The National Computing Centre has launched an accreditation
scheme for IT departments which it says they can use to defend
themselves from cost-cutting business managers in the
downturn.
The professional body gave four IT departments accreditations
today as it launched the scheme. Law firm Dickinson Dees,
Lancashire Police Constabulary, Thameside Metropolitan Council, and
North Wales Police were presented with their accreditations at the
NCC annual conference in London today.
Michael Dean, director of advisory services at the NCC, said IT
departments could use the accreditation to justify themselves when
business managers were asking them to make cut-backs.
"IT departments are being squeezed on cost," he said. "And they
are being challenged to do more with less. But if you are in the IT
department and doing a good job, how do you demonstrate that?"
Under the scheme, IT directors perform a self-assessment,
followed by a one-day audit by the NCC and an action plan for
improvements and annual check-ups.
Geoff Bradley, IT director for the North Wales police force,
said the NCC assessment may have only taken one day, but his
department spent three weeks preparing the evidence to show it met
the standards set by the accreditation.
John Shemilt, deputy IT director at Imperial College, said his
department was planning to seek an NCC accreditation because it
would be useful to have an outside assessment of its performance.
"We spend a lot of taxpayers' money. We must make sure we spend it
wisely," he said.
Emma Carruthers, service improvement manager at the Lancashire
Police Constabulary, said it could use the accreditation for
promoting the constabulary's IT services to other police
forces.
Phill Everson, head of IT effectiveness at Deloitte, said IT
executives felt embattled. A Deloitte survey found that 55% of CIOs
are "unclear about what they should be doing" and 71% of business
executives felt the same way about CIOs.