Federal CIOs need strategic direction: Ovum

James Riley
Tuesday, 16 March 2010 09:53

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Commonwealth chief information officers need the reassurance of a new Federal ICT policy paper that takes into account developments in the G-cloud, whole of government networks and the NBN, according to Ovum research director Kevin Noonan.

And a strategic directions paper is overdue. The last five-year launched by then Special Minister of State Gary Nairn focusing on electronic service delivery expires this year.

And while the Sir Peter Gershon review of ICT procurement and use identified useful cost savings and efficiencies, its terms of reference where such that it did not produce a strategic direction for CIOs, Noonan said.

The Australian Government could useful look to the UK Government ICT Strategy document released a month ago - and to the Queensland Government's similar pocument published late last year - as useful guides to identifying strategic trends and setting a course for the Commonwealth.

"We've had Gershon, and we've had a lot of newer things like Cloud on the horizon," Noonan told iTWire. "But these things need to be put into a strategic context, and it needs to be in a whole of government strategic context."

"There would be no rush to produce such a document this year because of the election cycle. But with a new government coming in or being returned after the election, it would be an opportune time to produce such a document."

While the Gershon review had produced strong efficiency and cost results - most notably around commodity sourcing, data centre rationalisation, increased use of standards and a focus on 'Green' issues - there remained vast tracts of strategic ICT where chief information officers had no clear instruction.