The first Irish Computer Society (ICS) Public Sector Network conference took place during December and attracted representatives from more than 40 organisations, including government departments, local authorities, the health and education sectors, the Gardai, IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Marine Institute and the Irish Aviation Authority.
In a keynote speech focusing on obsolescence, Sean Connolly, director of IT at the Revenue Commissioners, talked about the changes he has witnessed during 35 years involved in IT in government. He emphasised the need for younger IT professionals in the public sector to update their skills constantly, and to understand their own organisations and how to operate within them. He also stressed the importance of developing leadership skills and being mobile.
In the first of two technical briefings in the telecommunications area, Eamon Hession, managing director of Puca Technologies, described how SMS technology could be applied in the public sector, and talked in particular about an application being used by the Department of Agriculture and Food, whereby livestock inspectors can record their results via WAP-enabled mobile phones. In the second telecoms session, Adrian Sadlier of Complete Network Technology described how voice-over-IP could help organisation to achieve significant cost reductions, while also offering greater flexibility and computer telephony integration possibilities.
The day’s two plenary sessions covered Open Source and outsourcing. Delivering his presentation via video-conference from the UK, Richard Steel, head of ICT for the London Borough of Newham, described the process the borough used when deciding whether to adopt Open Source for its systems. Professor Brian Fitzgerald, from the University of Limerick, then discussed some of the benefits of and potential threats to the continued success of Open Source. In the final presentation of the session, Tony Kenny, IT manager at Beaumont Hospital, talked about how Open Source is used extensively at the hospital, and talked about some of the savings it has helped to achieve in terms of licence and implementation costs.
Karen Lewis from Liverpool City Council kicked off the second plenary session by discussing how her organisation had entered a joint venture with BT rather than going down the traditional outsourcing route. Gerry O’Malley of the Vehicle Registration Unit then spoke about the National Vehicle and Driver File project, which interfaces to Revenue, An Garda Siochana Pulse and Fines systems, Penalty Points System and the Online Motor Tax system, and was developed by PWC Consulting.
Oonagh Conneely, client manager, IS Function, at Bank of Ireland, concluded the outsourcing session. The bank outsourced its IT services to HP at the end of 2003 in a seven-year worth $600m. The contract, which covers the administration and operation of Bank of Ireland’s entire IT infrastructure, involved the transfer of around 145 UK-based and more than 350 Irish staff to HP.
The final presentation of the day was given by David Jones of Pink Roccade, who provided an introduction to the IT Infrastructure Library, a comprehensive documentation of best practice for IT service management.
The ICS says that feedback to the conference has all been very positive. However, because most delegates felt that more time could have been allocated to a number of presentations, the society is now considering incorporating some of these into its Spring lecture series for the general membership. More information is available at www.ics.ie.
28/02/05
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