IT managers association urges public sector bosses to
raise their profile.
With Tony Blair's e-government agenda gathering pace, IT has
rarely enjoyed a higher political profile. Yet the role of IT
management in the public sector is hardly seen as influential or
prestigious. The Society of IT Management, the organisation that
represents local government IT managers, hopes to change this
situation.
As councils rush to get services online in time to meet the 2005
target, Socitm is putting its weight behind ambitious training
projects intended to raise the profile of its members.
IT managers and directors have sometimes struggled to gain a place
on the board, or other leadership positions in government. Far from
being seen as a core part of a council's business, IT has often
been perceived as an add-on or a cost centre.
While the internet and e-commerce have started to change the way
that businesses perceive technology, local government IT managers
are still struggling to win a seat at the top tables of their
organisations.
For this reason, newly elected Socitm president Fahri Zihni has
vowed to boost the profile of the IT profession at a national level
during the coming year. He said Socitm is currently in consultation
with the British Computer Society, E-Skills UK, Intellect and the
Worshipful Company of Information Technologists to set up a joint
programme of action to raise the profile of local government IT
professionals.
"This is a national issue because the profile of the IT profession
is low compared with the likes of accountancy and the legal
profession," he said.
But working with other high-profile organisations to present a
unified front is only part of the story; Socitm believes that
education is key to placing IT managers in the driving seat of
local government.
A recent report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which
is responsible for overseeing UK e-government, revealed that nearly
three-quarters of councils lack the expertise to develop effective
e-government services.
Zihni, who was formerly Socitm's education secretary, has
identified training as key to placing IT managers at the forefront
of their organisations. With this in mind, the head of IT at
Wolverhampton City Council has been instrumental in developing a
new MBA scheme for local government IT managers.
The Open University programme will be part-funded by Socitm, and
Zihni expects the first students to start their course of study
later this year. "Hopefully the MBA will demonstrate to board
members that IT professionals can be just as good managers and
board members as anybody else," he said.
Socitm also plans to introduce a continuous professional
development scheme, which will be available to all the society's
full and associate members. By receiving points for activities such
as attending courses, IT professionals will be able to prove that
they are keeping up to date with the latest developments in both
technology and local government.
"The continuous professional development scheme is a concept that
is well understood by many professions - it makes it clear to the
hierarchy that we are professionals and we are developing our
skills," Zihni said.
Former Socitm president Robin Carsberg said schemes to boost the
profile of the IT profession have been thin on the ground in the
past few years. "There have been a couple of welcome initiatives,
such as secondments, where IT managers have gone into the Office of
the Deputy Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office, but I am not
aware of many initiatives of this [professional development] type,"
he said.
Carsberg, now an IT consultant, said the scheme is good news for IT
managers at a time when e-government is at the heart of service
delivery. "A lot of councils now have IT [represented] as a major
board member but there is always work to be done, and that is where
the CPD links in." The continuous professional development scheme
reviews academic and technical skills that council IT staff need to
deliver e-government, he added.
Local government IT managers have welcomed Socitm's attempts to
raise the profile of the profession through education. Joe Daniels,
community information manager at Knowsley Metropolitan Borough
Council, said, "Anything that keeps the level of skills current
with the requirements and technologies of the day has to be useful
to us."
However, Daniels said some authorities, including Knowsley, are
already working to keep their IT staff up to date with the latest
skills. He said, "We already have an MBA scheme and all our IT
staff have qualified for the European computer driving
licence."
Meeting the 2005 e-government target could be much more than just a
headache for local government IT managers. It also presents an
opportunity for them to move to the forefront of how their councils
operate. "The modernisation requirements of local authorities and
government departments have increased the reliance on IT managers
and pushed them into a more influential position," said
Daniels.
The government is planning a programme to help all council staff,
including IT managers, to meet the needs of the e-government
agenda. A spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
promised that more details on the initiative will be announced
later in the spring, and confirmed that the department is liaising
with top public sector bodies.
"We are working with Socitm, the Society of Local Authority Chief
Executives and the Improvement and Development Agency to build a
support and capacity function to help all council managers, elected
members and officers to meet the challenge of the e-government
agenda," he said.
Skills and training are likely to be high on the agenda at
Socitim's spring seminar, which takes place in Essex today (29
April).
The run-up to 2005, although it promises to be a hectic period for
council IT departments, could also present an opportunity for
managers to boost their skills and move into the limelight.
Carsberg said, "There is no doubt that the development of
e-government and e-government strategies has given the IT manager
an opportunity to become more centre stage."
