Local authority IT departments are a great place to work if
you are an IT professional looking to pick up a wide range of
skills, according to officials at the Society of IT
Management.
Speaking at Socitm's spring seminar in Essex last week, Fahri
Zihni, the society's new president, said, "IT is a good place to
work because it is such a broad industry. There are many different
types of skills, whether they be programming, sales or
strategy."
Zihni, the head of IT at Wolverhampton City Council, added that
local government is responsible for delivering some 750 services,
ranging from planning to schools. "There is no company that can
provide the same range of services as offered by local government,"
he said.
Councils are currently working towards the government's 2005
deadline for delivering services electronically, which has helped
push IT departments to the forefront of local government.
Outgoing Socitm president Jim Haslem said, "It has been clear for
some time that IT is at the centre of the change agenda in local
government.
"Service managers, senior managers and political leaders have fully
acknowledged the importance of IT in making the changes government
and the local community want."
Haslem, who is head of IT in the London borough of Bromley, said IT
professionals are also shaking off their reputation as backroom
boys. "In the past 18 months, a lot of the traditional barriers to
how IT is perceived have just fallen away," he said.
Socitm recently produced research which highlighted the link
between effective IT and excellence in local government. The
society's study compared the government's comprehensive performance
assessment of local authorities in England with previous reviews of
councils' IT, such as the Best Value inspection programme.
It found that councils with an "above par" Best Value rating for IT
are more likely to receive an "excellent" or "good" comprehensive
performance assessment.
Socitm's research also revealed that those councils with a "below
par" IT service have a 50% chance of a "weak" or "poor"
assessment.
Zihni said, "I think this is the most challenging time to be
working in local government - IT has the power to radically improve
services."