Camden Borough Councilis set to save
£1m a year after reorganising its IT department.
The London Borough employed
Socitm Consulting to help redirect millions of pounds to
frontline services.
Socitm - the Society of Information Technology Management - said
IT services at Camden were previously the most decentralised in the
UK. The council has already saved £600,000 in a year, and expects
to save £1m annually from now on.
Socitm, the
professional association for IT managers working in the public
sector, provides advice and guidance on IT and e-government to
local authorities, and also provides services such as
consulting.
In the past, the society has said that large-scale change in
councils often
comes up against resistance, but local authorities are
increasingly adopting features such as
interactive websites.
The reorganisation involves the merger of three separate service
desks into one, and the consolidation of six separate technology
teams into one.
The council is also looking at its IT procurement, and
ITIL is being implemented. Other changes include server
rationalisation and migration to a
storage area network.
Camden's aim over the next five years is to take £8m to £10m out
of IT operating costs and redirect these at areas of priority.
Socitm's consulting consulting manager, Doug Mclean, said,
"Camden's re-engineering of its IT service is a model for other
local authorities. The vision is for Camden's IT to be enabling and
transformative. The re-structure programme includes methods for
capability and capacity improvements including ITIL service
management, performance management and knowledge management."