The Society of IT Management has called on councils to spend 40 percent of their operational service budgets on transformation
In a policy paper released on Thursday, Socitm said that operational service budgets are currently split, so that 90 percent goes on operations, with just 10 percent on changing systems. For councils to achieve transformation, this should move closer to a 60:40 split, the organisation argues.
In addition to the spending shift, the document, entitled ICT, resourcing and transformation — doing more, better with less, recommends that councils should establish clear leadership, put in place transparent governance, tackle poor use of information and develop a rationale for digital delivery that leads to end-to-end self service.
Martin Ferguson, head of policy at Socitm, told GC News that greater investment in change could be achieved if three of the principles set out in the Operational Efficiency Programme final report — simplification, standardisation and shared services — were adopted.
"I think if one thinks about applying those principles in a determined manner to what is essentially a very complex set of service delivery circumstances, where local government and a whole set of partners are involved, then you begin to see a way through this," he said.
"What we are finding is that through the history of the local e-government programme and transformational government, there are lots of examples of good practice, but we have failed miserably at replicating them."
He also said that if local authorities create a culture where the knowledge and abilities of staff are valued, and where they feel they are making a contribution, then a culture of change becomes the norm and the need for expensive consultants is reduced.
The paper goes on to say that ICT services are often locked into inflexible and costly outsourcing arrangements, in which economies of scale are lost between help desks and maintenance or support services, and software licences in particular are more costly than they need to be.
"There is evidence to suggest that if a local authority determines to change, transform its services, it can actually do it using its own resources," Ferguson said. "It does not have to go into some costly outsourcing situation where an organisation is taking a profit."
