Department of Health selects Kahootz to replace IBM Quickr through G-Cloud

Move signals shift away from legacy systems and software, and embrace of "buying things as a service"

The Department of Health (DoH) has selected cloud collaboration service Kahootz from Inovem to replace its legacy IBM Lotus Quickr software, and has used the G-Cloud framework to procure the service.

The software forms part of a shared service programme that became effective from yesterday, which will allow organisations such as NHS England, NHS Health Research Authority, the Care Quality Commission and other agencies and public bodies to use the Inovem product.

Sophie Rawlings, head of IM and ECM programme lead at the DoH, told Computing that the department's IT strategy is to move away from legacy systems such as Domino Lotus Notes, and so the organisation did not consider any on-premise systems.

Bob Armstrong, head of IT futures and shared services at the department, added that the department wanted to "embrace buying things as a service" and let the supplier worry about managing the software and licences.

"Users want to use evergreen software, not something that is seven years out of date," he said.

"We are in a place where we want cloud-based services and we're technology vendor agnostic; it is a combination of asking what value and quality you can get for what you can afford, rather than a particular product or vendor," he added.

Rawlings explained that there were several reasons for choosing Kahootz ahead of other products.

She said it was the best value for money option and had a "functional richness".

"It's got a lot of functions we're interested in; a very powerful database capability that we can use for structured data capture, reporting or building questionnaires or surveys," she said.

"It also offers a service called structured documents, which means we can load up a document, and if it is broken down into separate sections or chapters you can assign tasks related to different individuals - you can have different access levels, so the two people working on chapter one might not be able to see or comment on chapter two."

Another key reason why Kahootz was selected was Inovem's experience in the public sector, Rawlings explained.

"Inovem brings 15 years of experience and expertise in the remit of the public sector, particularly around accessibility. The DoH can't put out and work with technology that doesn't meet accessibility standards as we're working with stakeholders and partners as well. We can't have a stakeholder logging in and their screen not being able to read a document or for the software to not work with a particular browser, for example," she said.

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Department of Health selects Kahootz to replace IBM Quickr through G-Cloud

Move signals shift away from legacy systems and software, and embrace of "buying things as a service"

Although both Rawlings and Armstrong declined to comment on any of the products Kahootz was competing against, they said that the list included "the usual suspects" and that all of the options considered could be found on the CloudStore.

Some of the teams within the organisation are still using Quickr but the DoH is looking to migrate those across too. IBM was not considered as it didn't have a product available on the CloudStore.

The method of procurement - through the G-Cloud call-off framework – was also an important factor, as the DoH will only pay for what it consumes.

"We wanted to look for SaaS, we wanted to make use of the G-Cloud, rather than having to pay for licences whether or not you use them," Rawlings said.

She said that from a customer perspective, the DoH has to assume that the Government Digital Service (GDS) has done its job and assessed and approved the suppliers that are on the G-Cloud.

"The level of due diligence is already done beforehand, so we should be able to be confident that whoever we procure via that route is up to the job, and then it is down to us to ensure that it is the best tool to fit our particular business needs," Rawlings stated.

Rawlings said that the CloudStore's interface and usability could still be improved, but added that procuring from the G-Cloud was much easier than government procurement had been in the past.

About 40 users from three different working groups have trialled the Kahootz software, and the feedback from the pilots has been "universally positive", according to Rawlings.

The DoH doesn't know how many users will be taking up the software as it will roll it out on an "as required" basis.

"So we'll launch the service at the end of May, maybe in early June and wait to see who asks for it. As it is used for external-facing collaboration, and not only internal collaboration, it is very dependent on what the demand is - but I have a feeling that it is going to grow rapidly," Rawlings suggested.