The Comprehensive Spending Review and its implications will be looming large for all public sector managers this Autumn, a preoccupation reflected in the programme for The Society of IT Management annual conference (14-16 October 2007) being held this year in Belfast.
A number of the conference sessions focus on areas that will become even more important in the tougher financial climate anticipated following CSR07. These include shared services; savings from transformational efficiencies; and improvements in service delivery facilitated by ICT.
Featured speakers in Belfast include Sir Michael Bichard, best known as the chair of the Soham enquiry but also a former Chief Executive of two major local authorities and Permanent Secretary of two major central government departments. Sir Michael will be speaking about the role and potential of the IT profession – picking up on his controversial presentation at Socitm 2004 when he told delegates it was time for IT professionals to ‘take centre stage’ – providing they could deploy the skills required to operate at board level.
Also speaking at the conference is Kent County Council chief executive Peter Gilroy. Known as a tireless champion for innovation and a believer in putting the citizen at the heart of modern public services, this former director of social services will be speaking on e-care, technology and innovation.
Peter Court is CIO for the Cabinet Office and has a wealth of current and past knowledge and experience to share with delegates. For example, he is currently Senior Responsible Owner for the Government Secure Intranet; the Managed Telecomms service contract; and public sector flex - a new Shared ICT Service. Previously, he was e-Commerce Director at the Office of Government Commerce, where he was involved in delivering the Government Purchasing Card; and the eAuctions and eSourcing Frameworks.
David Taylor, author of the global best-selling Naked Leader books, will be speaking about IT leadership. Now that IT is starting to be regarded not as a service or support
function, but as a driver, a leader, and agenda setter, IT leaders need to have a specific set of beliefs, actions and leadership tools available to ensure they rise to the challenge.
A view on ICT and the modernisation programme in Northern Ireland will be provided by NI Civil Service CIO Bill McCluggage. Bill joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service as Director of eGovernment in 2003 following a career in the private sector. He is sponsor for the NICS’s multi-channel contact centre project ‘NI Direct’ and is on a range of cross-cutting public sector programme boards including Records NI, Network NI and the Access to Benefits programme.
In addition to the plenary sessions, delegates will be able to attend four out of twelve parallel sessions. The organisers of Socitm 2007 have added more of these popular sessions to the programme in response to delegate feedback from the last two years. The choice will be from a wide range of highly relevant managerial or technical topics, including: shared services; security; id management; greening IT, website usability and takeup. Further information on the content of these sessions will be published by Socitm on its website from August.
On Tuesday 16 October, delegates will be able to see presentations on the shortlisted entries in the Local Government IT Excellence Awards. The Awards are a collaborative venture between Socitm, SOLACE and Intellect, and aim to demonstrate how IT has been used effectively and innovatively to deliver best value public services.
Attendance at the conference is a qualifying activity under Socitm’s CPD scheme. Delegates who attend the whole conference will gain five points and daily delegates two for each day attended, against an annual target of 20 points.
On the Monday evening of the conference there will be a civic reception hosted by the City of Belfast followed by a Gala dinner, sponsored by Fujitsu. The conference overall is sponsored by Clearswift, Lagan and Siemens. Other key sponsors are BT, CA, Computer World Wales and Fujitsu.
Full conference attendance, including overnight accommodation on 14 & 15 October, all meals and the gala dinner costs £535 or £485 for 2nd and subsequent delegates from a single organisation. Daily attendance, and a local residents’ package excluding b&b is available for delegates from within Northern Ireland. A partner programme is also available. Full delegate bookings made before 14 August carry an ‘early bird’ booking discount. Further details and online booking is at www.socitm.gov.uk.
Further information:
Vicky Sargent or Peter Coates, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 0845 094 5641 email: vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk or peter.coates@socitm.gov.uk