National Offenders Management Service saves at least £5K per employee with secure remote working solution

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NOMS When new restrictions on the removal of laptops from the workplace were imposed after the spate of highly publicised Government data breaches, staff at the National Offenders Management Service (NOMS) started to avoid working remotely. This lead to a decline in the quality of service they provided and an increase in the costs of managing office space.

Before the ban on laptop removal, the multiple security restrictions remote workers needed to adhere to stopped them using the Internet to access highly sensitive data so they had to travel back to their regional office to connect to the secure networks, as the lack of reliable hard drive encryption meant that information couldn't be stored on their laptops either.

The combination of all these things led NOMS to set up a justice community network (JCN) that would enable remote workers to conveniently and securely access information, while also improving collaboration internally and with third parties. You can read our case study to get the full story but as a quick overview, some of the benefits NOMS are realising include:

  • Remote workers no longer need to travel back to the office to access files and emails. Estimating that each offender manager will save an hour’s travel a day means NOMS will be saving around £5K per staff member per year, as well as reducing their carbon footprint.
  • The JCN means information can be easily accessed and shared with external agencies and organisations, meaning staff spend less time searching for information and need to attend fewer meetings. NOMS estimate that the savings from this will be more than £2K per user a year.
  • As remote workers no longer need to return to the office so frequently, office space will be reduced and hot-desking introduced. As the costs are so varied at the nine regional offices around the UK, NOMS found it hard to estimate savings but believe they could save around £4.8K a year in some locations per workstation no longer required.
  • Windows BitLocker technology on all laptops means they are now compliant with the governments required levels of data security.

Mike Manisty, Chief Information Officer at NOMS said of the JCN, " Solutions based on Microsoft products have given us the opportunity to manage our business as any other technologically advanced corporation would, and so save taxpayers’ money .”

Posted by Amanda