Shared ICT services ‘very important’ in public sector

More than 80% of local government managers believe that shared ICT services are either “important” or “very important” in improving the services in their operations, a new survey has revwealed. 

The report, New Ways of ICT Working, reveals the extent to which shared services, cloud and IT strategy are helping to maintain services in the face of shrinking budgets and citizens’ rising expectations. 

Researchers questioned 201 senior local government (83%) and emergency service managers (17%) in December 2013. Respondents included chief executives, chief constables, chief fire officers, heads of ICT, finance, transformation, strategy and procurement. 

Although cost reduction was an important factor in shared services involvement, so was improving customer services. The strong positive perception of shared services is borne out in its take up, with more than half the respondents (53%) working for public bodies which already participate in, or run a shared service. A further 25% are in the process of implementing one. 

However, only 37% of interviewees used cloud computing services, with another 30% planning to initiate projects in the next 12 months. A quarter of respondents expected to save between 11% and 24% of their IT budget by using cloud, while the majority (83%) expected this figure to be below 10%. 

Nearly half (47%) of the organisations questioned said they had no plans to use the G-Cloud – the Government’s framework for procuring cloud-based services through a marketplace called the CloudStore. Of those surveyed, 35% plan to use it while only 20% have used it already. 

Darren Hunt, sales and marketing director at UNIT4 Business Software, said: “These results give a snapshot of a sector that is seeking creative ways of addressing the funding cuts.  Despite some of the negative headlines, it is very clear that the sector acknowledges the importance of shared services. 

“We expect innovation to gather pace with public bodies increasingly opting for cloud software and shared services between organisations instead of single solutions between single entities.” 

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