Shropshire Star

Shropshire Council iPads switch to save £500k

Council bosses insist they will save more than £500,000 on their £12 million annual computing costs by replacing staff computers with iPads and smartphones.

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Council bosses insist they will save more than £500,000 on their £12 million annual computing costs by replacing staff computers with iPads and smartphones.

The savings are part of a Shropshire Council plan to replace 450 desktop PCs by 2014, with the aim of letting staff do more work away from the office. Savings will be on travel and printing costs.

A report going before the cabinet this afternoon says replacing existing maintenance con- tracts will save £480,000, with a further £38,000 in Microsoft licensing cost savings.

Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith said: "Our budget including staff costs is about £12 million a year. The £500,000 is a start point – it could be more than that."

Today's report says that increasing the use of technology such as iPads will help the council run services in a more effective manner.

The report says:?"Enabling the workforce to operate in a mobile and flexible way will help to achieve our vision to provide greater value for money by significantly reducing our costs.

"For example a dog warden is using a mobile device to instantly map problems with dog litter and file reports without the need to go to the office.

"Additional benefits will include reduced travel, paper and printing costs."

Council chiefs came under fire last year after they spent £12,000 on a pilot scheme which provided 40 councillors and some top officers with iPads.

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