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Bates Group

NHS Cloud Infrastructure Strategy, Readiness and Transition Services

The NHS is unique in that no Trust can fully transition to cloud infrastructure and fully integrate legacy non-cloud systems. All services must be audited and prepared for transition to the cloud environment. Bates provide audit, readiness, and transition services to support complex migrations of critical applications securely and quickly.

Features

  • Health specific Support and preparation of legacy solutions for transition
  • Audit, planning and technical strategy for Cloud transition
  • Secure migration of clinical systems
  • Ongoing support of private, public or hybrid cloud infrastructure
  • High Availability support throughout
  • Future proof solutions aligned to NHSD principles
  • Cutting edge IT tools simplify monitoring and improve security
  • Flexible, bespoke solutions that fit customer needs
  • Professional, partnership approach working with your organisation
  • Proven financial stability and referenced successful project completions

Benefits

  • Secure transition from legacy systems to next generation cloud hosting
  • Maximum planning, minimal disruption ethos focussing on business continuity
  • Ensures long term integration of legacy systems and cloud solutions
  • Fast and responsive support quickly provides issue rectification
  • Bespoke services provide your desired outcomes, not a fixed service
  • Provide changes that deliver operational and cash releasing benefits.
  • detailed audits provide clarity on

Pricing

£315 to £1,600 a unit a day

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at Chris.Fuller@Bates-Group.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

5 1 1 4 1 2 4 2 5 4 8 2 4 2 6

Contact

Bates Group Chris Fuller
Telephone: 07584213361
Email: Chris.Fuller@Bates-Group.co.uk

Planning

Planning service
Yes
How the planning service works
To transition services to the Cloud you must first know what will be transitioned and how the change in hosting will impact the solutions. Bates Group provide in depth audit and analysis of "as-is" systems, services and infrastructure that allows us to map processes to the new cloud environment. It is important that vital solutions e.g. NHS clinical systems and defence solutions, are maintained throughout transition with minimal disruption. Bates Group work with your third-party system suppliers to ensure that risks are catalogued and changes are undertaken safely and securely. Changes in critical IT services require carefully balancing of the needs of the organisation during the transition with the technical process of migrating data and applications. This process of change management must be carefully planned and only implemented once a migration can be guaranteed to be secure and end-users are fully aware of the changes. Post-migration Bates can support the integration of internal legacy infrastructure to ensure that the Cloud services continues to work within the organisation and permits the integration of solutions that cannot be migrated. Bates can also support organisations that are already part way through a transition or wish to improve their use of cloud technology.
Planning service works with specific services
No

Training

Training service provided
No

Setup and migration

Setup or migration service available
Yes
How the setup or migration service works
Bates has grown with technology and has always supported customers moving from previous generations of technology to the leading-edge services. Bates Group have experience of delivering the very latest technological solution but more importantly we have knowledge of the myriad ways in which older technologies have been implemented and are being used. Every organisation is different and has different needs aims and goals meaning each project starts from a different point. We start with careful planning and process mapping, ensuring that all parties, including third party solution vendors, are clear on the strategic goals. Once this has taken place Bates Group undertake full technology audits focussing on networking infrastructure and suitability of the current infrastructure to deliver cloud solutions. Work is undertaken to patch, stabilise, secure, and improve current infrastructure to ensure that migrations are safe and will result in minimal disruption. A full risk assessment and planning exercise is undertaken to design the new solution and its transition focussing on ensuring that critical data e.g. patient records, are never at risk of either integrity loss or malicious attack. Post-transition we focus on ensuring new processes are implemented and legacy solutions are adequately integrated to ensure long term success.
Setup or migration service is for specific cloud services
No

Quality assurance and performance testing

Quality assurance and performance testing service
Yes
How the quality assurance and performance testing works
Bates Group offer a range of quality assurance and performance testing services. Focussing on real-world impact to users, Bates Group can help assess the performance of your IT infrastructure and provide you with the information you need to configure your network and hardware to deliver the best performance to end users. Many of our customers operate critical solutions that must operate at a high performance reliably. Not only must these services perform to a high standard, but they must also perform within complex hybrid infrastructures including a mix of cloud and local hardware. Local hardware configurations can dramatically impact the efficacy of a cloud solution and impact the delivery of benefits to the customer. We not only help support and test you cloud infrastructure but your wider IT environment, ensuring that the interoperability and dependency of other systems is considered when testing the system.

Security testing

Security services
No

Ongoing support

Ongoing support service
Yes
Types of service supported
  • Hosting or software provided by your organisation
  • Hosting or software provided by a third-party organisation
How the support service works
Bates provide ongoing support for all its services and projects. Customers will have access to a bespoke support service tailored to their needs. In the case of successfully completed infrastructure work this is likely to be fairly limited but will always remain present to provide customers with the necessary peace of mind. For customers wishing to procure additional support, Bates can set up a wide range of support services including helpdesks, service desks, basic break/fix arranagements or any bespoke service approach. For cabling services Bates tend to provide a thorough test and acceptance phase followed by either a light touch support regime or a full handover to another service provide e.g. customer network manager for day to day management. Whatever your requirements, Bates will be happy to work with you to provide a support service that meets your needs and ensures the ongoing quality of the infrastructure and services we provide.

Service scope

Service constraints
The Bates Group is a highly flexible organisation that is capable of delivering bespoke planning and readiness and transition solutions to suit our customers needs. As such we don't have any specific constraints that our services must work within. We will work with our customers at the call off stage once their requirements are clear and will inform of any specific constraints at that time. It is envisaged that constraints will be customer specific e.g. work can only take place outside core business hours.

User support

Email or online ticketing support
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support
No
Support levels
Each Bates Group solution is individual and the level of support is dependent on the customer's requirements. Generally our NHS services are supporting critical healthcare solutions and therefore operate on high availability support (24/7/365). We have clients that require very basic support through to critical, high demand organisations that need weekend and night-time support. Support services can be provided according to budget and need with simple 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday, through to 24/7/365. Bates Group ensure that our customers have access to specialist support any time, day or night.

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
QMS
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
21/12/21
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
The Bates ISO27001 accreditation covers all the Bates offices and aspects of our business. We can make our statement of applicability available on request. We have implemented all of the Annex A controls in full.
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
No
Cyber essentials plus
Yes
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
NHS DSPT - https://www.dsptoolkit.nhs.uk/OrganisationSearch/8KK22

Social Value

Social Value

Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

Fighting climate change

Bates IT, as a technology transformation company is ideally poised to support our customers in moving to a newer, greener way of working. Our design methodologies now take consideration for environmental issues and we champion processes and practices that decrease the impact of our work on the environment. For example, a large part of our support services focus on extending the life of products by favouring a “fix first” approach. This has dramatically lowered the replacement rate of devices (lowering overall demand for new devices). The fix first approach also decreases e-waste and prolongs the period of time until a product become waste. When it is time to retire products Bates recycles and reuses wherever possible and ensures that waste is handled according to standards that recognise the environmental impact of e-waste.

Within our organisation we are continually looking to improve the operation of our organisation to lessen our environmental impact. To quantify these internal improvements, we have joined the Ecovardis certification programme and have obtained a silver medal to date. We are looking to push this top a gold medal in the coming years by adopting major transformations such as the electrification of our fleet vehicles. Bates have also signed a 5-year contract with EcoAct to support our move to net zero in line with government target despite this mandate not applying to Bates. To ensure we can continue to support major service providers and the government Bates are committed to meeting standards in excess of those required by law.

Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

Covid-19 recovery

Throughout the COVID pandemic, Bates were proud to support the national challenge to fight the virus. This included supporting the Nightingale Hospitals. We were extremely happy to be chosen by NHS England along with ATOS to support vaccine centres and work with Buyer's still on mitigating the impacts of covid. We will always commit our full efforts wherever required to our customers to ensure they can continue to operate safely and recover from the operational, financial, and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moving forward, we are happy to discuss supporting readiness efforts as part of a holistic pandemic planning solution an support wherever possible any opportunities to mitigate the impacts of covid through technology and improved connectivity for Buyers and the wider public. Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

Equal opportunity

Bates understands that to reach its targets and to support our customers through difficult transformations we require a happy team operating in a fair and transparent workplace. To achieve this we have adopted an internal policy framework centred on wellbeing and setting clear expectations and high standards with respect to inequality and fair treatment. We maintain regularly reviewed policies that include Stress at Work, Ethics, Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety, and Human Rights. Within these, and other documents, Bates trains its staff accordingly to ensure that we build a culture of tolerance and support. Key to this concept is the equality of opportunity that ensures that all employees irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, and any other characteristic is in any way hindered in their ability to achieve the same as any other employee. This policy, which is too detailed to fully describe here, covers people from pre-employment during their recruitment through their entire working life at Bates until they leave. The policy applies at all levels and ensures there are no double standards within our organisation structure. Bates categorically reject and will use its full powers to take necessary action where discrimination either overtly or by policy impinges on the equality of our employees.

Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

Wellbeing

As with the equality of opportunity that we provide we have specific policies for ensuring wellbeing of our staff. This became all to apparent during the pandemic where we had to develop new ways of working and means of accommodating our staff in ways we have never had to before.
Mental health and stress in the work environment are unquestionably challenges that are growing in all areas of life and Bates have taken this very seriously. We have adopted a Stress at Work Policy and offer our staff the support and services they need in the workplace to ensure the are mentally fit and well to work. We operate a personalised HR service that seeks to understand the unique challenges of each employee and provide them support in ways that best suit their needs.
To ensure that the message about mental health can also be spread to more people Bates have chosen mental health charity “Heads On” to support as part of our programme of charitable donations. We hope that our donation can help other get support for mental health wellbeing as a result.

Bates understand that Buyer’s may have their own specific social value goals and a social value plan (as required by the Social Value Model). We will work with any Buyer on their respective goals and provide appropriate support and social value commitments upon clarification.

Pricing

Price
£315 to £1,600 a unit a day
Discount for educational organisations
No

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at Chris.Fuller@Bates-Group.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.