Government plans to integrate IT

The government has announced its IT strategy for the next five years, focusing on tighter integration between IT systems and more shared service centres. But experts warned that the plans will face significant technical and political challenges.
Speaking hours before his promotion to Work and Pensions minister, Cabinet Office minister John Hutton said the new strategy, called Transformational Government - Enabled by Technology, will incorporate a wide range of IT projects to better meet the needs of individuals and firms.

Tighter integration between different departments' systems will allow data to be shared across divisions and so reduce the number of forms that businesses must fill in, for example. Under the plans, access to public services will also be made simpler by replacing large numbers of government web sites with the central Directgov site.
And more interactions, such as the booking of doctors' appointments, will be enabled by mobile phones and digital TV. There will also be wider development of shared service centres, where departments and local councils can share central IT resources. "There are 1,300 separate and discrete back-office functions [in the public sector], and that needs to be looked at," said Hutton.

Alan Rodger of analyst Butler Group said shared service centres would deliver significant cost savings but warned that there could be opposition from some departments. "The biggest problems will be political rather than technical," he predicted. "There could be resistance as people try to protect their existing budgets."

There are also concerns that the complexity of sharing data between departments could derail the strategy. Marianne Kolding of analyst IDC said that as departments and councils work with different legacy systems, integration will be a significant challenge.

Hutton accepted there would be "cynicism" about the new strategy, but said th e government will reduce the risk of project failures through its plans to professionalise IT directors and enhance its project management skills. A new Service Transformation board will work with government IT leaders and its CIO Council to ensure common standards for new projects.

Government chief information officer Ian Watmore said details of how the strategy will be implemented will be published by March, following consultation with industry and the public sector.

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!