• ICT spending forecast to increase by 9% to £3bn in 2007/08 following fall last year
• information security costs increase dramatically since 2006 but direct financial losses reported remaining low
• BPR, partnership working and channel swapping seen as best efficiency strategies - shared services comes in fourth place
• Just 2 respondents using Government Connect: most still evaluating
• CRM established in most organisations, but not yet integrated with back office
• Staff turnover has increased dramatically and use of consultants continues to rise
• Respondents report rise in management & member commitment to transformation

Efficiency and security emerge as top issues on IT chiefs’ agendas in 2007, based on findings from the latest edition of the Society of IT Management’s annual IT Trends survey published in December. The survey report, published on CD-ROM with or without the data upon which it is based, analyses technology, budgets, manpower, product ratings and market share, together with views and opinions about the future.

IT Trends in Local Government 2007/8: doing more with less is based on responses to a comprehensive questionnaire sent to heads of ICT in the 468 local authorities of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Surveys were also sent to selected police forces, fire services and other public bodies. Benchmarking and pay data provided by Socitm members were also used and in total data from more than 250 authorities is included in this year’s report.

Renewed pressure on public services to achieve efficiencies throughout the organisation, following the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 and the toughest financial settlement in years, should focus attention on ICT as a means of achieving this goal.  IT Trends reports that in 2007 ICT functions are in fact well set up for this task, with their capacity and capability to deliver improvement increased. Financial resources available to them are forecast to increase by 9% in 2007 and staff numbers predicted rise modestly also.

In terms of delivering efficiencies, ICT chiefs see business process re-engineering and partnership working as the best strategies, followed by channel switching, with shared services in fourth place. However, IT Trends 2007 suggests their organisations may still be insufficiently focussed on using IT to improve overall business performance. For example, survey data shows that local authorities are still not measuring or managing channel use despite the fact that better channel management provides an obvious way to deliver better service at a lower cost.

With the Revenue & Customs data loss debacle still fresh in the mind, IT Trends 2007 provides some highly topical data and commentary on security issues.  Participating organisations have between them identified over 180 security concerns ranging from careless use of passwords to a data centre disasters. The cost of securing information held on local government computers has dramatically increased since 2006, although direct financial losses reported remain low.

Responses to the IT Trends survey (which were collected well before the Revenue & Customs story broke) show growing awareness of the implication of failures in security, and of the associated costs such failure could bring in terms of loss of service, repair to infrastructure and possibly litigation.

In terms of progress on transformation, IT Trends sheds light on some key issues.  For example, it reports an increase in specific engagement with transformation from both management and elected members. Twenty one percent of organisations that responded reported member involvement in transformation (up from 14% in 2006) and another 44% have top management commitment (up from 32% in 2006).

Government Connect – the Government’s chosen solution for joined up working between public services - is still under evaluation by most of the survey respondents. Just two organisations are delivering services and a further twenty five are planning to use Government Connect to do so in the future.  CRM, a key component for joined-up working within the organisation, is established in the vast majority of organisations that responded to IT Trends, but its integration with the back office is still at an early stage. Environmental services, complaints and email are the areas that currently have the highest degree of integration.

With regard to staffing, IT Trends predicts only small changes in directly employed staff numbers for 2007. Numbers of consultants and other contracted staff is forecast to increase. What has changed dramatically between 2006 and 2007 is the turnover of staff, which has gone up from 14% to 23%. In recent years staff turnover has been low and few authorities have reported difficulty in recruiting. At the same time that the government sector has been pumping money into IT, private sector IT functions have been downsizing. Secure public sector jobs have looked attractive. IT Trends suggests that this scenario may be changing.

Overall, the message from IT Trends 2007/08 is highly positive says Socitm President Rose Crozier: ‘It shows that ICT departments have the capacity and capability to deliver what is required to meet the transformation agenda in local government. Moreover, on key transformational issues like customer-centricity and shared services, IT Trends demonstrates that ICT managers have a positive and open-minded approach.’

John Serle, editor of IT Trends 2007/08 adds: ‘What is increasingly evident is that the traditional concerns of ICT management, such as choosing the right technologies, supplier management and staff recruitment and retention, have become less important in recent years. Efficiency, shared services and benefits realisation are the new buzzwords. It’s also encouraging to see that notwithstanding an overall more difficult financial climate in local government, ICT functions have more resources in 2007/08 than they had one year ago. This might suggest that ICT is beginning to be regarded as something worth investing in, something more than just a support service.

IT Trends 2007/08 provides an in depth review of the current position in the Local Government ICT scene together with a detailed analysis of the challenges authorities face. The 2007 report features:

• An executive summary for policy makers
• An analysis of the capacity of authorities to deliver change
• Ratings of hundreds of IT products
• Key pay data
• Ideas on how to deliver efficiency savings
• Views of IT managers about the challenges ahead

A CD-ROM version of the report complete with the data is also available. This contains the individual survey responses (not identified) and will allow users to undertake their own analyses.  Copies are available now and cost £300 to commercial organisations (£450 for the report and data), and £250 to Socitm subscribers (£350 for the report and data). Local authorities and other not-for-profit organisations can buy the report for £100 and the report and data for £200. Copies can be ordered from www.socitm.gov.uk.

Press copies of the executive briefing (pdf format) are available now.

Press enquiries:

John Serle, IT Trends Editor
Tel: 07867 907372  john.serle@socitm.gov.uk

Vicky Sargent or Peter Coates, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 0845 094 5641 vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk or peter.coates@socitm.gov.uk

Notes for Editors

Socitm has carried out a survey of “IT Trends in Local Government” every year since 1987.  The 2007 survey (the 21st edition) is based on responses to a lengthy questionnaire sent to heads of ICT in the 468 local authorities of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.  Surveys were also sent to selected police forces, fire services and other public bodies. Benchmarking data provided by Socitm members and pay data have also been used. In total this year’s report includes information from more than 250 organisations.  An executive summary of the survey findings is produced specifically for councillors, senior officers and policy makers in local government, focussing on key implications for local authorities and omitting the technical detail.

The Society of IT Management (Socitm) is the professional association representing managers with responsibility for ICT strategy and management within local authorities and other public services. Its vision is the transformation of public services through the effective application of ICT. With approximately 2000 members from 450 different organisations including 95% of all UK local authorities, Socitm provides a widely respected forum for the promotion, use and development of ICT best practice. It is also playing a leading role in supporting the transformation of local authorities and other public services in the UK though ICT facilitated change.