The Ministry of Defence should expand its
technology expertise and coordinate management in order to
facilitate business change, according to a BCS debate.
The BCS Hot Topics security debate aimed to confront the
challenges of implementing an enterprise approach to information
services in the defence industry.
The organisational systems in place at
the Ministry of Defence have to constantly evolve to respond to
new challenges and the various issues that surround providing
support for mobile users.
The Ministry of Defence has recognised that good information
architecture, supported by the appropriate people and processes, is
needed in order to achieve an environment for effective
communications.
A panel of experts from industry and defence felt that
self-imposed boundaries and segregated groups within the Ministry
of Defence were affecting its ability to operate effectively.
Good communication is critical in making any enterprise approach
work, but many participants felt that military organisations are
typically very bad at inter-departmental communication and that
they suffer as a result.
The Ministry of Defence is good at operating within its
segregated groups - no longer just army, navy and air force but now
logistics, acquisitions, HR, etc, - but is bad at communicating
between these sections, the debate heard.
Joined-up enterprise thinking in the defence industry is not
merely an option: it has been demonstrated that it is essential.
One of the things that has to be overcome, apart from the exclusive
focus on IT, is a culture of cynicism. This is based on the
historical failure of IT programmes of all shapes and sizes.
Management also has to be able to communicate its
enterprise-level beliefs across the whole organisation, not only to
the board, said debate participants.
So what can the Ministry of Defence and other organisations with
similar problems do? Enterprise management by stealth, perhaps?
A number of small organisations supporting the Ministry of
Defence are quietly driving enterprise approaches forwards within
the areas of logistics, operations, etc. With a set of common tools
and approaches, they are pushing for changes in the
organisation.
If successful, this plan may just achieve the joined-up
enterprise thinking that the Ministry of Defence needs without
giving the appearance of big changes in the organisation.
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