The Dutch government is expecting to save £35m
a year as a result of an IT
benchmarking exercise it has completed.
Metri Measurement Consulting was commissioned by the Dutch
government to look at the ICT operations of its ministries.
The study has involved 12 ministries, including justice,
defence, economics, education, employment and social affairs, with
the final phase to encompass the Department of Agriculture.
The aim of the study was to enable top management to gain a
better view of government IT across the board. The government also
wanted to put in place systems that would provide more centralised
IT control, while integrating a diverse range of ministry and
departmental infrastructures.
Peter Vermeij, deputy secretary general of the Dutch Ministry of
Economic Affairs, said, “Metri looked at the quality of processes,
results and outcomes, as well as cost and performance.”
The first phase of the year-long exercise saw the Dutch
government look at strategies for standardising and centrally
provisioning its 15,000-unit desktop environment, called ‘The
Global Desktop’.
The project also called for an examination of the government’s
overall IT infrastructures, including front-to-back office and
inter-departmental connectivity.
Part of this task was to identify where performance gains and
economies of scale could be won through rationalising processes
like document management into regional service hubs.
The conclusion from the benchmarks was that the Dutch government
was operating somewhere in the middle of the market when it came to
performance and cost.
Vermeij said, “The study has given us an excellent insight into
the costs we incur and how to negotiate more keenly with
suppliers.”
On the Global Desktop project alone, Metri has helped identify
over £35m a year in savings through organisational restructuring,
reducing the number of PCs and consolidating technical support into
a central hub.
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