Contact management a key business case

Multi-agency work closely followed by contact management are at the top of 50 outline business cases (OBCs) with technology input examined by Police Market Report, the monthly subscriber-only bulletin that specialises in police information and communications technology.

Cyber, forensic and analytics projects, in that order, complete the leading five OBCs that require specialist systems.

“There’s some input and output symmetry here,” explained John Rowland, editor and publisher of Police Market Report. “Contact managers want to make sure they receive all calls for assistance, regardless of format; specialists who’ve got to work with social services or health want to send the right material to the right people, securely.”

He said the common ground on multi-agency working was children and vulnerable people: “Momentum on data sharing is picking up, albeit at a snail’s pace. There’s protocols to negotiate and nagging security concerns; they’re all echoed in the latest Socitm (Society of IT Management) IT Trends Survey on cloud take-up. But as child protection’s now a strategic policing priority, hanging back isn’t an option.”

Contact management is witnessing major vendors getting ready for control rooms where digital feeds could rival or even supersede voice, said Mr Rowland: “The trouble is working out what the demand curve will be.”

With regard to cyber projects he said there was a “world of difference between bullying via Facebook and a large-scale malware attack”, but what was also curious were differences in approach; some forces have reportedly said they cannot afford to investigate every missing persons incident and Mr Rowland says the same will ultimately be true for cyber matters.

Mr Rowland believes analytics will absorb a large tranche of the Police Knowledge Fund: “Vendors are watching the market segment closely – witness the Capita buy of Barrachd, a Scottish small and medium-sized enterprise last month. The social media feed analysis it delivers adds another gun to the Capita arsenal.”

Forensics OBCs examined include digital and management systems. “The case management side is parallelled by several other ‘non-forensic’ collaborative resource management proposals,” he added.

• For further information visit www.policemarketreport.co.uk, contact reports@policemarketreport.co.uk or follow John Rowland at Twitter.com/policeICT.