Selects Sostenuto to support centralised IT following major restructure

Chessington, 27 March 2009. Arts Council England, the national development agency for the arts, has adopted IT service management platform Sostenuto, by Sunrise Software. The software will help the Arts Council improve IT services across the organisation, following a major reorganisation earlier this year.

The restructure of the Arts Council has brought together previously disparate departments, which are now serviced by a single IT team. The new IT team has implemented Sostenuto to enable the organisation to become ITIL compatible. The software will power a centralised service desk, operating from the Arts Council Service Centre in Manchester, which will provide IT support for 650 staff.

“Centralising IT after such a major restructure is not for the faint hearted,” said Owen Powell, IT director at the Arts Council. “However, with the right technology and a proven methodology underpinning it, I’m confident we’ll be successful.”

Powell described his reasons for selecting the software: “Sostenuto hit the mark because it’s easy to use, cost effective and ITIL compatible. But what sets it apart is its flexibility. We can make amendments to the system ourselves, without the need for expensive consultancy.”

Tom Weston, executive chairman at Sunrise Software, commented: “Sostenuto will not only enable the Arts Council to handle IT queries from across the country efficiently and successfully, but will also enable it to implement best practice in IT through the ITIL framework.”

Having just launched the new ITIL-based support service for the Arts Council, Powell plans to focus initially on incident and problem management, before expanding into further areas of ITIL.