Microsoft
Contents
Microsoft Board of Directors
- James I. Cash Jr. Ph.D.
UK Executives
Microsoft In Europe
Microsoft Scotland
Microsoft Edinburgh127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN
08706010100
Microsoft Scotland Managers
Microsoft Workers
Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support
Microsoft and the Scottish Executive
Microsoft are linked closly with the Scottish Executive, selling their technology to public services such as the police force and the NHS. Recently Microsoft have been cofounders of the Not in Education or Employment Project (NEET) aiming to train young Scots who are not in employment or education in an attempt to give them key transferable skills to compete in the job market. They are also invloved with other Scottish organisations such as Learn Direct Scotland.
The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency 2Collaborate claim:
"2collaborate's management team has a unique mix of political, media and research skills. In bringing these forces together we believe we are creating a new way for organisations and their stakeholders to communicate, driving positive change and creating value for customers and citizens. We believe a sustainable future will be achieved only if sectors and players within industries collaborate and share best practice in an open and accountable environment."[1]
Microsoft have fiercley lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to scotland's public services.
Private Sector
Public Sector
Yorkshire and Humber Regional Assembly
Not-for-profit
Federation of Small Business (Scotland)
Shared Services is a partnership between the government and the private sector aiming to use private business to run public services.
The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform Tom McCabe etimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.
"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector. [3]
Microsoft Government Leaders Forum
The annual forum brings together Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe, marking one of the most senior gatherings of European leaders Scotland has seen.
The Government Leaders’ Forum Europe is one of Microsoft’s flagship events for government, parliamentarians, education and business leaders across the continent and is being supported by a partnership of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive.
The event provides a forum to formulate successful strategies in key areas relating to connected government, digital learning, employability skills and the transition to the knowledge economy. This year will reflect a number of Scotland’s experiences as the host country
Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, George Reid MSP said:
“This conference provides an opportunity to debate key issues of engagement and economic development which affect citizens and states across Europe.
The President of Microsoft International, Jean-Philippe Courtois said:
“The Scottish Parliament offers a unique setting to hold a very interactive and participative Government Leaders’ Forum. This event offers an excellent opportunity to bring together top policy makers and industry leaders from across the continent to facilitate a discussion around the impact of ICT on parliaments and their citizens. Microsoft is grateful to both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive for their support and cooperation in bringing the GLF to Edinburgh.” [4]
Microsoft Government Leaders Forum Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills [5] The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET)
Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services
NHS UK
The UK's National Health Service announced a licensing deal with Microsoft, climing that it will amount to savings of £330 million over the nine year contract.
"The NHS, the "largest procurer of IT services in the world" is now locked into Windows and Microsoft Office for nine years; its IT suppliers, if they wish to remain its IT suppliers, must also lock themselves in, and anyone working with the new NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has effectively had Windows chosen for them."
The discount arises from the liciencing fee. however, this is deceptiveas the NHS were not paying this fee in the first place.
The NHS IT director general Richard Granger sees it being used as "a common look and feel of all clinical applications to improve patient care and safety across the NHS."
The licensing deal provides the NHS with "up to 900,000 licences", compared to the 500,000 it currently has, and this meshes nicely with the UI agreement because Microsoft will be supplying customised versions of Office and Windows "for NHS computer users." Not all NHS users currently use Windows, and not all of the people working with the NHS would currently count themselves as NHS computers users as such, while not all of the Health Trusts would necessarily see Granger's writ as running as far as their choice of desktop software. The NPfIT however does bring with it a considerable increase in centralisation in terms of systems used and purchasing.
- Even before Microsoft is brought into the equation, centralisation has begun to squeeze out smaller suppliers. EMIS, for example, currently produces the most widely-used GP system, but claims it has been unable to sign contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, because it says the conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS IT not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place... If the NPfIT policy is about rigorous standardisation that they feel can be achieved by two different suppliers then clearly a third supplier is just as likely to produce a quality system based on agreed standards." + - + - The two clinical systems being used by the LSPs are iSOFT's Lorenzo and IDX's Carecast, these being the two examples of ISVs put forward in the NHS-MS health UI announcement, and also the "two 'core' clinical applications for the NHS", according to NPfIT guidance issued in recent months. According to E-Health Insider, NPfIT COO Gordon Hextall says that the numbers of other systems to be culled via this process should now be referred to as "existing" systems, "due to the pejorative connotations of the term 'legacy'".
- The UI deal however means that Microsoft now stands to benefit greatly, leveraging Windows and Office into those GP practices which don't already use them, and rolling back rivals' penetration. Sun UK Head of Corporate Affairs Richard Barrington sees this as a direct threat to existing Sun customers in the NHS, pointing out that some health trusts are already using StarOffice, but may now find themselves forced to switch to MS Office instead. "Does Granger have the mandate to force everybody to use this stuff?", he asks irately. + - + - Granger certainly has the power, because the deal was negotiated at the highest levels of Microsoft and the UK government. Last year he threw down the gauntlet, announcing a trial of Sun's Java Desktop System and threatening to roll it out across 800,000 desktops. This again is higher than the NHS' current 500,000 users, but still lower than the total NHS headcount of 1.2 million. Clearly Granger was anticipating a common system for all of the clinicians who would become users under the NPfIT regime, and this system being extended to people who previously hadn't used computers directly to access NHS services. + - + - The new UI and the customised version of Office will also represent additional speedbumps for would-be competitors. If, for example, Sun wished to bid on a future NHS desktop contract, in addition to the current need to match as much general Microsoft functionality as possible it would have to match the UI and the NHS/health-specific version of Office, which would probably involve licensing technology from Microsoft.
The December announcement was swiftly followed in January of this year by a Bill Gates summit with Granger and Secretary of State for Health John Reid. This process is proudly referred to in the NHS' licensing deal announcement, the intent presumably being to impress us with the commercial acumen of Reid and Granger. Gates himself had a busy and rewarding time of it on the trip: the NHS, meetings with Chancellor Gordon Brown, the then OGC head Peter Gershon, a starring role at Brown's entrepreneur summit, and a knighthood. No great problem getting a club class ticket through this time, we'd hazard.
According to the announcement, the Gates meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, leading to the formal deal. The timescale, however, is interesting, as the cycle commenced just as the NHS was beginning its JDS trial, and in September the NHS announced the purchase of 5,000 JDS licences for "tactical reasons", and allegedly to allow it to conduct further testing of open source deployments. The current Microsoft deal was at least very close to signing then, but there was an opportunity for some last minute haggling in early October, when Steve Ballmer was last in spotted in the UK. +
The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of Office of Government Commerce advice in its OSS report to "determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft. The NHS has meanwhile virtually extinguished the alternative for itself for nine years. [6]
NHS Scotland
NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m.
Microsoft already has an enterprise-wide deal with the NHS in England.
Professor Stuart Bain, chief executive, NHS National Services Scotland, said: "We see this agreement as a key building block in realising a modern, integrated and efficient health service."
Raymond O'Hare, director of Scotland for Microsoft UK, told EHI NHS Scotland would make "some significant savings" "We are pleased to support its modernisation objectives by providing NHS professionals across Scotland with access to the most advanced Microsoft software available."
Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, Trustmarque Solutions.
Ross Miller, managing director at Trustmarque, said: "We are pleased to be part of this agreement and a trusted partner of NHS Scotland and Microsoft, in delivering a true value offering to enable the 'Delivering for Health' strategy. This agreement ensures a best value offering, leveraging the significant buying power of NHS Scotland." [7]
The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT
MICROSOFT’S former director for Scotland, Gordon McKenzie publically criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.
Down south, the NHS has signed a 10-year agreement with Microsoft that will represent a substantial discount on what would have been paid if each constituent part of the organisation had negotiated with the company.
"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."
McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". [8]
NHS Scotland before the Microsoft deal
Does microsoft's involvement with Public Services create Greater Efficiency
A recent Dispatches investigation in the NHS found that a great proportion of NHS money is wasted on their IT system. £xx millions have been spent onan internal database used by doctors to book patient hospital appointments. However, the investigation found that 80% of doctors use this system as many feel it is too complicated, time consuming and unreliable. The Health Minister said ....(get the quote for this) [9]
How much was Scotland paying on IT before they signed up with Microsoft?
Notes
- ^ Microsoft website Board of Directorsaccessed 30/01/07
- ^ Microsoft website Board of Directorsaccessed 30/01/07
- ^ Microsoft website, Board of Directors
- ^ Microsoft website, Board of Directors
- ^Microsoft website, Board of Directors
- ^ Microsoft website, Board of Directors
- ^ Microsoft website, Board of Directors
- ^Microsoft website, Board of Directors
- ^Scottish Parliament to host the UK’s first Microsoft Government Leaders’ Forum | 20 September 2006.[10]
- ^Scottish Parliament to host the UK’s first Microsoft Government Leaders’ Forum | 20 September 2006.[11]Microsoft UK Press Center Raymond O'Hareaccessed 18/02/07
- ^ Scottish Parliament to host the UK’s first Microsoft Government Leaders’ Forum | 20 September 2006.[12]Microsoft UK Press Center Raymond O'Hareaccessed 18/02/07
- ^ Lucy Sherriff Microsoft says Scottish NHS must curb IT spend: Unusual advice from a vendor The Register, Published Wednesday 5th January 2005 13:25 GMT
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^ Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^ Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^ Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/0721/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^Microsoft Website UK executives accessed 21/02/07
- ^ Scotsman website Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good? Microsoft and Scottish executive Agreement accessed 28/02/07
- ^ Scottish Executive Website Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy
- ^Microsoft Website [Police IT System] accessed 22/03/07
- ^ The Register [NHS Contract with Microsoft] accessed 22/03/07
- ^ Microsoft Website [UK executives] accessed 22/03/07
- ^ 2Collaborate Website [2collaborate] accessed 22/03/07
- ^ NHS Scotland [NHS Scotland] accessed 22/03/07
- ^ NHS Scotland pre Microsoft [Microsoft Criticisms] accessed 22/03/07
- ^ Dispatches NHS Where did all the money go? Channel four
- ^ Scottish chamber of Commerce Website [Scottish chamber of Commerce] accessed 24/03/07
- ^ Federation of Small Business [Federation of Small Business] accessed 23/03/07
- ^ICAS [ICAS] accessed 23/03/07
- ^ Law Society [Law Society] accessed 23/03/07
- ^ SCDI [SCDI]accessed 24/03/07
- ^ Institute of Directors [IoD] accessed 24/03/07
