TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT 123
The museum first opened in 1759 under the name Montague House
Th is ease of access would improve relations and make way for collaboration between institutions. If research goes well, the British Museum would effectively have a museum on the web, available worldwide. Clift believes that this is something perhaps a lot of museums are beginning to look at, but states “the BM has got there a little bit earlier than some.” This idea of shared services is already in practice at the museum, with heads of IS at many of the national museums and galleries meeting on a regular basis. The meetings open up a forum for discussion of what shared services they can operate between each other. In the last meeting, Clift says, the issue of shared services featured high on the agenda. “We have identified the services we currently do share, areas that are of interest to us in the short-to-medium term and then areas which will be of interest in the long term.” Areas such as cloud computing, for example, which, Clift explains, would help “reduce costs, improve services and speed of delivery of service.” Some joint ventures the BM has already participated in include training, workshops and visits. These, according to Clift, have been pretty successful. “The added benefit is that colleagues from different museums get to network with each other,” she says. “Many of the museums have hosted site visits or workshops of various technical aspects where they have particular expertise.” The BM hosted a workshop on DCI as they were ‘further ahead’ than other museums, and is also hoping to host a workshop of process and modelling. “We hope to do that in the near future. We are also briefing each other on our procurements so we can do joint procurement in the future to bring down costs,” says Clift. Working with other museums provides an insight into how fellow institutions are organised, but Clift explains she’s not so influenced by them. “Each museum is quite different; our collection is a particular type of collection, so what we use has to be different to say, the Maritime Museum or the Science Museum. I think it’s really important that the technology supports the interpretation of the collection. I am actually quite influenced by the travel and leisure industry as a lot of what we do is about how you give information to people and also how you create ease of access.” To enhance this ease, the BM has implemented a ‘fast-track’ scheme for members of the museum using enhanced technology, making it easier for them to get tickets for the museum exhibitions.
Planning for the future Despite the technological expansion and development at the BM, the economic climate has not passed museums and art galleries by. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has announced cuts of 15 percent for all national museums, after having its budget cut from £1.4 billion (€1.65 billion) to £1.1 billion (€1.3 billion) over the next four years. The Arts Council’s budget was cut by almost 30 percent. The 26.6 percent cut will reduce the current grant of £449 million (€530 million) to £349 million (€412 million) by 2014. National Museums will take a cut of 15 percent but will remain free for visitors, and the government will allow
Jane Clift - British Museum.indd 123
them to access their reserves to a total of £143 million (€169 million) over the next four years. Neil MacGregor, the director at the British Museum said at the time: “We are pleased that Jeremy Hunt [the secretary of state for culture] and Ed Vaizey [shadow minister for culture] have recognised the unique role museums play in the world today and reaffi rmed their support of free admission. We are also particularly encouraged that they have reconfi rmed the government’s support of the British Museum’s planned new World Conservation and Exhibition Centre, a crucial investment in the British Museum’s future ability to work across the UK and the world.” This has been a focus for the technology teams at BM, as Clift explains. “We’ve already identified and delivered a lot of operational efficiencies in the realm of our IS department. We’ve clamped down on Blackberrys and are looking at telephone call charges. We’ve done some consolidation Telco infrastructure and we’re doing printed consolidation at the moment. These are fairly obvious operational initiatives and our IS staff are very analytical and process-orientated, so they tend to be good at spotting operational efficiencies. When I asked for some suggestions I got a very long list, of which I’m working my way through and turning into a more formal action plan. “One area that we think is very promising is process modelling. A member of the department brought it in and pioneered the production of it, so we see that having huge potential.” Clift explains that the BM team try to deport commercial activities of the museum to increase revenue generation. “We’ve done a lot of work to integrate the membership and the ticketing systems, and also fundraising is very important now so we’re trying to provide support to our development function if they have proposals where there is an IT element.” The museum recently received a grant from the Melon Foundation to enable the first stage of investment into the publishing of the collection using Symantec Web Technology. Clift says that saving costs is not something they take lightly. “We’ve diversified quite a lot; we’re certainly not complacent at all about the current economic situation.” With an expanding collection of millions of fascinating artefacts, housed in a British institution, enhancing technology while saving money could seem a daunting task. Jane Clift reveals that often, it is the innovative ideas of the staff that provide sources for helping towards reducing the national deficit. The changes have, and will be, planned and strategic while the museum continues to build and develop its income generation through philanthropy and commercial enterprise. Clift concludes by emphasising the need for IT departments to take an intuitive approach to become more commercially viable. “I think what’s important to remember is not to just focus on technology, but to focus on what technology can do for your business. You must always do what is helpful or enabling in some way, rather than because it is interesting to you.” ■ For more information on the British Museum, visit www.britishmuseum.org
07/12/2010 13:25