How IT should be making the difference in the public sector
Colin Chapman at Lotus is often credited with coining the term ‘simplicate’ (the full quote ‘simplicate – then add lightness’). It may sound odd but it is really very straightforward – however complicated a car may be under the bonnet, it wasn’t the concern of the driver who needed to be presented with a simple and familiar layout that would allow them to experience the joy of driving a high-performance car without needing to worry about just how technically involved the whole process was for the engineers who built it.
In 1997 the new Labour Government (Tony Blair to be exact) declared its priority to be ‘education, education, education’. Whether they achieved their goals in this area I leave others to judge. What interests me more is where does the new coalition Government focus now. It faces some tough challenges and has a target of £64bn of savings already set out. The prospect of cuts is something many have feared and commented on, particularly in the public sector. The potential for significant savings is there though, and twenty plus years of public sector experience means I am not making this up, I have seen at first hand some of the things that can be done with technology and just don’t seem to happen.
There are real issues that have to be tackled within public sector IT and how it functions. The massive outsourcing arrangements of the last fifteen years or so seem cumbersome and costly (whether this is true or not). Many public sector organisations have staff occupying direct mirror roles to their private sector counterparts dramatically increasing total cost of ownership for all internal and externally provided services. There are constant power struggles that constrain progress, and these happen from the top to the bottom of public sector organisations. I could go on…The environment IT operates in is constantly toxic and this affects behaviour.
The great promise of IT is that it can do things more simply, replace mundane tasks and allow people to do more high-value rewarding work. However, despite the presence of external expertise the overall complexity level of IT has continued to grow year on year as expectations have grown. The time is right for a good hard look at how and why it has been allowed to happen.
There are a number of areas that need to be considered to create the changes that are necessary for success. The prospect of digital Britain will be nothing more than a sham unless some things change significantly. A few aspects and by no means an exhaustive list:
- Culture
- The dominant culture is don’t make mistakes, better to do nothing than do something and get it wrong. This creates an impossible environment for even the best performers to succeed, and those that push against the system often lose out.
- Trust
- There is no point outsourcing IT and then shadowing every role. It is pointless, costly and soul-destroying. Build better contracts, build trusting relationships and let the people contracted to deliver get on with the job.
- Incentives as well as penalties
- Public sector contracts are far too penalty focused because finding meaningful mechanisms for reward or incentives is just too hard. This needs to be sorted out – the motivational driver in a penalty scenario is to propose longer timescales and higher costs than should be necessary. It is the only risk mitigation available to suppliers who get no reward for early delivery but get hammered for lateness.
- Reduce complexity – policy too!
- Taking the complexity out of IT systems for staff and customers clearly makes sense. But on its own it is not enough – work is needed to reduce policy complexity and regulation for the good of everyone. Policy makers need to take a long hard look at how they create and implement policy and avoid unnecessary complexity. Take tax credits for example – people avoid it because it just isn’t worth the pain.
- Challenge providers for better value
- The cost of technology is falling in many areas, new options are available in hardware and software all the time. IT providers whatever their role have room to manoeuvre Push them on it – constantly.
- Hunt dinosaurs
- There are just too many dinosaurs – it is sad but true that too many simply seek to maintain the status quo. Hunt them down and look for talent to replace them.
- Take the customer view
- Whitehall was awash with customer focus initiatives for quite some time, but has little ultimately to show for it. It is time to actually do something. Make the services provided more accessible, more friendly, more likely to fit with people’s lives and more responsive. This isn’t hard – there are plenty of role-model organisations the world over, so stop looking at other public sector equivalents and start considering successful models – wherever they come from.
The feeling may be to throw out the legacy of the last Government, but what is necessary is a good look at the process of Government and how technology can support it rather than constrain it. There are plenty of opportunities for savings without causing chaos and frustration and I want to point to one squandered opportunity. A large Whitehall department procured a groundbreaking technology that could turn law into executable computer systems. The legal process can be simplicated, the production of legislation improved, the resultant impact of legislative change tested and IT systems implemented in dramatically different timescales (as little as 10% of a traditional approach) and yet this technology sits in the box and on the shelf. Having considered why, there are many reasons in addition to the ones already listed. This example is not alone and many suppliers find themselves frustrated by how difficult it is to bring new ideas to the public sector and shy away from the investment needed, knowing that it may lead to nothing.
It is time to look afresh at IT in the public sector, to look at what it offers (unconstrained by current contracts) and start to build a vision for how it can deliver better services for the benefit of all, without throwing the baby out with the bath water. IT can contribute much to the savings targets but changes are necessary