Tony Collins's IT Projects Blog

Somerset County Council has formally recorded as one of its business challenges the task of understanding the use of jargon and acronyms by IBM, its partner on a £400m outsourcing contract.

In September 2007, the county council, Taunton Deane Borough Council and Avon and Somerset Constabulary formed with IBM a joint venture company, SouthWest One. IBM is the majority shareholder. 

Now the county council's Audit and Resources Sub-committee has published a paper on early successes of the joint venture and the challenges facing the authority in monitoring SouthWest One.

One of the challenges is listed as:

"Plain English - Our new partner has a challenge to consider in reducing jargon
and explaining acronyms which are in common use within IBM."

With his use of the language Paul Maritz would be, perhaps, pre-qualified for a top job at any of the large IT companies. He said: 

"The degree to which we can help our customers become more cloud like internally will actually enable them to federate more easily with external clouds offered by suppliers selling computing resources."

Paul Maritz, VMWare chief executive officer and president

**

Doubtless there are some executives in IT suppliers who would call the Land of the Free the Catchment Area of the Disencumbered.

Links:

Dictionary of IBM jargon and acronyms

IBM's partner in £400m deal calls for less jargon - IT Projects blog, 2008

Plain English Campaign

Whittington Hospital NHS Trust says it has accounted for four discs that went missing, which contained the personal details of 17,990 health service staff and former employees. The incident has cost the trust (taxpayers) about £25,000.

Police had been alerted, and the trust held 24 separate briefings for staff over four days, including one on Saturday, 20 September 2008, on the possibilities of identity theft. David Sloman, Chief Executive, wrote "individually" to the 17,900 staff at their home addresses to advise them of the missing data. The trust wrote to them again to let them know the discs had been accounted for. The trust also reported a Serious Untoward Incident. An enquiry had been set up and the Information Commissioner's Office was alerted. Staff were advised to keep a regular check on their bank accounts and statements.

Searches were carried out in all areas of Whittington hospital's salaries and wages office and the post room. The trust is based near the Archway tube station in London. There was also a search of the European headquarters in Warwick of McKesson, the intended recipients of the discs. McKesson runs the MAPS Manpower and Payroll system for the trusts. The Royal Mail was alerted.