Efficiency and security are the issues that top local
government IT chiefs' agendas in 2008, according toSocitm.
The Society of Information Management's annual
IT Trends 2007 survey also showed that IT spending is forecast
to increase by 9% to £3bn following a fall in spending last
year.
Many local authorities are focusing on the need to increase
efficiency in the face of a tighter financial climate, and
according to Socitm, and IT is set to play a key role.
The Society said IT is well placed to help alleviate pressure
placed on councils by the
Comprehensive Spending Review 2007. The "toughest financial
settlement in years" means local authorities need greater
efficiency and Socitm reports that "ICT functions are in fact well
set up for this task".
IT leaders see business process re-engineering and partnership
working as the best strategies, followed by channel switching and
shared services.
However the survey suggests that many organisations are still
insufficiently focused on using IT to improve business
performance.
Security was also top of the agenda, with IT leaders showing a
growing awareness of the implications of security failures.
Organisations identified over 180 security concerns - from careless
use of passwords to data centre disasters - and the cost of
securing information held on local government computers has
dramatically increased.
John Serle, editor of the report, said, "Traditional concerns of
ICT management, such as choosing the right technologies, supplier
management and staff recruitment and retention, have become less
important in recent years. Efficiency, shared services and benefits
realisation are the new buzzwords. It's also encouraging to see
that notwithstanding an overall more difficult financial climate in
local government, ICT functions have more resources in 2007/08 than
they had one year ago."