Lambeth Borough Council is to standardise the software on its 5,000 computers in a £1.1m, three-year programme.

The council has signed a deal with supplier Civica that includes 650 new PCs, to generate software savings with improved licensing terms and overall efficiency gains.

Simon Morioka, Lambeth divisional director for IT, says the contract should save the council £300,000 a year.

‘We are getting a big reduction in the total cost of ownership across the entire infrastructure,’ he said.

‘We are looking at supporting an increasing number of e-enabled services, and standardisation is one way we can do that and deliver value for money.’

Lambeth will reinvest the money it saves in improving front-line services.

‘The rollout of Microsoft SharePoint portal technology is part of our overall customer service strategy, supporting the council as a whole,’ said Morioka.

‘Prior to this agreement, we were facing significant costs and timelines for SharePoint deployment.

‘Now we can look at realising savings from this work.’