[LINK] Gershon review demands difficult

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

Gershon review demands difficult
Karen Dearne
December 09, 2008
The Australian IT
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24769066-24169,00.html

INDUSTRY observers warn that new governance arrangements stemming from 
the Gershon review of federal agency technology spending will be hard to 
achieve.

Gartner analyst Richard Harris said Cabinet's wholehearted adoption of 
Peter Gershon's recommendations was a strong measure of the Government's 
intent.

The Australian Government Information Office had a crucial role in 
putting a thorough, consistent methodology in place for technology 
reviews across agencies, Mr Harris said.

The biggest challenge will be decisions on how the review teams work 
with agencies, and getting the most senior people - the business people, 
not just IT people.

Mr Harris said early indications were that government departments were 
taking the reform program very seriously. "We've heard that one major 
agency has taken a first assistant secretary off his current job to be 
in charge of the response to the review teams. It would be wise for 
agencies to treat this seriously," he said.

Stuart McGregor, chief executive of consultancy CharterMason, said 
government agencies were facing complex changes. "Sir Peter's 
recommendations absolutely make sense, and it's no surprise they have 
been wholeheartedly accepted," he said. "The challenge is in the 
execution. What fundamental changes need to be driven in culture and 
structure? How that plays out will be of strong interest to us. It will 
be critical that governance is driven from the top, and the roles are 
aligned both to execution and overall objectives." Sir Peter spent a lot 
of time discussing financial savings. "We are yet to see any investment 
in working out how to structure whole-of-government capabilities," he said.

Australian Information Industry Association chief executive Ian Birks 
said technology projects were notoriously about change management, and 
that was particularly so in this situation.

"Cultural change is a major issue in any project, but here we have many 
agencies and departments that need a cultural shift in the way they 
interact in a more centralised model," he said. "It is essential that 
the right relationship be established between the governing bodies."

Mr Birks said it was disappointing that the initial focus was strongly 
on cost savings, "because we do believe some of the other issues, such 
as sustainability, workforce and the better governance model, offer 
opportunities for much better outcomes".

EMC Australia president David Webster said any funds saved by better use 
of assets should be reinvested in innovation. Efficiency would be the 
keyword for 2009, not just in government but across all business areas, 
Mr Webster said. "Innovative technology should be about using your 
assets better, but if we as a nation are to continue to be recognised as 
an early adopter, we need to provide resources for investment in 
innovation," he said.

IBM public sector general manager Steve Bond said Sir Peter's review 
reinforced the view that technology could provide efficient, 
high-quality services. "A good example is his recommendation to develop 
a whole-of-government approach for future data centre requirements, 
since there is the potential, through consolidation, to manage energy 
consumption and the increasing requirement for space. It's a process 
that IBM itself has gone through, having consolidated its strategic 
worldwide data centres from 155 in 1997 to just seven today. We now have 
a program to consolidate nearly 4000 servers on 30 mainframe servers, 
which we expect to consume about 80 per cent less energy and deliver 
savings over five years in energy, software and system support costs. 
Through virtualisation and economies of scale, a consolidated approach 
can better position infrastructure for the future growth required for 
government to deliver services Australians demand."

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Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au