ICT leading the way in putting user first - Cabinet Office

ICT profesionals in the public sector are “leading the way” when it comes to putting the user first in everything the public sector is doing, according to Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude.

Maude made the observations as part of his keynote speech at last week’s very successful UK Public Sector Digital Awards 2011, an event he said celebrated “work done to ensure our public sector delivers world class public services”.

“Today we are all constantly looking to provide a product that is better for citizens and costs less for government – that means constantly improving, trying new dynamic ways of working and finding bold solutions to problems,” the Minister said.

For Maude, that has to spell “digital first in everything” as the key to delivering “modern services in the most efficient way”.

That’s not all – for maude, that’s just part of the needed change, which will also be marked by “Moving away from long term, fixed scale SI contracts to flexible procurement [for] your services through SMEs” – a move he said would also deliver “maximising the potential for economic growth in the digital and ICT sectors” of the UK economy.

Maude cited as an example the recent project to build an e-petitions platform that was originally quoted by a big supplier as a £5m project – but which was actually delivered as a £100k project using a lot of Open Source, he claimed.

He also reminded the assembled ICT leaders of the impact he expects the upcoming ICT Asset Register will make in Whitehalll.

But for the Minister, the focus had to be on the projects and people in the Guildhall last Thursday. “You in this room are showing just how inventive and radical the public sector can be at its best,” he said.

“And this is exactly what I want to build on as we create a more entrepreneurial and radical culture across the public sector.”