said the move did not represent a relaxation in security standards

ldquoWe are providing informed risk manage-ment and advice and guidance for those in the UK public sector who might be consider-ing deploying iOS The goal of this guidance is to assist them in effectively managing the risks to sensitive information when working remotely on smartphonesrdquo she said

Rik Ferguson director of research at secu-rity company Trend Micro said government should be able to maintain the same level of

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 8

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goverNmeNt allows IPHoNe use for seNsItIve data

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brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

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buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

together in the same Tier 1 category which means a greater range of smartphone hand-sets could be used to handle restricted data

Why downloads pose security risksApp downloads are becoming an increasing security risk for corporate and government networks as uncertified third-party applica-tions sometimes carry malware or spyware that can retrieve emails messages call his-tory client lists and other corporate data

ldquoApplications carrying malware can trans-form the device into a gateway for Trojans and viruses to enter the enterprise network or cause data leaks or exposurerdquo said Nitin Bhas senior analyst at Juniper Research

ldquoNew applications installed on mobile devices can locate the device on a map and track the movements of the device and user

ldquoConsequently there is a need to consider mobile devices as just another endpoint and security functionalities should be integrated in the device management platformrdquo n

control on iOS6 devices as BlackBerry 7 OSTrend Micro recently compared the secu-

rity of mobile operating systems and found BlackBerry to be the most secure followed by iOS Windows and Android

He said the government ought to be able to enforce the same policies on Apple iOS6 devices as RIMrsquos BlackBerry 7 OS including full device encryption the ability to remote wipe and locking down apps to ensure no more can be added to the device

The primary goal of the guidance is to help protect sensitive emails but advice is included on additional scenarios and on third-party applications said the GCHQ spokeswoman

Expanding smartphone choicesMoves are also underway by government to broaden the number of mobile devices used for restricted information to poten-

tially include those running Android and Windows mobile operat-ing systems

The risks posed in the event of government information being compromised are catego-rised under a business impact level system from 0 the lowest to 6 the level used to categorise top secret data

But under the new Government Protective Marking System the six business impact levels will be regrouped into three tiers Impact levels 1-3 will be loosely classified

rsaquo Mobile device security overviewrsaquo Defining your corporate mobile policies

rsaquo Essential guide to mobile device security

ldquoApplicAtions instAlled on mobile devices cAn locAte the device on A mAp And trAck the movements of the device And userrdquo

analysis

MIN

ISTR

Y O

F D

EFEN

CE

GchQ is issuing guidance to assist Whitehall departments in managing risks to data using ioS6 on the iPhone

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 9

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Case study

Retailer works with On Direct to address security issues for staff while offering interactivity that boosts shoppersrsquo experience Jennifer Scott reports

Benetton rolls out in-store Wi-Fi for both customers and employees

The High Street has always been a hub of activity but increasingly it is becoming a hub of connectivity for the

consumer hitting the shopsA number of large retail stores have begun

introducing technology to the shop floor to boost user experiences ndash as well as help shift more goods ndash from QR codes to mobile applications

Clothes outlet Benetton has embraced the trend and brought public Wi-Fi access to its customers

Wi-Fi for staff and customersldquoOriginally we wanted Wi-Fi for mobile staff moving between officesrdquo said Mark Bishop IT manager for Bencom Retail which oper-ates Benettonrsquos UK stores

ldquoWe had promotions and events going on in our major stores so Wi-Fi was useful for temporary internet accessrdquo

Benetton installed a few ad hoc Cisco

routers but had not considered public Wi-Fi access due to the security issues of hav-ing customers and staff sharing the same connections

Benetton began conversations with On Direct to install the companyrsquos managed Wi-Fi solution It gives the IT department access to each of its access points and the ability to monitor activity piece by piece meaning any performance issues can be picked up and addressed straight away

It also provides traffic management capa-bilities so staff access can be prioritised over public access if they need it for work applica-tions Extra levels of security can be added to keep the two types of data from crossing

Easy roll-outOne of the tools Bishop rated was the cloud-based management controller as it made the roll-out of the solution much simpler

ldquoBeing the IT administrator for all our

Online sales boost

lacklustre UK retail figures

Retail suffering from lack of mobile

presence

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 10

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buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

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dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

Benetton splash page welcoming them to the store or brandrdquo said Bishop ldquoThis is a good opportunity for us to promote any in-store or corporate activitiesrdquo

ldquoOnce a disclaimer is agreed we initially redirect to the Benetton website but then allow virtually unrestricted web usage there-after which is what most people want when they are on the move or shopping

ldquoRather than interrupting the userrsquos experi-ence with constant splash pages we prefer to use a far less intrusive banner which sits on top of any website the user browses tordquo said Bishop

The internal network for employees is secured from the public who are blocked from accessing the local area network (LAN) it runs on

The future for Wi-Fi at BenettonThe next step is to find more promotional uses for the Wi-Fi network Benetton also plans to use the system for more one-off events to attract attention

ldquoWe installed additional access points at our store in Knightsbridge for one day to support the international launch by our CEO of the latest phase of our current corporate advertising campaignrdquo said Bishop

ldquoAs the hosting country we asked On Direct to provide high-speed internet access to over 100 journalists and invitees to this major event This was potentially a tricky task considering the event was hosted in a flagship store which was trading right up until the morning of the eventrdquo

ldquoThe event went off without a hitchrdquo he added ldquoand is a great example of how easy it is to set up managed Wi-Fi at a momentrsquos notice to provide on demand internet accessrdquo n

UK-owned stores and UK offices I needed something that was easy to deployrdquo Bishop said ldquoSome of our sites can be quite remote and the fact that On Direct offers a cloud-based controller means the only device to be rolled out is the access point

ldquoEither On Direct or I directly send the unit to the stores Because the units self-config-ure from the cloud the staff simply connect them to the network Deployment takes just minutes for new access points and you donrsquot have to be an IT expert to work it out

ldquoThis drastically reduces deployment costs and time as we donrsquot have to rely on external contractors for installationrdquo

Often there are issues along the way but the only one Bishop could cite was getting to grips with the number of management tools on offer which could prove to be a little complex

ldquoThe lsquonicersquo challenge is identifying how to use the various analytics and dashboard informationrdquo Bishop said

ldquoThe level of usable information is very impressive for even the most basic user or administratorrdquo

Cutting the costsThe price was also appealing Dispensing with the on-site wireless controller cut costs significantly On Direct offers monthly rental schemes for the hardware and Benetton pays a licence fee for the dash-board application

The roll-out of the Wi-Fi network has received praise from staff and customers who are increasingly using the connections

ldquoWith ever-evolving connectivity and security we found we could offer our customers usage of

our bandwidth without affecting the perfor-mance of our internal systemsrdquo said Bishop

The IT department has also focused on tak-ing advantage of the extra marketing oppor-tunities the network log-in brings but prides itself on not being too intrusive

Striking a balanceldquoThe open public network is free to all within range and directs users to a customised

rsaquo Interview David Morris Nisa Retailrsaquo NFC payments The retail perspective

rsaquo The NFC Retail Opportunity

ldquothe lsquonicersquo chAllenge is identifying how to use the vArious AnAlytics And dAshboArd informAtionrdquo

Case study

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 11

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aNd effIcIeNcy

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buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

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dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

interview

David Cooper had his work cut out after poor customer service caused many to leave but an IT push is restoring the utilityrsquos reputation reports Angelica Mari

British Gas CIO just loves being in control after CRM repairs the brand

British Gas CIO David Cooper likes to keep things

low-key But the scale of his multimillion-pound

technology transformation and the impact of his teamrsquos work on customers makes his one of the highest-profile jobs in IT

Since joining British Gas 18 months ago Cooper has focused on delivering the IT to enable the company to become more effi-cient while serving customers in an equally agile manner In the past 15 months con-tracts with key suppliers have ended or been renegotiated and Cooper has introduced a new approach to third-party work

ldquoWe have changed the way we work with partners and upscaling our own people to deal with fixed-price and fixed-outcome contracts We get competition for the divided pieces of work and have been getting huge benefitsrdquo Cooper says

ldquoInterestingly this also makes British Gas a better place to work as the streamlining makes the team more empowered They have more authority and responsibility as there are fewer people involved in each item so it has been a very enjoyable journey so farrdquo

Customer focusOne of Cooperrsquos biggest projects is rolling out an SAP customer relationship manage-ment (CRM) system The platform replaces a bundle of legacy systems including Siebel databases and bespoke or highly-modified software It is intended to simplify the processes for call centre agents handling the queries of millions of UK customers

CRM has had a chequered history at British Gas The company has worked hard to repair its reputation after deteriorating customer service standards caused about a million customers to leave in 2006 Between 2008

cooper (inset) says tools such as this smartphone app ndash that allows users to control domestic consumption remotely ndash will make customers more likely to stay

CIO interview Rob

Pringle global IT director

Gazprom

CIO interview

Myron Hrycyk Severn Trent

CW500 interview

and 2010 the firm moved from having the least satisfied customers to the most favour-able ratings according to a Morgan Stanley survey Cooper hopes the current CRM project will improve processes even further

ldquoWhat may be a 20-30-screen process at present will be reduced to a couple of screens The process of moving home and changing suppliers is very complicated there are many complexities that make up the UK system ndash it is not a British Gas process ndash but you have to deal with all thatrdquo says Cooper

ldquoThe new system tackles some of these very complicated problems as agent knowl-edge has been captured to simplify that process We captured all that to speed up the average transaction in the call centre and minimise errorsrdquo

The system is being rolled out across what the company defines as ldquocustomer journeysrdquo

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 12

Home

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brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

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oPINIoN

buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

ldquoThe HP side was more on the biggest and most-complex systems to start with so that would flush out any issues We did the massive SAP systems first and now we have a lot of smaller systems to do We are also taking the opportunity to rationalise them to drive efficienciesrdquo Cooper adds

The final stage of the HP migration given the decommissioning component is expected to take over a year to complete

People developmentCooperrsquos remit includes British Gas IT and parent company Centricarsquos operations such as datacentres networks and telephony all of which are shared with British Gas In development alone the company employs 700 people with sev-eral hundred working on infrastructure That is supplemented by contractors providing expertise for specific projects and legacy maintenance

ldquoAs a consequence of that datacentre migration some systems will eventually be closed down so I want people more focused in the futurerdquo he says

A core component of Cooperrsquos strategy in his time at British Gas has been the imple-mentation of a new operating model which places a lot more importance on the way IT engages with the business and in interpreting business issues as well as finding pragmatic solutions for those problems

ldquoThe IT people are now much more involved with the business decisions at the front-end whereas before they were recipi-ents of requirements We have done that across the lifecycle and were able to get massive benefits and find a better fit to internal customersrsquo problems which gets them to the live operations cheaper and fasterrdquo he says

ldquoWe also assessed and mapped roles so people could understand what career paths they could follow There was definitely a gap in that sense Although a lot of it is down to individuals we put a framework in place and it was an easy thing to do Everyone was in favour and now people are much clearer about their rolesrdquo n

such as debt home moves and prepayment The last phase of the roll-out will be com-plete in a few months and it also means that differently to the previous set-up all British Gas services will be consolidated onto one system for a single view of the customer

Even though the roll-out of smart metering by 2019 is still a long way off Cooper says many projects that have been delivered for customer self-service and many more are underway The company already offers an iPhone app to let customers book engineers for maintenance jobs and another that allows remote boiler temperature control

ldquoI know it sounds perverse because we make more money if people buy more energy but do you know what Customers want to be able to be in control and by giving them tools that enable them to buy less they are more likely to stick with usrdquo says Cooper

Datacentre migrationAnother significant piece of work for Cooperrsquos team is the datacentre migra-tion to HP and Fujitsu from the previous incumbent T-Systems All the companyrsquos UK servers were based at T-Systems data-centres Now all the back-end systems are

moving to HP while user applications are going to Fujitsu The process is

nearly complete The major systems includ-ing SAP CRM and billing moved to HP about a month ago

ldquoThe migration was incredibly successful ndash if it had been a failure you would have heard about it on the 10 OrsquoClock News because we wouldnrsquot be able to operaterdquo says Cooper

This is an edited excerpt Click here to read the full interview online

rsaquo Interview Simon Moorhead Bank of Englandrsaquo Interview Catherine Doran Royal Mail

rsaquo Interview Gwyn Thomas Welsh Government

ldquoby giving customers tools thAt enAble them to buy less they Are more likely to stick with usrdquo

interview

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 13

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buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

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dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

editorrsquos Comment

First cracks appearing in Universal Credit

There are two things that often signal a major gov-ernment IT project on the brink of disaster First streams of leaks appear suggesting little prob-

lems here and bigger problems there and second the relevant Whitehall press office tells journalists it is not going to provide a ldquorunning commentaryrdquo on progress

That has been the story of Universal Credit (UC) for the past couple of weeks First Computer Weekly revealed that several senior executives running the programme had departed Officially this is because the project has moved on to a ldquodifferent phaserdquo and requires ldquodifferent skillsrdquo Talk privately to almost anyone with knowledge of the project and it becomes clear that was not the reason

Since then more stories have circulated about UC running late and over budget It is a priority project to sort out not least because the governmentrsquos flagship welfare reform hangs on its success

The new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) CIO Philip Langsdale has a track record of turning around problem projects He is conducting a thorough overhaul of Universal Credit both internally and with the major suppliers involved whose relationship with the DWP had become far too cosy

While critics will shake their heads and cite another looming government IT disaster the situation with UC has wider ramifications for the future of Whitehall IT Initiatives such as the digital strategy open standards policy and G-Cloud have slain a number of sacred cows belonging to the old school who said you could not do things that way It would be a terrible shame if a disas-trous UC project overshadowed those achievements and created the impression that nothing has changed

However UC is perhaps the last of the mega-projects that was set up under the old rules It contracted the usual big suppliers into huge multimillion-pound multi-year deals It bypassed the spending controls put in place by the Cabinet Office So a very public failure for UC might also be an opportunity for some ldquoI told you sordquo behind closed doors in Whitehall

Universal Credit is not yet a failed IT project and Langsdale has time to turn it round But if it does fail it could become the final failure of a failed IT regime that is being consigned to the past n

Bryan GlickEditor in chief

Computer WeeklyComputerWeeklycom1st Floor 3-4a Little Portland Street London

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General enQuirieS

020 7186 1400

editorial

editor in chief Bryan Glick 020 7186 1424

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managing editor (technology) cliff Saran 020 7186 1421

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head of premium content Bill Goodwin 020 7186 1418

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Services editor karl flinders 020 7186 1423

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Security editor Warwick ashford 020 7186 1419

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networking editor Jennifer Scott020 7186 1404

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Senior reporter kathleen hall 020 7186 1426

khalltechtargetcom

Special projects editor kayleigh Bateman020 7186 1415

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datacentre editor archana Venkatraman020 7186 1411

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Storage editor antony adshead07779 038528

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Business applications editor Brian mckenna 020 7186 1414

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

oPinion

Reinvesting 4G proceeds is essential to skills growth

In a few months the UK will begin to auc-tion the 4G mobile spectrum - industry experts predict it could raise as much as

pound4bn How that money is spent will be an important test of what the UK really values ndash and how we balance the claims of the pre-sent and the future

Nesta believes that as the proceeds of the auction are a return on past generationsrsquo investment in technology the responsible option is to reinvest the money back into innovation and technology From training new science and maths teachers to creat-ing new funds to help innovative businesses pound4bn could have a big impact ndash far more than if it is simply used to reduce the deficit

Nesta ndash the UKrsquos innovation foundation ndash and Case (Campaign for science and engi-neering) have joined together to launch the 4Growth campaign calling on the govern-ment to reinvest the 4G auction proceeds into science technology and innovation

World standing needs investmentThe campaign has attracted the sup-port of high-profile figures such as Brian Cox Ben Goldacre Lord Martin Rees and Andre Geim the inventor of graphene They all agree that the UKrsquos standing as a world leader in innovation depends on investment

Britainrsquos innovators gave the world radio mobile phones and the internet without which we wouldnrsquot be using the 4G spec-trum let alone raising money from it

The success of these technologies depended not just on brilliant research and commercial acumen but also on public support Marconirsquos demonstration of wire-less telegraphy in 1886 was backed by the General Post Office Public money helped fund Sir Tim Berners-Lee And James Clerk Maxwell whose pioneering insights into

electromagnetism underpin todayrsquos wireless communications relied on the support of the UK university system

Economists have shown that two-thirds of economic growth results from innova-tion It is no coincidence that many of the worldrsquos most successful economies are expanding their investment not just in sci-ence and technology but also design and entrepreneurship The UK cannot compete in low-skilled jobs or natural resources so prioritising high-tech growth is vital

Encouraging the next generationThe UK is home to a fifth of the worldrsquos top 20 universities Our scientists have won seven Nobel prizes in the last five years With less than 1 of the worldrsquos population we produce 14 of the worldrsquos highest-impact science Pound for pound we are the most efficient researchers in the G8

We have some of the worldrsquos most inno-vative and exciting companies and we are seeing increasing numbers of young people studying science maths and engineering We also have great strengths in the burgeon-ing fields of big data machine learning and digital education ndash all fields that Nesta is now working to support

Evidence shows that innovation works best where the government takes risks that businesses will not and bridges the ldquovalley of deathrdquo between invention and commercialisation

We need a new generation of research-ers inventors and entrepreneurs to help create an economy fit for the future and the right infrastructure to support them the 4G auction is a great opportunity to back them and to signal that we really are serious about the future n

Government must bridge the gap between invention and commercialisation for next generation writes Geoff Mulgan

Ofcom confirms 4G

spectrum auction for 2012

4G The business benefits

Geoff Mulgan is chief executive of Nesta

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 15

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aNd effIcIeNcy

edItorrsquos commeNt

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oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

Buyerrsquos guide

It has been a few years since cloud computing hit the IT marketplace and early adopters began testing the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud waters with Amazon Web Servicesrsquo Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) By now yoursquove got the configuration just right high availability is working well and yoursquove started taking advantage of the benefits of an

elastic scalable environment You started small with new differentiated workloads and over time expanded to include multiple projects As a result your costs have begun to escalate and so you ask could a move to different cloud service result in savings Therersquos no yearly contract keeping you locked in and you can simply take your business elsewhere right

THIN

KSTO

CK

EC sets out strategy for

EU cloud data and standards

Lack of cloud

standards hinders cloud

adoption

Lack of cloud standards holds up enterprise progressProblems with management portability and interoperability are preventing firms realising the benefits of infrastructure on demand writes James Staten

Buyerrsquos guideInfrastructure on demand part 2 of 3

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 16

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aNd effIcIeNcy

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buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

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dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

Buyerrsquos guide

Unfortunately itrsquos not that easy to move The application programming interfaces (APIs) for another IaaS cloud are likely to be totally different how you configure load balancing is not the same and letrsquos not even get started with network configuration Despite the apparent freedom of IaaS pricing structures switching services is surprisingly difficult Yoursquod think therersquod be an easier way But how The answer is cloud standardisation Unfortunately wersquore just not there yet

Despite the excitement over the past few years IaaS is still in the early stages of adoption and standardisation And likewise cloud standards are still in their infancy Thus far the standards development organisations (SDOs) and other standards-focused organisations have concentrated only on cloud terminology common-use cases and best practices and busi-ness value to potential users mdash rather than meet-ing the needs of early adopters Forrester has seen these early adopters struggle withn Portability Between APIs price structure load balancing network and infrastructure configura-tion inconsistencies moving from one provider to another isnrsquot easy Although you wonrsquot need to rewrite applications when moving from one environment to the next the unique infrastruc-ture configurations of each solution and APIs make switching solutions difficult Currently the only industry communities with portability on their radar are the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and right now theyrsquore more focused on interoperabilityn management Unfortunately the cloud mar-ket lacks consistency in general management practices such as security configuration and operations which further complicates the vendor evaluation process and the switching of plat-forms Organisations such as CSA TechAmerica Cloud and the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) are working to address aspects of management standardisation but with lit-tle influence on the current market Thus far features capabilities and architecture differ drastically from one service to the next which further complicates the issue of centralised management between clouds Some specific areas of focus include security capabilities storage networking and load balancingn interoperability Today there are no full-service IaaS solutions that meet all enterprise needs and customisation introduces higher cost and performance penalties Enterprise IT teams look to weave together cloud services to achieve the right combination of func-tions security and price but the lack of interoperability stops them dead in their tracks Organisations including CSA DMTF IEEE and Global Inter-Cloud Technology Forum (GICTF) are currently working toward standardisation around interoperability

Organisations vie to set cloud standardsStandards come from a combination of momentum and adoption of best practices Proposed standards must be created from existing best andor common practices and muster enough support to become a market standard Hundreds of players have invested in standardisation so far including early market leaders open source communities and standards organisation contributors

ldquostAndArds come from A combinAtion of momentum And Adoption of best prActices proposed stAndArds must be creAted from existing best Andor common prActices And muster enough support to become A mArket stAndArdrdquo

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 17

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beNettoN INstore wI-fI serves staff

aNd sHoPPers

brItIsH gas cIo drIves It agIlIty

aNd effIcIeNcy

edItorrsquos commeNt

oPINIoN

buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

oN demaNd

dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

Buyerrsquos guide

Early market leaders become de facto standards which ultimately matter most in the early stages as market share drives supplier RampD and enterprises like safety in numbers However competitors rarely want to make themselves dependent on the market leader

Open source initiatives look to break the de facto hold by giving competitors a level playing field but their relevance also hinges on market share Forrester believes that each effort plays a role in the cloud standardisation process De facto standards set expectations Early market leaders set the expectations of the user for elements like design process functionality pricing structure cost model and ease of use

Other solutions in the marketplace must match these basics and from here develop differentiation Often the top priority of the early leaders is staying on top rather than supporting industry efforts toward standardisa-tion mdash and although the market progresses through innovation this often slows the stand-ardisation process Eventually whether this solution stays on top depends on the develop-ment and momentum behind other market solutions and its ability to respond to customer feedbackdemand and comply with new indus-try standards once theyrsquore set

Standards development organisations (SDOs) develop standards from existing offerings and best practices Standards organisations whether formal standards-making bodies like IEEE or standards influencers like CSA take existing market solutions and user adoption best prac-tices and attempt to solidify these elements into an industry standard By definition they are always in arrears of market innovation

Some level of collaboration between SDOs is essential to ensure that groups arenrsquot working on the same exact efforts with differing results which could diminish momentum for both

The competitive landscapeAmazon is the de facto leader in the public IaaS cloud market Amazonrsquos technology and ecosystem footprint presents a significant challenge to competitors But Amazon isnrsquot

focused on industry standards VMware holds most of the enterprise virtualisation market share which makes the APIs for its vSphere hypervisor another de facto standard

It is now extending those APIs into a superset called vCloud that it hopes can ride its hypervisorrsquos presence into IaaS cloud API de facto status Finally there is OpenStack which carries

the open source flag today but competition is fierce A growing number of other suppliers such as Rackspace Dell HP IBM Red Hat and

Citrix are looking to break the AWS API stranglehold by joining together in open source communities Right now the community with the most momentum is OpenStack While not a standards effort the community looks to position the OpenStack software stack and APIs as an alternative standard n

ldquoA growing number of other suppliers such As rAckspAce dell hp ibm red hAt And citrix Are looking to breAk the Aws Api strAnglehold by joining together in open source communitiesrdquo

This is an extract of the Forrester report The state of infrastructure-as-a-service cloud standardsby James Staten and Lauren E Nelson

rsaquo Guide Choosing a cloud APIrsaquo Which areas of cloud most need standards

rsaquo the cloud computing standards dilemma

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 18

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aNd effIcIeNcy

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buyerrsquos guIde to INfrastructure

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dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

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solveNcy II

dowNtIme

dataCentres

Supermarket chain Tesco sees its future in bricks and clicks ndash the combination of digital technology the internet and traditional supermarket stores It is developing technol-ogy that will allow customers to scan and pay for their groceries with mobile phones as they shop or have a single item delivered to their door at the click of a mouse

The retailer plans to deliver these innovations not just in the UK which accounts for the lionrsquos share of its business but in a growing number of Tesco outlets in the US Asia and Eastern Europe

Streamlined datacentre to support business ambitionsTo support these ambitious plans Tesco is investing pound65m in a state-of-the-art datacentre that will provide the infrastructure to power its clicks-and-bricks strategy

The high-efficiency datacentre on the outskirts of Watford will cost between 25 and 50 less to run than Tescorsquos existing datacentres It will allow the retailer to save millions of pounds per year in energy costs and management fees within three years ndash a welcome boost for Tesco which reported its first drop in profits in 20 years in October 2012

The datacentre will host the infrastructure for Tescocom and the grouprsquos management information systems and food replenishment systems with more infrastructure to be added over time It will provide the flexible capacity to meet the needs of the business over the next 10 years according to Tomas Kadlec Tesco IT director for infrastructure and operations

Smartphones drive Tescorsquos

UK virtual supermarket

Why Tesco chose open

source software

New datacentre crucial to Tescorsquos online strategyRetail giantrsquos clicks-and-bricks strategy will be made possible by infrastructure and cost savings from Watford datacentre facility Bill Goodwin reports

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 19

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aNd effIcIeNcy

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dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

oNlINe strategy

advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

dataCentres

ldquoThis is a major building block to deliver technology to our customers and colleagues and to expand our dot com and banking businessrdquo he says

Tesco has secured a flexible competitive deal with datacentre specialist Sentrum which will allow Tesco to scale its IT resources up and down depending on business needs while paying only for the space and energy it consumes

In March Tescorsquos board approved the pound65m con-tract for a state-of-the-art datacentre offering up to 30000ft2 of space to power up to 6MW of IT equip-ment The facility uses highly efficient state-of-the-art cold aisle cooling It has a power usage effective-ness (PUE) rating of 12 ndash substantially better than some of Tescorsquos legacy datacentres which are rated at 16 or 20 PUE

Sentrum provides the datacentre services and buildings while Tesco is responsible for supplying and installing the equipment The retailer has a sepa-rate agreement with HP to manage the hardware

Under the deal Tesco only pays for the space it actually uses That is important because business requirements might change significantly over the next 15 years says Jeptha Allen pro-gramme manager for Tesco

ldquoThe flexibility within the deal that we have here both in taking space and power was essential to us and that is what really appealed to us None of the other suppliers really came to us with that flexibilityrdquo he says

Delivering the goods ahead of scheduleTesco had a tight time window in which to commission the new datacentre The new Watford-based facility will operate in parallel with Tescorsquos existing 15MW datacentre in Letchworth Working in tandem they will provide Tesco with greater resilience and a better recovery process if equipment fails

ldquoHistorically the recovery process was application specific and was built around restoring data from back-up Now we are moving more and more into a real-time processing world where we are replicating data across two different locationsrdquo says Kadlec

For a business running a retail bank and a fast expanding web retail business that level of resilience is essential he says ldquoA scheduled maintenance window on a Sunday afternoon on the mainframe was fairly regular in the past It cannot operate this way in the futurerdquo

With the new datacentre in place Tesco plans to rationalise its portfolio of 21 datacentres down to a much smaller number Letchworth and Watford will act as central hubs to provide IT services to Tescorsquos operations worldwide through what is in effect a private cloud

There will still be a need for some regional datacentres to meet local data protection and

technicAl specificAtions

capacity 5000ft2 expandable to 30000ft2Power 12mW expandable to 6mWefficiency and cooling tier 3 rated 12 Pue compared with 16 Pue to 20 Pue for older tesco datacentres cold aisle coolingIt infrastructure 350kW of teradata racks running the group reporting system more than 1000 physical server blades 85 virtualised running the uk retail and dot com infrastructure bank infrastructure runs on hP blades and iBm aS400 servers running aiX and open VmS iBm z196 mainframe running tescorsquos food replenishment system over 6PB of disk storage

rsaquo Tesco records decline amid online shake-uprsaquo Tesco ramps up digital investment

rsaquo Tesco bags in-store software

the deAl with sentrum will Allow tesco to scAle it resources up And down depending on business needs

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 20

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aNd effIcIeNcy

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dataceNtre Plays bIg Part IN tescorsquos

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

dataCentres

privacy regulations says Kadlec The project will allow Tesco to reduce its IT infrastructure costs by a quarter ndash equivalent to several million pounds a year ndash within three years

Tescorsquos new Watford datacentre will be 25-50 cheaper to run than the retailerrsquos older datacentres

Reorganised teamsThe consolidation project is providing an opportunity for Kadlec to reorganise the infrastructure teams ldquoWe had many people solving the same problems in different countriesrdquo he says ldquoNow we only have to worry about each problem oncerdquo

This central approach will allow Tesco to introduce a common set of standards and services right across the organisation As a result Tesco has been able to move to a shared services model much faster than most other organisations

So far Kadlec has merged the bank and the dot com teams This year he plans to reorganise the infrastructure team in Asia

Kadlec is clear that the consolidation exercise will not mean fewer IT staff ldquoI am not under pressure to deliver a head count I am under pressure to deliver more Itrsquos about making sure we do the architecture design and first-build once and then deploy it many times So I need to completely change the DNA of the peoplerdquo he says

There will be three sets of teams under the new structure ndash an architect design and first-build team a second team responsible for engineering services and operations and separate in-country teams that will be responsible for deployment

And with the new teams comes a new IT blueprint which Kadlec calls the three Vs ldquoValue ndash how can we make it cheaper and better Velocity ndash how can we get it faster And no variation ndash whatever we deliver is the same across all the countriesrdquo he says

Building Tescorsquos datacentre universeTesco worked with suppliers EC Harris and Red Engineering to provision the Sentrum data-centre install the cabling and complete the design work Tescorsquos Letchworth datacentre will act as the primary site for banking and retail It will also host the infrastructure for the inter-national dot com business and half of the dot com business for the UK ndash a total of 15MW of IT infrastructure

Sentrum will provide the infrastructure for the online retail business and any new business activities The dot com infrastructure is being rolled out first It includes one of Tescorsquos dual IBM z196 mainframes used for ordering and forecasting UK payroll and HR and credit card authorisation and settlement The second will act as a back-up on a disaster recovery site

ldquoWe have delivered all the infrastructure that is required to decommission the first datacen-tre We are now in the process of migrating the applicationsrdquo says Kadlec

The next stage will be migrating the infrastructure for Tescorsquos international business across to Sentrum Kadlec plans to transfer Tescorsquos global supply chain management system to the new datacentre and the group management information system

The new datacentre will provide a future-proof platform for new IT projects says Kadlec One of his favourites is a project to provide free internet access in all Tesco stores Another is an improved ordering and forecasting system for general merchandising

Kadlecrsquos next task is to sell Sentrumrsquos IT services to Tescorsquos overseas business units ldquoIrsquove had the first off-site meeting with our CIO from Asia and I am starting to actively promote this centre as the platform to build our international business Sentrum is starting to become the centre of our datacentre universerdquo he says n

the wAtford dAtAcentre will be 25-50 cheAper to run thAn tescorsquos older dAtAcentres

rsaquo Software-defined datacentres demystifiedrsaquo Next Generation Datacentres The Cloud

rsaquo CW500 guide to Datacentre transformation

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 21

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aNd effIcIeNcy

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advaNtages of PreParINg for

solveNcy II

dowNtIme

legislation and regulation

The extension of the Solvency II compliance deadline from November 2012 to Janu-ary 2014 can be seen as both reassuring and concerning from a data management perspective The European Union directive aimed at regulating insurance firms within the EU now affords insurance companies and their counterparties some

much-needed breathing room But it also raises concerns about how preparations can be finalised when the legislation itself is still so uncertain

This is particularly true for the data management function which faces a series of chal-lenges from the legislation and its lack of a finite structure There are concerns that even the new deadline may be missed due to the continuing scarcity of detail on data regulations

ldquoMost organisations are still far from being readyrdquo says Juergen Weiss a research vice-president at Gartner ldquoThey are not postponing their data projects as such but there is so much still to do on Pillar 2 [for the governance and risk management of insurers] and they want to avoid double workrdquo

Minimum compliance tactic for Solvency II data managementThe current effect of the uncertainty is that insurance companies in particular appear to be aiming for ldquominimum compliancerdquo ndash working on as little as possible to ensure that their data is compliant to avoid wasted effort and costly errors of anticipation

ldquoAs the deadline gets closer and people are still not sure they want the sim-plest solution People know there may be an interim solution so they are looking to

GEO

RGE

DO

YLE

ST

OC

CK

BYTE

TH

INKS

TOC

K

HSBC Insurance

works with IBM to solve

Solvency II

Solvency II What CIOs

need to know

Preparing for Solvency II

Data management rules are creating hurdles for IT but comprehensive

planning could lead to competitive advantage Kristina West reports

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 22

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aNd effIcIeNcy

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solveNcy II

dowNtIme

legislation and regulation

rationalise and industrialise laterrdquo says Chris Gullick director of data assurance at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Under these constraints the key data issue for most insurers is data quality especially with regard to preparations for Pillar 3 ndash disclosure and transparency ndash which are now ramping up According to Gartnerrsquos Weiss insurers initially under-invested in this but they now under-stand and realise that data quality is key in the context of this regulation

The process of ensuring data quality requires the establishment of internal standards including the standardisation and harmonisation of systems to ensure consistency of data and often combining this data in a data repository and ensuring completeness of data and lineage from the depository to the reports

Laura Winter associate partner at IBM says it is also a matter of ldquoacquiring data which is of sufficient quality especially from external parties and establishing what is considered to be lsquosufficientrsquo qualityrdquo

Most firms depend on fund managers global custodians and other external firms for data so controls need to be in place to ensure quality timeliness and completeness of that data

According to Maxime Gibault head of insurance companies at BNP Paribas the quality of data depends on the information available ldquoPrices must be completely accurate and insur-ance firms and asset managers need system architecture monitoring cross-checks ndash there is a long procedure in placerdquo he said

Issues including pricing market data frequency and exchange of data must be monitored to ensure a 100 straight through processing (STP) environment

Firms should also consider their liability in the case of errors in externally collected data and where this falls between themselves and their data suppliers With a data chain contain-ing three or more parties ndash such as the global custodianasset managerinsurance firm chain ndash the possibility for error can increase exponentially

Solvency II places demands on IT departmentsThe demands of Solvency II in terms of data are leading to particular challenges for the IT department in terms of both technology and the associated budget

While many firms have already made significant improvements and investments in IT as part of their preparations for Pillar 1 ndash quantitative requirements ndash the demands of Pillar 3 still require the provision of high-quality information and the ability to report and publish this data according to regulatory requirements This will place additional demands on IT in terms of investment in reporting systems

Firms also need to identify a number of work streams according to Gartnerrsquos Weiss such as data quality data governance enterprise architecture re-engineering for a full audit trail and sign-off procedures from for example the actuarial departments

However IT costs account for less than might be expected with Weiss noting that they account for around one-third of the total Solvency II costs Some forward-looking firms are also spreading the costs across other departments with the intent to reuse tools in a wider context once the initial stage of Solvency II is complete

This trend is particularly interesting considered alongside the terms in which Solvency II is usually discussed ndash beneath the concern over incomplete regulation Solvency II is not a project that will definitely be completed by January 2014

Not only is there the expectation that Solvency III or some other variation of the regula-tion will follow hot on its heels with new data requirements but many firms are not yet fully aware of how much work will be required for the day-to-day needs of Solvency II to be embedded in their business

The establishment of a common metadata model and further optimisation of processes are just two examples of future projects that will need to be considered says Weiss And it is those firms which are looking beyond the ldquominimum compliancerdquo approach that will be best placed to answer the future challenges and reap the competitive advantage that fuller preparation may offer n

computerweeklycom 20-26 November 2012 23

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downtime

Cam-bot 2000Here at Downtime we have always been a tad concerned that one day robots will take over the world Perhaps it was being exposed to Terminator at a young age

But what if one is already leading us and it already occupies the top position in the country Thatrsquos right David Cameron is the conduit for a computer which con-trols his every decision

Well hersquos trialling a mobile app to aid in decision-making of day-to-day gov-ernment affairs Which is pretty much the same thing Letrsquos just hope no one hacks into it and tells him to make widely unpopular decisions that lead to social and economic upheaval

Cough n

One in 20 use their mobile during sexYes you read the headline right More than half of us regularly use our mobile devices in bed with a shocking 5 using their mobile while having sex according to a study by UK technology manufac-turer Storage Options

Nearly half check their social networks and emails on their mobile devices instead of listening to their partner while 40 use their phones while sat on the toilet ndash please remember to wash your hands

And 45 of people admit that technol-ogy prevents them from ever truly switch-ing off and relaxing in their spare time Well we donrsquot know about relaxing but if therersquos a drop in birth rates next year we can all blame the iPhone 5

Read more on the

Downtime blog

the neW boring

it has taken some time for the it profession to shake off the ldquoboring geekrdquo image of its bearded and sandal-wearing past but downtime still feels that a forthcoming event in london will appeal to parts of our constituency

Boring 2012 describes itself as ldquothe conference dedicated to the mundanerdquo and this year features talks on subjects as diverse and un-interesting as ldquoself-service checkouts toast heights of celebrities iBm tills yellow lines walking home shop fronts civil aircraft and fridgesrdquo

readers should note the inclusion of iBm tills as a last vestige of tech-nology boredom further lack of excitement will be generated by an attempt to complete the highest number of rotations in a single self-propelled spin on a standard office chair the current world record is 1575 rotations set by kate Bird on 14 July 2012 in Suffolk

clearly there will be no tech enthusiasts in attendance as they will be too busy discussing the angle of the bezel on their new iPhone or the relative screen resolutions of the iPad and the microsoft Surface tablet