Are CIOs The Driver Of Tech Transformation In The Public Sector?

Just 4.2% of senior public sector staff view their CIO and CTO as the drivers of change within their organisation, according to new research.

iGov Survey conducted the study on behalf of cloud solutions provider Ancoris, surveying a number of leading public sector employees to reveal the extent to which austerity is helping to deliver more for less in government departments.

The research claims that people are seen as the greatest barrier to improvements in technology use across Whitehall and CIOs and CTOs are failing to drive transformation, despite the Government Digital Strategy and the key role it is playing in public sector reform.

However, 82% of respondents said that austerity is the catalyst for the transformation of frontline services and the pressure to deliver more for less is seen by 83% as the most important reason behind change.

Over half of participants view digital technology as key to transformation and 72% think that the use of cloud technology could benefit their organisation.

Mobile was the most reported new technology being adopted as part of IT strategies and almost two thirds plan to introduce cloud and collaboration technologies as part of their strategy – however, just 36% are including Big Data.

“Refreshing” Attitude To Change

“There is no doubt the digital transformation spearheaded by the Government Digital Service is starting to impact the delivery of public sector services, making them simpler, clearer and more accessible,” claimed head of business transformation at Ancoris Duncan Farley.

“The low number of people recognising the role of the CIO and CTO in fostering change is worrying though. Organisations need to enable their IT teams to focus more on the people and process aspect of change in order to full benefit from technology,” Farley added.

“It is refreshing to see that over three quarters of respondents view austerity as a catalyst for change. Achieving more with less is an ongoing challenge for the public sector, but one that is being supported by initiatives such as G-Cloud,” claimed Ancoris CEO David McLeman.

“Introducing transformative cloud technology, such as Google Apps for Work enables the introduction of social, collaboration and mobile technology throughout an organisations from top to bottom, fostering an environment that will deliver better, faster services at a lower cost,” he added.

© 24N.biz