IT project ty bites
it’s got to be about the user. IT and technology is the fourth question you should be asking. The fi rst are ‘how do we make the user needs better?’ ‘When can this be done?’ And ‘how quickly can this be done?’ The savings we’ve already shown can be absolutely huge. These are radically changing the spending profi les that we have both inside and outside government.”
In December 2012, Bracken says, the publication of department’ digital strategies will be as much about changes in skills, capabilities, process and thinking within government as they are about technology. “What we’re hoping to see in December is a much more
improved level of ambition statement from departments and that gives us the next two years to go and execute on those transactions. But we will not succeed if the framework of our thinking is technology-led. We’ve got to think about how we change processes and culture.”
Bracken insists he will not be speaking to departments’ CIOs as much as to their digital leaders.
“One of the most unheralded things that we’ve had to do is to write to all departments asking them to nominate a board member who is the digital leader for that department. They are the people who hold the digital agenda in each department. And in six or seven of the major transactional departments those digital leaders are absolutely crucial because they are holding that ambition statement. And you’re going to see and hear a lot more about them in the next year or two.”
But, he insisted, that CIOs had a key role to play. “If I was a CIO in the public sector right now, I can’t think of a better place to be. The defi nition of a CIO is someone who, using business information, adds value to that business and helps drive it. If you truly are a CIO and you understand
technology, and have the business information to hand, that can help drive departments to make decisions, then you’re in a profoundly interesting place because as we enter this new world, the CIO should be the person who is leading that change and I would support every one of them who wants to do that,” he said. “Sometimes the role of the CIO is actually that of the chief technology offi cer, people who are looking at technology leadership functions, and actually, it’s not one and the same. We’ve actually got to redefi ne some of our nomenclature around technology. But for those CIOs who are interested in leading data and business change in government, there couldn’t be a better time to be here right now.” According to the government, the ‘size of the prize’
from bringing transactional services offered by central government online is considerable. Between £1.7 billion and £1.8 billion could be realised as total annual savings to the government and service users. The savings made from greater digitisation of transactions, including their back-end processes, can be achieved whilst maintaining and ultimately improving service quality. Savings, the report says, are likely to come from four key
areas: the reduced staff time involved in processing digital transactions compared to offl ine alternatives; estates and accommodation; postage, packaging and materials; and the costs of supporting IT systems. The government has already saved £300m over 10 months by stopping or reducing spend on ‘low value’ ICT projects, Cabinet Offi ce minister Francis Maude has claimed. He said that the savings had been independently audited and were achieved by applying greater scrutiny to the government’s ICT expenditure. A further £150m was achieved through halting spending on major projects.
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