Here comes the future - to hide or to ride?

By Laurence Millar | 19 February 2010 | Permanent link | 0 comments

The key issues facing governments in Australia and New Zealand are very different from those of governments in the Asia region. That’s the conclusion I reach when I compare and contrast the Futuregov Forum Singapore and the Government CIO Forum in Brisbane that I spoke at last week. The theme of an event is, to some extent, created by the agenda, which in turn is a function of the speakers and sponsors. However, the themes are also evident in the discussions with delegates, and the general “feel” of the event.

The main area of focus in Australia and New Zealand is on reducing ICT expenditure and shared services (its first cousin). Secondary issues that flow from this are improved sustainability, through consolidation of data centres and server virtualisation, and better response to cyber-security threats, by consolidating technical expertise and focusing on a smaller number of perimeters.

However, the dominant theme is budget reduction for the CIO.

One speaker in Australia said: “I tell the business leaders in my agency that there will be more systems being used by more people, more of the time. But I’m still expected to operate for less.” Investments in IT that can drive down costs in other parts of the business - streamline business processes, move customer service transactions to the more convenient and lower cost online channel, and reduce office costs by encouraging remote work - do not appear to be on the radar in Australia and New Zealand.

In Asia, governments have committed to universal broadband and high-speed mobile networks, are placing government services on-line, driving uptake, and asking “what more can we do to deliver better value to our citizens?”

I see two radically different responses to the waves of change that are washing over government as we move into the 21st-century global information economy. In Australia and New Zealand governments are adopting the hedgehog response - focusing inward, curling up in a ball, and waiting for the waves to pass. In Asia, governments are grabbing the surfboard and looking for every opportunity to ride the waves.