CouncilICT spendingis forecast to increase
by 9% to £3bn in 2007/08, following a fall last year.
Efficiency and security top council IT chiefs' agenda, says the
Socitm IT Trends 2007 report.
The report, based on responses from 470 council IT heads, says
customer relationship management (CRM) is established in most
organisations, but not yet integrated with their back offices.
Staff turnover has also increased dramatically and the use of
consultants continues to rise.
Renewed pressure on public services to achieve efficiency
throughout the organisation, following the
Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 and the toughest financial
settlement in years, should focus attention on ICT as a means of
achieving this goal, says the report.
With the
HM Revenue & Customs data loss debacle still fresh in the
mind, IT Trends 2007 provides data and commentary on security
issues.
Respondent organisations have between them identified over 180
security concerns ranging from careless use of passwords to data
centre disasters.
The cost of securing information held on local government
computers has dramatically increased since 2006, although direct
financial losses reported remain low, the report says.