Discover Tomorrow with Echo-9

Our digital services are delivered by experienced professionals who understand the unique challenges and priorities of the Public Sector, HE/FE, Schools, Charities, and Non-Profit organisations

Whether you're a Local Authority, Charity, University, College, School, Local or Government Department our team is here to help you adopt the right technologies, embed best practices, and maximise your organisation’s impact. 

 

Professional--Trusted--Open--Secure

What We Offer

Echo-9 Shared Services empowers the public, charity and non-profit sectors with cost-effective, scalable digital solutions tailored to sector needs. At Echo-9, we help organisations unlock the full potential of open-source technology securely, reliably, and collaboratively.

We understand the concerns around efficiency, availability, compliance, and security, which is why our platforms are built to meet UK public sector shared service design principles:

  • Accountable Leadership
  • Taking People with You
  • Service Excellence
  • Transformation and Continuous Improvement
  • Adopt not Adapt
  • We ensure compliance with Cyber Security, GDPR and Accessibility regulations. Our solutions are backed by robust support, transparent governance, and a commitment to long-term sustainability.

    As a member-owned shared service, Echo-9 is more than a provider we’re a community. Our members share common values, goals, and challenges, working together to co-design digital services that deliver real public value. Through joint procurement, shared infrastructure, and open collaboration, we reduce costs, avoid duplication, and accelerate innovation.

    We offer hosting solutions in our secure cloud or in your existing cloud, ensuring data sovereignty and audit-ready transparency. With a focus on collaboration, flexibility, and long-term sustainability, Echo-9 helps organisations modernise operations without vendor lock-in.

    Join Echo-9 and be part of a trusted network where we balance the openness and flexibility of open-source with the rigour, compliance, and assurances required by public bodies. Strong governance, proactive security, and a commitment to long-term sustainability.

    Our 7 Stage Open Source Validation Process

    1. Compliance & Regulation
      1. Security Standards: Must meet frameworks like ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus, NIST, CIS Benchmarks
      2. Data Protection: Ensure compliance with GDPR around data sovereignty, retention, and processing.
      3. Accessibility: Services should meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility requirements.
      4. Procurement Compliance: Achieve Procurement Act 2023 benchmark for "horizontal cooperation".
    2. Security & Trust
      1. Supply Chain Assurance: Open-source components must be vetted for vulnerabilities, with a clear patching and upgrade process.
      2. Audit Trails: Provide logging, monitoring, and accountability features.
      3. Transparency: Security hardening, penetration testing, and documented risk management.
    3. Support & Sustainability
      1. Long-Term Support (LTS): Ensure chosen open-source projects have active communities or commercial backing.
      2. Exit Strategy: Solutions can be handed over or maintained without vendor lock-in.
      3. Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Defined & clear response/resolution times for incidents.
    4. Interoperability & Standards
      1. Open Standards: Must integrate with other platforms, APIs, and data formats (e.g., ODF, JSON, REST/GraphQL, SAML, OIDC).
      2. Legacy Integration: Ensure migration and interoperability strategies are available.
      3. Federated Identity: Require integration with existing authentication (e.g., Active Directory, LDAP, GOV.UK One Login, eIDAS, Shibboleth).
    5. Governance & Transparency
      1. Code Provenance: Document open-source components origin and licensing terms.
      2. Licensing: Ensure compliance with GPL, AGPL, MIT, Apache, etc. Ensure licences pose no challenges for public deployments.
      3. Community Contribution: Open for contribution back to open-source projects to sustain them.
    6. Cost & Value Proposition
      1. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Open-source isn’t “free” Identify costs of integration, security, support, and training.
      2. Value for Money: Demonstrable ROI and efficiency no lock-in.
      3. Scalability: Ensure solutions can scale across multiple organisation units/departments.
    7. User-Centric Delivery
      1. Service Design: Follow Government Digital Service (GDS) standards: user research, iterative design, agile delivery.
      2. Documentation & Training: Provide materials for technical and non-technical staff.
      3. Change Management: Change barrier is manageable through training/communication to ensure cultural adoption support.

    Expert Digital Solutions

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