Author Archive

The value of deadlines

Posted by John Newton on December 24th, 2020

As I started writing this on Christmas Eve the news websites were proclaiming “Brexit Deal announcement imminent”, or similar. Behind these headlines the commentators all seem to have become experts in fish quotas, arguing that these are fundamental to the deal, or conversely wondering why the whole shebang is being held up for something relatively
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Every single bad thing in the world is the direct fault of outsourcing*

Posted by John Newton on August 30th, 2017

(*and I attempt to prove it using a logical fallacy and with reference to the Darwin Awards)   “Outsourced bin collections leading to rise in upheld complaints” This was the headline in a recent article on localgov.co.uk, which is the web presence of the Municipal Journal, one of the two industry rags normally found in
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Regret #9

Posted by John Newton on August 4th, 2017

Steven Wilson should in my view be much better known than he is.  He has been putting out music under his own name, his former group Porcupine Tree and other projects for over 25 years.  Lazy people would describe his music as progressive rock, but his back catalogue covers everything from math rock, to pop,
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ESPO brings New Networks on board

Posted by John Newton on May 24th, 2017

New Networks appointed to major public sector consultancy framework New Networks is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a position on ESPO’s Consultancy Services Framework 664-17.  The framework commenced on 19th April 2017 and will run initially for 2 years, with the possibility of extension for a further 2 years to 2021. The
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Making Procurement Better After Brexit

Posted by John Newton on May 10th, 2017

As the prospect of Brexit becomes reality it is only natural for us to wonder what impact this is likely to have on aspects of the work that we do for public sector clients, particularly in relation to strategic/complex procurements – and also on how we and other SMEs go about winning our advisory work
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A Transformation SatNav

Posted by John Newton on July 17th, 2015

I have a manufacturer-provided Satnav in my car. As one might imagine obtaining this feature also required various other bits of kit to be installed at the same time. In total this probably added several hundred pounds to the basic price of the car when it rolled off the forecourt. It is of course rubbish.
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A different dimension to local authority externalisations

Posted by John Newton on June 10th, 2014

I’m starting to wonder if we have all been looking at alternative business models for public services from the wrong angle. Traditionally the approach has reflected the way in which government organisations are structured.  Hence we have a range of outsourced blue collar services,leisure trusts,and shared back offices that tend to be scoped around the
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Relying on transparency alone in ICT contracts just leads to daylight robbery

Posted by John Newton on February 3rd, 2014

I’ve been a video games enthusiast since the first blocky space invader .  Over my lifetime the size and complexity of the games has increased hugely, as has the market and industry supporting them.  Games now often have the revenues of Hollywood blockbusters and the development budgets to match. As with films games can fall
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Is adopting a SIAM model a provable case for the local public sector?

Posted by John Newton on December 3rd, 2013

The Government has decided that the Service Integration and Management (SIAM) model is the one to pursue for all the current round of departmental ICT refresh projects.  Is this the right thing to adapt for other parts of the public sector such as local authorities or the police? In essence a SIAM model involves the
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Why large outsourcing deals are like 1980s Rock Albums

Posted by John Newton on November 14th, 2013

Itunes, Youtube, Spotify and the like are great achievements in the democratisation of music consumption but for people of a certain age (i.e. me), there is a regret at the diminishing importance of working one’s way through an album, recognising that, with the exception of the absolute favourites, every long player in the collection would
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