Brisbane City Council finally ramps IT

Beverley Head
Friday, 09 April 2010 18:43

IT People - Recruitment

Under the stewardship of recently appointed CIO Nick Brant, Brisbane City Council is planning an overhaul of its IT systems in order to provide the infrastructure needed to deliver on the council’s Living in Brisbane 2026 vision.

With an IT team of around 500 people Brant runs one of the largest local government IT shops in the country. Brant has been plucked for the job from the private sector – and was formerly the CIO of Virgin Blue.

After five years when the City Council’s IT budget has been kept under a tight rein, there are now signs of fresh investment. BCC’s IT group is looking to hire five senior IT staff to form a senior ICT management team within information services to drive through the necessary technology and process changes.

A half page advertisement run in a national newspaper today noted that that three of the five IT professionals are being hired to lead the enterprise architecture programme; establish an ICT portfolio management centre; and drive the change management programme.

The organisation is also seeking additional staff to work in project services and manage ICT projects (including managing 100 plus vendor supplied workers) and an ICT professional who is required to take on a “high level customer advocacy role” to forge a closer relationship with BCC management.

Warren Peters regional manager of Itcom, which is handling the recruitment project said that Brant’s appointment two months ago was key. “He’s come in to help commercialise the IT part of the business.”

Peters said that a cornerstone of the BCC’s 2026 vision was “How to deliver services better and IT will play a part in that.”