Oracle Cloud helps UK Govt drive public sector efficiencies

Oracle has agreed to an updated memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Crown Commercial Services (CCS) to help the UK Government improve cost savings, productivity and efficiencies across the public sector. Oracle has also made a commitment to enhance its Government Centre of Excellence, to provide additional support and technical capabilities to help the UK Government make better use of Oracle Cloud.

The updated arrangement is expected to foster an even stronger working relationship between Oracle and the UK public sector, enabling better use of secure cloud technologies. CCS — a UK-based public procurement organisation — supports the UK public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020, CCS helped the UK public sector achieve commercial benefits worth more than £1 billion, supporting public services that offer the best value for taxpayers.

Oracle and the UK Government first signed an MoU in 2012, paving the way for a long-term partnership. The updated MoU will ensure that central, local and devolved governments, as well as all public service departments and agencies, are able to make continued use of Oracle Cloud. Critical public services will have access to the full suite of Oracle Cloud applications, secure infrastructure services and autonomous technology.

The enhanced Oracle Centre of Excellence will provide more support to the UK Government for its use of Oracle Cloud, enabling better use of secure cloud technologies to support long-term innovation and transformation of public services. The Centre for Excellence will provide additional support to public sector organisations looking to move workloads to Oracle Cloud infrastructure or expand their use of the Oracle Cloud Applications Suite.

Philip Orumwense, Commercial Director and Chief Technology Procurement Officer of CCS, noted that the enhanced MoU will continue to deliver savings and benefits for new and existing public sector customers using Oracle’s cloud-based technologies.

“It will continue delivering value for money whilst supporting public sector customers’ journey to the cloud,” Orumwense said.

Government Chief Commercial Officer Gareth Rhys Williams said the UK Government is focused on its Build Back Better growth plan, which includes ensuring the government makes the best use of modern cloud-based technologies.

“By extending our relationship with Oracle through this memorandum of understanding, we will continue to drive excellent commercial value, improve services delivery to citizens and support the UK Government’s wider transformation agenda,” Williams said.

Richard Petley, Managing Director & Senior Vice President (Technology & Cloud, Western Europe) at Oracle, said the company is collaborating with the UK Government to unlock the potential that cloud offers and to help the UK lead the way in the adoption of digital technologies.

Oracle provides a dual-sovereign cloud for use by UK public sector customers, such as the Home Office, Office for National Statistics, the NHS NEP, Birmingham City Council, the Ministry of Defence and West Midlands Police. The updated MoU expands on these relationships and will allow more public sector organisations to use cloud technologies to deliver optimal public services and greater taxpayer value.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Andreas Prott