The CIO revolution in public sector IT: The next phase

The next few years will be critical in showing the real value of IT in the successful delivery of modern public services but the rhetoric of business and IT alignment has to become a reality. Eric Woods explains why this needs to happen both at the top of government and in individual departments and local authorities.

A key factor in the enhanced IT capability of the public sector in recent years has been the recognition of the importance of the CIO role in both central and local government. This has not just been a question of individual leadership but also of the wider recognition of the importance of professional standards in the delivery of IT. CIOs have also led the way in helping politicians and business leaders understand the implication of IT-enabled change in the public sector.

Recent conversations with a number of CIOs and IT managers, however, suggest that we are at a critical point in the relationship between IT and the business leadership in the public sector. In many ways the ball has now moved into the court of the politicians and management boards - as CIOs look for support across the business in order to realise the full benefits of IT investment.

Trust in that leadership is based on their ability to deliver the 'daily miracle', as one public sector CIO calls it, of mission-critical, high-reliability, large-volume and very visible IT services to the public sector.

So how can we ensure that across the business and political leadership of the public sector there is a proper understanding of (and commitment to) the role of IT in the transformation of service delivery?

I believe we need to see both a top-down and a bottom-up approach. That is to say we need to see support in terms of the overall government vision for IT and service transformation but also practical developments on the ground in terms of how the IT function (and the CIO) fit with the rest of the business.

In terms of the overall government strategy, Sir David Varney's report on service transformation is a vital component. His report offers a potential bridge between the investment in IT modernisation and the need for business change driven from the very top of government. Importantly, it is not an abstract call for better services or improved use of technology. The fact that it lays out specific actions in areas such as customer care, identity management and cross-departmental working means it offers a litmus test on the new government's attitude to business transformation.

It was encouraging therefore to see Gordon Brown appoint Varney as his adviser on public service transformation. The scope of his new role is impressive and will include advising the Prime Minister on all aspects of service delivery transformation and the implementation of his report recommendations. He will also work closely with relevant ministers and the senior leadership of the civil service, in particular Alexis Cleveland, the new director general of service transformation at the Cabinet Office. This augurs well for the sort of cross-agency, collaborative priorities that we need to see emerging from the Comprehensive Spending Review.

However, while it is important to see continued impetus behind service transformation at the highest levels of government, the nitty-gritty of transformation still has to be worked out within individual public sector organisations.

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It is essential of course that the CIO has first proven their competency and leadership in delivering core IT capabilities. Trust in that leadership is based on their ability to deliver the 'daily miracle', as one public sector CIO calls it, of mission-critical, high-reliability, large-volume and very visible IT services to the public sector. This requires that the CIO has a capable and professional IT team behind him or her and an effective supplier management programme. But he or she must also have the capacity to engage in more forward-thinking discussions about how ICT can enable and support the organisation to achieve its broader mission.

Such qualities are indispensable for the modern public sector CIO. But this still leaves the challenge of finding ways to engage other business leaders if IT is to be correctly appraised, supported and exploited across a public sector organisation.

An approach being followed by a number of CIOs is to seek a much stronger influence on investment decisions for all business change programmes. This helps to associate IT not just with the heavy-lifting of providing reliable performance but also with the innovative, strategic use of technology for improved service. It is also a step towards including the relevant business executives in the process of accountability for the performance of those investment initiatives. It may also prevent IT becoming the scapegoat for a broader management failure - as is so often the case in both private and public sector.

A standard process for the approval and management of all business change programmes is thus becoming more common in both central and local government. IT issues are embedded in this process from the beginning and the investment decisions are clearly seen as the responsibility of the business as a whole. There are many flavours to this approach but there are also some fundamentals elements, including:

• A simple, streamlined, process is applied for all business investment proposals (no special process for 'ICT' projects)

• All proposals explicitly identify the business benefits expected and the investment required, inclusive of all the elements, including business process change, facilities, infrastructure, applications, recruitment, training, marketing and change management

• The appropriate business executives sponsor the proposal and are held accountable for realisation of the benefits stated in the proposal

The overall aim is to develop a 'virtuous circle' whereby:

• The investment process ensures there is adequate input by the CIO's team to major business investments

• The involvement of the CIO helps to improve the logic of the proposals, ensuring IT is used to maximum benefit and that proposed ICT decisions are aligned with the ICT strategy and enterprise architecture principles

• The business executives know that they will be held accountable for both the successful delivery of the business change project and the realisation of the benefits stated in the business case

• Business leaders come to learn how critical ICT is for their success and to rely on the CIO's advice and the capabilities of his or her organisation to get things done

This is an overly simple description, of course, but it gives a flavour of the processes that CIOs across central and local government are developing in order to build closer relationships with the business. The quality and efficiency of our future public sector services may well depend on their success.

Eric Woods is government practice director at Ovum