Leicester, UK - June 1st 2012 - Suffolk County Council has used the Government G-Cloud Cloudstore to select Jadu, a leading web experience management vendor, for delivery of the Council’s mobile app platform.

Suffolk County Council has used the Government’s new ‘Cloudstore’ to purchase a subscription to Jadu’s ‘Weejot’ mobile app publishing network. Weejot enables enterprise organisations in Government, Higher Education and Business to deploy and deliver apps to mobile devices.

With Weejot, Suffolk County Council will be able to develop and deploy mobile apps rapidly and in real-time using basic web development skills or non technical skills. Rather than depending on native application stores, such as Apple’s App Store or Google’s MarketPlace, Weejot will provide capability for the council to leverage its content and data from its existing systems to publish apps to mobile devices.

“We’re looking to make a step change in how we service our customers and mobile is fast becoming the defacto standard for accessing services - we want to respond to that,” says Mark Adams-Wright, CIO at Suffolk County Council. “We researched the market for mobile apps extensively, and needed something sustainable, secure and easy to use. Weejot fitted our needs very well. It’s easy to create and deploy new apps and connect to content and data systems - above all, it’s available for all mobile devices and tablets. Add that to the fact that it’s a cloud based service and easy to purchase on the G-Cloud, we think it’s a winning platform for modern Government services.”

The Government Procurement Service has recently launched its second iteration of the G-Cloud Cloudstore, providing better tools for searching and purchasing cloud products such as Weejot.

"Suffolk County Council's purchase of Jadu's Weejot mobile product through the G-Cloud, is a clear indicator of how Cloudstore can demonstrate savings for Government and enable rapid delivery of new and emerging technology, such as mobile," says Denise McDonagh, G-Cloud Programme Director.

“It was easy for us to subscribe to the service,” says Duncan Farley, IT Project Manager for Suffolk County Council. “Procuring this Software as a Service through the G-Cloud framework has enabled us to significantly reduce procurement costs and will allow us to improve the way in which County Council services can be accessed.”

Weejot has been implemented by a number of major Government organisations, more recently by South Lanarkshire Council. However, Suffolk will be first to use the Weejot SDK (Software Development Kit) to experiment with developing custom made apps specifically for the Council’s customers.

The Council will develop a number of Weejot ‘AppTemplates’, which allow non-technical users to use pre-fabricated software templates to build mobile apps. Users simply create icons for their apps, add settings and content and upload them to the network. Mobile apps can be delivered to devices instantly.

“We designed Weejot specifically for both non-technical users to build mobile apps and developers to create their own AppTemplates,” says Suraj Kika, CEO of Jadu. “Weejot is a step change in how mobile applications are created. We want to free developers from App Stores and open up the enterprise mobile web to use web standards. We are thrilled that Suffolk County Council will be using Weejot for their mobile channel.”

Suffolk County Council plans to research customer needs when deploying mobile apps, ensuring the apps are relevant and change based on current events such as bad weather, school closures as well as providing added value apps for local services.