Government department saves £ millions by replacing its Palantir IT system with an in-house one
Heartwarming stories like this reinforce how taking public IT infrastructure in-house can be not just an ethical and operational imperative, but also a financially advantageous one - despite what all the big-tech-fanboys like to think.
This, the system behind the Homes for Ukraine scheme which enabled people fleeing the war to find accommodation in the UK, is the perfect example of what all the anti-Palantir campaigners talk about, but actualised.
Palantir did their classic “hey have the system for free….for now” and, guess what, it ended up costing the taxpayer millions. Over £10 million in fact, if I understand this report correctly.
It also wasn’t very good.
…the speed of the deployment meant that it had not carried out the usual testing before it went live, and some local authorities found it confusing to use. …DLUHC has not mandated that local authorities use it, and consequently DLUHC recognises it does not have complete data on some aspects of the scheme.
The system has since been replaced with an in-house one that appears to not only leave the UK that bit less dependent on extremely weird US tech billionaire babies who spend their time publishing offensive manifestos, but also saves a lot of money and is nicer to use.
From the BBC article:
“Longer term, we wanted to replace the platform with a more flexible technology solution, enabling [MHCLG] to save significant support costs, control the system data and code,” Chan wrote.
She added its in-house replacement was “already saving MHCLG millions of pounds a year in running costs”.
MHCLG is the government department in question. Standing for “Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government” if that’s not obvious, which it isn’t.
User reviews are in:
“It’s easier to navigate than the previous system, safeguarding checks are easier to complete and visualise where cases have outstanding issues.”
“it’s a very user-friendly system, much easier to navigate.”
As a former government technology adviser said:
“When given suitable resources the Civil Service can often outperform private companies like Palantir,” the former government technology advisor said.
Eden added MHCLG had created a “better, easier to use, and cheaper” system.
The truth of this seems logically self-evident, but it’s nice to see 1) a concrete example of it being done in the real world, and 2) that the UK can still build good things even within its starved and diminished public sector.
For the most part I still think it would often be worth settling for a lesser IT system if it meant we weren’t dependent on the whims of the ultra-rich foreign agents who dance to the tune of their Britain-hating president.
But the truth is that’s not a choice that we have to make. We can be both less dependent on private agenda-ridden “goodwill” and also have better systems.
More of this please!