12 news
Brookes goes global with InterContinental Hotels Group
A chance phone call to gather some data for research has led to a global alliance between Oxford Brookes University and one of the world’s largest hotel companies. InterContinental Hotels Group – owner of Holiday Inns and other well-known brands – is working with Oxford Brookes to establish the IHG Global Academy which will educate staff to IHG’s rigorous standards across the world
Key to the relationship were two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) set up with government funding to apply and implement the university’s special expertise in risk management for the hospitality industry.
Dr Alexandros Paraskevas of Brookes’ Oxford School of Hospitality Management had contacted IHG’s global HQ in Denham for his research on the ways in which hotel companies respond to unprecedented instability and risk, whether from economic recession or terrorism or other threats, and maintain safe and profitable operations for the benefit of customers and shareholders alike. IHG has now used his knowledge to ensure its practices and procedures are right at the forefront of the industry.
The first step was to recruit Catia Guimaraes as KTP associate. Supervised by Dr Paraskevas but working with IHG’s risk management team, she created continuity plans for 49 key business units located in 27 sites across the world. A major part of the role was to secure support and cooperation from senior managers who came from many different business and cultural backgrounds.
A few months into her project, the tsunami struck in Japan, and Guimaraes was faced with a very real crisis. By providing timely and precise information, she enabled the team to make the right decisions for IHG’s corporate sites in the country, and thankfully they reported no casualties. She later went on to win the national award for KTP associates,
Catia Guimaraes, Oxford Brookes KTP associate at InterContinental Hotels Group
‘Business Leader of Tomorrow’, which was presented to her by secretary of state Vince Cable.
Details: John Corlett 01865-484204
jcorlett@brookes.ac.uk www.brookes.ac.uk/business_employers
Government launches CloudStore and names suppliers
The Government Procurement Service (GPS) has announced a list of suppliers for its new G-Cloud services framework.
Between 2012 and 2015, the Government hopes to realise savings of £180 million through the re-use of cloud computing services in a centralised application store, known as CloudStore, whereby a catalogue of more than 1,700 services and 257 suppliers will enable public- sector buyers to make clear comparisons to facilitate purchasing decisions.
Around 50% of the suppliers included in the CloudStore catalogue are SMEs, alongside large organisations such as Microsoft and IBM. Services are divided into four categories: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS) and specialist cloud services.
Bracknell-based Content Guru has been named as one of the SaaS and specialist cloud services providers. Sean Taylor, director of Content Guru, commented on the challenges the project faces:
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“Government organisations all have their own local priorities, which they are unwilling to compromise – and rightly so. In order to get these organisations to work together more efficiently, G-Cloud will have to provide the central platform that will help to rationalise cost-bases, while still retaining the individual sovereignty of each participating organisation.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in the area of communications. How citizens communicate with the organisation, how colleagues within the organisation communicate with each other, and how different organisations communicate, affects every aspect of public service delivery.
“Even if different organisations do share common characteristics, it is unlikely that all the stakeholders will embrace integration willingly. Therefore the success of a G-Cloud communications platform will hinge on the ability to customise services for local requirements.
“Greater integration may follow in due course as a consequence of different organisations working more closely together, as sharing the same technology will tend towards the convergence of business processes. But in the first instance, organisations will need to have the choice to migrate at their own pace.”
In January, Liam Maxwell, director of ICT futures at the Cabinet Office, told Cloud Expo in London that government contracts for cloud services will move away from the traditional model of long-term tie-ins, with new contractual agreements being signed after brief consultation and lasting as little as 12 months. He predicted that these services will soon be purchased in much the same way as a high-turnover commodity such as office stationery.
Details:
01344-852350
info@contentguru.com www.contentguru.com
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – APRIL 2012
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