There are opportunities in local government for IT managers to move
on to the board as local councils grapple with implementing the
chancellor's Efficiency Review
For New Labour to fulfil its spending promises without raising
taxes, public sector IT managers must pull off a neat trick.
Last year, chancellor Gordon Brown announced a target of 2.5%
efficiency savings across the public sector, which means central
and local government departments must provide more services with
less money.
Key to this productivity gain will be the effective use of IT,
according to council IT managers' group Socitm. Socitm members will
be at the heart of an efficiency drive, both by improving back-end
processes and allowing the public to serve themselves on public
sector websites.
This brings responsibility and new opportunities to enhance their
status within their organisation, Socitm said in a report, E is for
efficiency - an analysis of the ICT contribution to the Efficiency
Review, published last week.
"The efficiency programme brings with it one clear opportunity for
our members. Recognition of the strategic significance of IT
supports the argument for a chief information officer role at the
head of the service in each local authority," the report
said.
"This is clearly a career opportunity for the head of IT, bringing
with it the possibility of a more strategic role and a place at the
'top table'."
Angela Waite, chair of Socitm's performance management group, and
head of ICT at Canterbury City Council, said public sector IT
managers must continue to develop the skills they have learnt
during the e-government programme if they are to deliver on the
government's efficiency drive.
She said, "Heads of IT need to be more business aware rather than
focusing on the technological aspects of the requirements. They
need to understand the full range of services councils
offer."
IT managers can convince business units they can help with the
efficiency review by offering proven services that help them
achieve their goals, Waite said.
"In Canterbury we put a benefits calculator on the council's
website. Before this was available, people would have to visit
benefits offices and fill in forms to see what they were entitled
to. Since we have put the calculator on the web, feedback has shown
that it is easy to use, saving time for customers and council
staff. It is a simple piece of software and both sides
benefit."
Waite said IT could also improve efficiency in back-office
processes. Mobile working could create significant efficiency gains
for many council workers who spend a lot of time out of the office.
This could apply to environmental health officers and social
workers and would bring the usual benefits associated with mobile
working - allowing staff to access more council information outside
the office, which will mean fewer visits back to the office and
removing the need to re-key information once back at base.
But to use mobile technology effectively in the public sector, IT
managers must understand the complexity of the working patterns of
each professional group before they hand out laptops, said
Socitm.
"In the past IT managers would provide a big computer in a room and
give people access to it. Now they need to understand how the
business works in the front and back office," said Waite.
For IT to deliver on its promise, local authorities must adopt a
"corporate approach" to the government's efficiency drive,
according to the Socitm report. This means leadership from the very
top of an authority, with corporate planning disseminating
information through the organisation.
"The IT manager will need to ensure that the corporate timetable is
tied in to realistic plans to develop the IT infrastructure," the
report said.
"There will be some authorities that do not recognise the
efficiency programme in this way. They may treat it as a separate
corporate initiative, or as one that can be devolved to individual
service units. The head of IT should, in all cases, attempt to
bring a corporate overview to the planning process."
Although this may seem a daunting task, Waite is convinced the
experience of the e-government programme will boost IT managers in
their effort to improve efficiency.
"IT managers have always been there to try to improve services and
the efficiency review is just the next stage. It is not a poisoned
chalice but an opportunity to find ways of using technology to
improve the service. We have been agents for change before," said
Waite.
With the e-government national projects drawing to a close at the
end of this year, IT managers can use projects with proven business
cases that will improve efficiency, Waite said. This should help
them provide quick returns from investment to bring business units
round to the idea that IT is core to the efficiency review.
Measuring IT
Socitm is to publish a series of case studies to show how IT can
help local authorities make efficiency gains. The case studies, due
to be published later this month, are part of Socitm's e2Government
initiative which analyses the role IT can play in helping the
government meet its target for efficiency.
"The Gershon Report recognises that there has been significant
investment right across the public sector in the implementation of
new ways of delivering information and services, including the
£675m Local Government Online (LGOL) programme in England," said
Socitm.