Some council staff have been expressing concerns around the performance and standards of service provided by Crapita, who manage the council’s IT and phone systems.
Croydon’s IT systems may soon be managed from India
The company, which is midway through an eight-year, £73.5million “mega-deal” that was agreed by the previous, Conservative-run administration, saw its share price plunge yesterday after it reported profits down by 28 per cent.
This comes despite Crapita seeking to offshore many of the services it provides for local authorities, such as Croydon, and use instead technicians and programmers based in India.
According to City AM, Crapita’s fall in profits is due to a downturn in new contracts in 2017, a downturn in business attributed to uncertainties related to Brexit.
City AM reported yesterday, “Shares were in freefall this morning, plummeting more than 10 per cent.”
The company has been shedding parts of its business to bring in extra money. Crapita has also been making thousands of UK-based staff redundant, as it tries to reduce its operating costs urgently.
This has seen the company moving many functions to India, which it had previously performed on-site with London councils. Or, as the company said in a report seen by the trade website The Register in March, “there’s an opportunity to reduce the cost of the function by leveraging offshore capability”.
The Crapita report came shortly after the company was forced to issue a profits warning to the London Stock Exchange earlier this year.
“That means tasks maybe be relocated to our Capita India operation,” the company’s internal document continued. “We have identified that should these tasks be relocated it may be likely that we will need to reduce the number of System Support Engineers from 11 to six.”
“In some cases … it is proposed work could be relocated to Capita India, where work can be completed in more cost-effective ways.”
The Register did not identify which borough council the Crapita report referred to, but sources at Fisher’s Folly, Croydon’s council offices, have confirmed that some parts of the company’s services in this borough have been moved halfway around the world. With mixed results.
Crapita’s management of the council’s IT had some shaky beginnings. The Your Croydon website was offline for nearly a fortnight, making it impossible for residents to organise their Council Tax payments, check their council-managed benefits or find out other important pieces of information.
Capita holds contracts with a number of London councils, including a controversial £322million 10-year outsourcing deal with Barnet. Southwark Council has opted to end its association with Crapita and bring staff in-house.
The move of systems engineers to India raises some far-reaching questions about online security and the database operated by Croydon Council, which contains personal details of hundreds of thousands of borough residents. Tech professionals suggest that it is impossible for system engineers to perform their jobs without “super admin” privileges in the back-end of the council’s computer system.
The Register quoted one system engineer, who said, “These are senior engineers who have passed the UK government security clearance vetting process, they are the most highly privileged users on the networks in terms of the databases and systems that hold information about the council’s constituents.”
A spokesperson for Croydon Council told The Register, “Capita has advised us of the proposed changes to their business, but these are not expected to impact on the Croydon service at this time.”
Which reassured… no one.
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“there’s an opportunity to reduce the cost of the function by leveraging offshore capability”. I wonder how many years you have to spend at business school to come out with something like that?
IT Conversation between Continents
Croydon Council (an officer) to Capita Mumbai call centre- 10:20 a.m.
“Hello….is that IT ? At last ! I’ve been waiting for my computer to get into the system for the past 25 minutes. And I’ve been ringing you for the last 10. ”
From Capita Mumbai Office (CMO) 10:21 a.m
Good morning, and please accept sincere apologies for delay in answering, due to glitch in telecoms following monsoon.
I also have to tell you that there is a server problem with your Internet connection, sourcing by Talk Talk
Croydon Council (CC) 10:22 a.m.
Talk talk? What do you mean?
CMO 10:22 a.m.
We are looking in to reports of slow running of PC connections in CR areas 0,1,2 3,4 and 5. Is this applying to you? Please give Post code in full.
CC 10:23 a.m.
(fumbling for Croydon Council notepaper — in vain— but finds stack of abandoned “new customer contact best practice guidelines for seamlesscomms @CRO.Gov.uk”. in print area rubbish bin. Looks for postcode address for Croydon Council offices — finds only e-addresses for council departments)
Hello , IT Are you there?. Sorry, Can’t find a postal address. It must be CRO something.”
CMO 10:24 a.m.
You will need to provide ID to enable reconnection. I have to go off line to have conversation with supervisor to clarify options.
CC 10:25 a.m.
OK, but I don’t understand why, but……..” (ring tone indicates that call has been dropped).
(Officer sighs and redials Capita IT support hotline)
5 minutes later……
CMO Recorded voice
Good morning, Capita help desk. Our IT engineers are looking into reports of slow PC internet connections in CR areas 0 to 5. If your enquiry relates to another issue, please hold for an agent.
CC Officer
(to self) S…t !!! I’ll hold
CMO
Recorded sitar music playing Carpenter’s greatest hits and pan-pipe favourites.
(loops 3 times)
10 minutes later…… ( a real person answers)
Hello? Caller, sorry to keep you waiting due to exceptional volume.. Please explain your IT problem. Go ahead please.
CC 10:40 a.m
I was speaking to you or one of your colleagues when we were cut off about 15 minutes ago.
Anyway, I can’t get into the system ! And I don’t know my office postcode. Surely you must know it anyway?.
CMO
I am pleased to say after consultation with senior supervisor that I can initiate full system reboot immediately, with 100% secure access guarantee on provision of personal ID , bank sorting code, credit card number and security code (these 3 little numbers on the back of card) and very long number on front of card (in full).
Please press1 on keypad to proceed, and enter details as requested by automated agent.
Thank you for calling Capita !
CC
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as overheard by CROYDON RES