College online with cloud-based CRM

The UK’s first security-accredited web and CRM (customer relationship management) platform is enabling the College of Policing to adopt a ‘digital first’ approach to professional development across the police service.

The highly-secure cloud-based CRM solution captures and stores data for the college to support the dissemination of its knowledge, training and standards to more than 300,000 police officers and police staff across the UK.

It is part of the college’s drive to provide flexible and personalised support to police officers and staff to aid their professional and career development by offering secure access to its online services and content.

Access for members, using any mobile device outside of work, is provided via a secure internet connected platform, which detects the device being used to access the college’s membership website. To prevent unauthorised access, content and data delivered is restricted to meet the college’s security requirements.

The secure service has been developed using ProTech’s digital platform ProWeb and the Managed Cloud Services for UK Government from Sungard Availability Services (Sungard AS) – a pan-European accredited ‘official sensitive’ platform as a service solution – connected to the UK’s Public Services Network.

Jenny Parsons, ProTech’s chief operating officer, said that to meet the college’s exacting security requirements, they had to demonstrate that the solution could meet the security standards set down by the National Accreditor and Government Digital Services.

She said Sungard AS’s security expertise “played a key role” in the complex accreditation process, at the same time as providing a secure hosted platform with an underlying cloud infrastructure accredited in line with the National Cyber Security Centre‘s 14 defined cloud security principles.

Kathy Schneider, chief marketing officer at Sungard AS, said: “Many public sector organisations, including police forces, are looking at how they can use technology, especially digital tools and cloud computing, to set high standards of professional practice, with specified criteria against which success can be measured.

“Increased efficiencies, improved collaboration and ultimately enhanced frontline services can be achieved at the same time as promoting ethics, values and integrity.”

Ms Parsons added: “Our successful collaboration with Sungard AS demonstrates that by engaging with the right partners public sector organisations can not only deploy a robust and fully managed technology platform, with the necessary service level agreements they can have complete confidence that their security requirements for today, and importantly for tomorrow, are covered.”