Do we actually have any real or clear idea of the new government’s thinking or policies for ICT in Ireland, whether for the country as a whole or in the public sector? We do up to a point, in that ‘The Programme for Government’ manages a whole two paragraphs (see panel) plus a slightly more focussed paragraph on supporting ‘our indigenous digital game industry’. The only remotely new element compared to previous governments is the reference to cloud computing, which is of course to be welcomed even if it does seem to have a very close resemblance to the Microsoft-Goodbody report of January last. In fact if our new political leaders are actually listening to industry leaders here that is possibly more significant than the aspirational wording of the policy.
On the other hand, the melancholy suspicion must arise that our new political masters do not understand what they are talking about. It might be suggested firmly, for example, that cloud computing is quite irrelevant to Irish citizens and businesses without universal broadband. In that context, Fine Gael managed an ambitious and specific policy statement in its NewERA document of late 2009 that would have seen the state “…invest EUR*1.8 billion over four years to build a high-speed fibre infrastructure throughout the country. The goal is to get Irish broadband speeds into the top five of OECD countries-with 1 million Irish homes connected to fibre-by the end of 2013.” Acknowledging that broadband penetration here was second worst of the Eur15 countries and of such low bandwidth that next generation services cannot be supported. That investment would have put the emphasis on the last mile and Fine Gael even went so far as to suggest that over a million homes could be connected by fibre over the following four years.
Coalition compromise
Unfortunately, that brave vision did not make it as far as the coalition government programme. Another noteworthy casualty is the proposal to appoint a Government CIO. This was in process for over two years with the industry gossip suggesting behind the scenes conflict about the actual role-executive public service ICT leader or a government advisory role to be held by a ‘Big Name’. The appointment was stalled before the change of government and now appears to be have been quietly abandoned.
All in all, the future of ICT in this Smart Economy on this Digital Island in this NewERA looks set to maintain the pattern of indecisive leadership informed by rich resources of expert advice and extensive research and consultancy reports. In more recent years, scarce resources have offered a legitimate excuse for failure to implement some national ICT investment plans. What business does in straitened times is to seek hungrily for low-hanging fruit (that perennial target of ICT departments) and ingenuity in doing more with less or with what is already available. That is often concerned primarily with cost saving but it also includes technology change and improvement with limited resources but new thinking and a smarter generation of technology.
“We see enormous possibilities for government and for business in cloud computing,” says Martin Cullen, director of Business and Partners, Microsoft Ireland. “For the state sector it offers efficiencies and cost savings, as it does also for the private sector and especially SMEs. There is also real potential for Ireland to become a cloud hub with a thriving technology ecosystem built around that in turn. But to do that we have to take early mover advantage nationally. Cloud computing can be the new IFSC if the government moves quickly to implement the correct policy requirements to deliver it. Cloud computing will revolutionise technology the way that the Internet did. As this global industry is in its infancy, Ireland has a real opportunity to pioneer its adoption to create new jobs, new businesses and enhance our competitiveness while attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and creating new export markets. However, the race is on globally and if we do not act immediately the opportunity will be lost.”
Out of step
But Cullen points also to the fact that our broadband infrastructure is out of step with such ambitions. “Quite apart from the future potential of cloud, we have fallen behind in delivering universal broadband of a quality level for today’s smart business and consumer services. With broadband the bar keeps being re-set at a higher level but that is where our aspirations should be. A significant factor is that where FDI is concerned, whether cloud-related or in other sectors that are significant to Ireland, if we gain the reputation for being behind the curve we will lose out. Broadband indices are definitely one of the indicators potential investors look at.”
Having consulted widely with government and other parties in recent times, Microsoft management sees some genuine appreciation of new technology and appetite for taking opportunity. “Senior people do recognise the potential economic value, both in reducing state costs and in stimulating business and investment and we believe the new government wants to drive change across the state and business technology landscape.”
Cullen believes the government CIO proposal is a good one that should not be dropped. “The state sector, like the private, will more and more need to lead and manage services aggregation and contract relationships. ICT is so pervasive that it demands a holistic view across all agencies and activities to drive initiatives. Having said that, I’m inclined to the philosophy that such a role should be visionary and innovative, ensuring that our national strategies should embrace new thinking in technology in a world that is constantly and rapidly changing.”
State value
Jason Ward, country manager of EMC, also believes cloud computing has potentially enormous value for the state. “It represents a major mind shift for governments and state bodies and you have to look very quickly and in practical terms at what the concept actually translates into. So we would point to a few main elements, of which data centre consolidation across government departments and agencies would probably be top of the list. On a purely infrastructural level, that would generate massive ongoing savings.”
Accepting that state-held data brings particular obligations of security, Ward points out that private cloud architecture is well evolved in delivering such security requirements. “For government agencies we are certainly talking about public sector private cloud or clouds. If that is combined with a deliberate drive towards maximum use of open source technology there is potential for really huge cost savings. At least as important in the longer term, I think, is that in a virtualised cloud environment there would be much more inherent flexibility in all systems. There would also be less dependence on specific hardware and other vendors. Historically, change management has been costly and intimidating for government departments and ICT teams. Projects have also been slow and a comparatively few errors have sometimes been expensive.”
He points also to the other end of e-government, a world in which citizens as consumers will very soon be expecting access anywhere and time and on any device, just as they do for web services of all other kinds. “That might be seen as a challenge for service delivery, but it also offers another route for cost savings and flexibility. Government workers could access their applications in exactly the same way and, just as in a growing number of commercial organisations, a virtual machine on the device would be all that is needed. So [there is] minimal risk because all information is in the central data centre. Nothing on the laptops to lose, no USB sticks adding risk. Most staff could in fact use their own devices.”
Ward acknowledges that this brave new world is dependent on better broadband access. “We are hoping to build an innovative, smart economy and yet we lag behind in the most fundamental respect, universal access. We should be building out access networks for the next generation of online traffic. Put it this way: [the movie] Avatar is reputed to be a petabyte file. We are a bit away from movies on demand in that case.”
ICT in the public sector itself is clearly facing a number of significant business issues, not least severely constrained budgets and resources. “Trying to do more with less in terms of people, money and technology resources is something all sectors have in common. But organisations with national responsibilities and legally defined remits have additional challenges,” says Colin MacHale, Intel country manager with national responsibility for sales and marketing. “It has to be acknowledges also that from the citizen’s point of view state service levels are only allowed to go in one direction. Improving the speed and quality of e-government services in the current economic context is tough.”
From the Intel point of view, ICT not only has a part to play but is the platform on which all government services have to work. “That in turn means that the state has to take advantage of the best solutions on offer. There has been transformational change in ICT in recent years. One quick example: replacing a server that is over three years old will deliver a return on investment in about five or six months through energy savings. For state and private sector, that means the question of server replacement is not if it can be afforded but if we can afford not to.”
Shared services
Another area MacHale points to is centralisation and consolidation of generic processes and services in the public sector. “Shared or managed services are a proven solution, with several very successful examples in government already. The infrastructure is effectively in place through the government network to do much more of the same, taking advantage of newer technology along the way. There is something of an obstacle in the public sector where organisations own and control their own budgets and there is therefore no incentive from the centre to consolidate. The public service is not like a commercial group with central authority. It is federal in nature. At the same time there is growing recognition of the value of centralising and sharing activities and technologies, not just for cost savings but also-and increasingly-for the better performance and often best practice that is then enabled.”
Intel is also a cloud computing advocate and MacHale says that it is really now clearly the ‘fourth utility’ and a key element of national infrastructure, even though virtual. “An excellent example is the mobile enablement of health service staff, say public health nurses. Constant availability of up-to-the-minute information and communications enables better prioritisation of patent visits, for example, and checking of hospital or other records, all add up to better service and better use of professional time.”
Tax breaks
As CEO of the PFH Technology Group, one of our largest private ICT companies, Paul Hourican is particularly familiar with Ireland’s business sectors and all sizes of enterprise. He is fully convinced of the relevance and value of cloud computing, SaaS and all of the new forms of ICT that allow the capabilities of technology to be purchased as an operating rather than a capital expense. “Because it has such a potential impact on costs and efficiency, business should be incentivised to move in that direction. Instead, tax reliefs are still based on capital expenditure. Accepting that traditional grant aid is not on, given the economic situation, I would strongly advocate tax reliefs-and wider and more imaginative applications-where businesses are trying to improve their performance through ICT. In this economy we need to boost confidence in order to increase competitiveness, and every little bit helps. For example, allow employees to use their own laptops and VDI architecture makes that secure. Tax breaks for individuals and employers where they contribute would encourage trading up and add volume in the market.”
State ICT spending is also likely to take another hit in the next budget, Hourican reckons, which is probably inevitable but there is a risk of further drying up of the local economy. “Incentives in the form of tax reliefs, although theoretically that would be income foregone by the state, would help greatly to keep trade at least level and incentivise investment in technology for efficiency and lower business costs.”
Training is another potentially significant area where government could take a lead, he says. “The FAS emphasis has gone a little too far towards the unskilled, perhaps. What I have in mind is that there has been an emerging shortage of skills at the lower ICT technician level. Short, intensive practical courses, say of up to six months, could convert electricians for the construction industry or graduates from non-technical courses, say business or even arts. Since about two out of every 10 ICT technicians tends to be promoted, there would in fact be a natural career development path for these people with no further structural change needed.”
ICT leadership
Starting at quite a different level Mark Ryan, Accenture country managing director, sees the government sector giving national ICT leadership through prioritising investment, reform and innovation in its own sphere. “Public facing government services deal largely in three areas: the collection of data and money, the distribution of information and money, and giving public access to and dealing with the individual citizen. All of those offer obvious gains through smarter ICT.”
At a public sector management level, delivering the services is governed by the universal drivers of cost reduction, greater efficiency and in the end better value for money. “There is actually general recognition of what is needed and possible, notably more shared services and centralisation for consistency and economy. I would suggest that approach should be employed in public sector procurement for ICT, which has been dogged by traditional procedures and little cross-departmental collaboration or synergy. The length and extent of the processes involved can be stifling of initiative and the fact that major decisions could take up to a couple of years is just out of step with today’s world of technology. One unwanted side-effect, for example, is that smaller Irish software companies just can’t afford the time or resources to look for government business, regardless of the merit of their technology. We need to overhaul the ICT procurement processes, their complexity and time frames.”
The general move towards could computing is inevitable for government as for all other sectors, Ryan says. “The road map is in place and perceived obstacles like security are no longer relevant. But in looking ahead to the power and flexibility of cloud services we must not forget that what really counts is integrating information, applications and activities of different agencies. That is the real platform for efficiencies and better services.” He points to the example of a project Accenture completed for the German Federal Government, now copied by Austria and being followed by France and the UK. This is an employment and social security system shared through the equivalents of our Department of Social Protection, Revenue Commissioners, FAS and Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation.
“In essence, once a change happens in a person’s employment status, typically loss of a job, the person simply logs onto the web system and supplies the details,” Ryan explains. “Every appropriate ensign action or process is now triggered automatically, from unemployment benefit payments to CV anonymised inclusion in the state labour pool database to skills re-training offers. Only in exceptional cases does anyone have to interview or travel or apply further for any entitlement. The bottom line, for the individual worker and for the state, is that the back-to-work interval has been reduced by six weeks from the previous average.”
That is joined up government services in action. It should be noted that essentially it has little to do with cloud or new infrastructure or technology. It is firmly based on what is already there, from legislative provisions and entitlement to administrative processes. The reform comes from actually deciding on and applying the all too often just pious aspiration towards integrated public services-one hymn so one sheet.
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