Press Release
Competition for secure IL2 cloud collaboration services through the G-Cloud CloudStore increases as Kahootz.com receives Pan Government Accreditation (PGA) from the UK Cabinet Office and CESG, the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance.
INOVEM Ltd has today revealed that it has been awarded security accreditation to Impact Level 2 (IL2) for Kahootz.com, a well-respected cloud collaboration service used throughout the public sector. This announcement follows on from the recent IL2 accreditation of both Microsoft Office 365 and Huddle, further increasing the selection of pre-accredited secure cloud collaboration services available from the UK Government’s innovative CloudStore.
Kahootz is an agile collaboration tool that can be purposed to support a wide range of public sector team activities such as Gateway Reviews, Shared Services, Project Extranets, Service Commissioning, Policy Development or even Enterprise Intranets. Overcoming the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach of some cloud content collaboration solutions, the service is designed to empower users to innovate around how they want to collaborate, without the expense of additional ICT consultancy services.
As such, Kahootz sits alongside the other IL2 offerings, providing CloudStore shoppers with a range of secure cloud collaboration services to choose from. With a long history of providing a service that is flexible, affordable, easy to use and well supported, Kahootz is extremely well positioned to aggressively compete for, and win, new public sector IL2 cloud collaboration business.
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@Kahootz NEWS: It’s official, your data is protected when you’re in Kahootz! #CloudStore
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IL2 accreditation makes shopping for #cloud #collaboration via the #GCloud #CloudStore safeguarded
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Your data is protected when you are in @Kahootz as well as when you are in a @Huddle
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Denise McDonagh, G-Cloud Director said: “We want to make it easier for all cloud service providers, irrespective of their size, to gain security certification and compete for UK public sector business. The Cloud PGA process has been designed to specifically do this, and already SMEs account for two-thirds of sales through CloudStore. As more providers are accredited, the resulting increase in competition will only help improve the quality, value and innovation of solutions on offer to the public sector.”
Peter Jackson, Chief Technology Officer for Kahootz.com said, “Achieving IL2 Pan Government Accreditation is a huge stamp of approval for our company, our service and the hard work of our staff. Although our software had been independently tested to the satisfaction of a variety of government departments over the last decade, the level of additional scrutiny required for wider Pan Government Accreditation has helped us to improve and officially substantiate the quality of the service we are able to offer our clients in both the public and private sectors.”
With regard to how the G-Cloud programme can help small companies achieve accreditation Peter added “We were really impressed by the depth and scope of the independent IT Health Check that was performed. I hope that other SMEs take encouragement from our accreditation and seek to have their cloud services and business procedures evaluated. The G-Cloud programme has really helped to transform our company and has put us into a much better position to compete for new business, in the UK and overseas.”
Kahootz (IL2) will benefit a wide range of public sector services by giving them peace of mind regarding how their data is securely stored, managed, processed and transmitted.
Andrew Fenton, Associate Director for Commissioning Support, NHS Central Southern Commissioning Support Unit:
“Cloud based services like Kahootz provide an attractive option for organisations like NHS commissioning support units, to support collaboration across a wide geographic organisation and with multiple stakeholders. The additional level of security accreditation is an important feature for the management of key corporate and commercial information. As a user of Kahootz collaboration service currently, it’s good to see this accreditation being awarded for use across government, and available via the G-Cloud framework.”
Stephen Foston, Community Safety Interconnect UK LLP:
“Due to the nature of our work, the security of any information exchanges within the community safety arena is of paramount concern to local partnerships and their practitioners. The newly elected Police and Crime Commissioners together with their local crime reduction partnerships need to share information across Police forces, Probation trusts, Local Authorities, NHS Agencies, registered social landlords and other cooperating bodies such as neighbourhood watch, victim support, etc. The Kahootz IL2 accredited service will help us to involve all these stakeholders knowing that their content and communications are safe and secure.”
Kahootz has already been purchased via the G-Cloud by HM Prison Service (MoJ), Dept. Work & Pensions, Invest Northern Ireland, NHS Central Southern Commissioning Support Unit, London Cancer Alliance, Devon County Council, Havant Borough Council and East Hampshire District Council.
About IL2
The Impact Level (IL), reflects the confidentiality of information managed in the service. IL2 is also known as PROTECT and it includes personal information. The Impact Levels are defined by the Cabinet Office and CESG, the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance for UK Government. Further information on Impact Levels can be found here >>