IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

For many organizations, including government, digital business is moving from an innovative trend to a core competency. According to Gartner’s 2016 CIO Agenda Survey, which included responses from 2,944 CIOs worldwide, leveraging digital technologies to transform traditional operational and service models has risen to the top of the business agenda for many elected leaders and public officials.

However, the attention of CIOs in government remains more on the tactical, such as reducing costs and improving digital channels to citizens. In this sense, digital government is currently being deployed as an extension of earlier e-government initiatives, which largely preserved existing operational or service models. Simply put, digital transformation is still at the embryonic stage of maturity in government.

New CIOs have about 90 to 120 days to make their mark on an organization. The transition also creates a tremendous opportunity for CIOs. Anticipation of what digital can deliver is great.

But it is not an easy task. The lines of demarcation in companies are blurring.   New CIOs must read between the lines -- between industries, customers and product developers -- as they move swiftly to learn the business, find their niche and make an impact on the enterprise. Speed -- or multiple speeds in the world of IT, given legacy systems and the arrival of digital -- is the focus as digital drives the rate of innovation and business leaders' expectations.

Effective digital transformation requires strong leadership. Here’s how to helm your company’s digital journey through considerable organizational change.

Successful digital transformations don’t happen without organization-wide effort, mindset and processes changes, and the right technologies. They also don’t happen without guidance from skilled CIOs and digital leaders.

The top IT business priority is security but the emerging trend of mobility now outranks ICT spending reduction, and is viewed by CIOs as a critical priority.

In new findings from research of the Australian ICT market, research firm Telsyte, CIOs and IT decision makers are placing emerging technologies like mobility and cloud computing on their list of top IT business priorities in addition to the traditional “pain points” of security, business intelligence (including big data) and skills development.

Ongoing economic uncertainty and a slowdown in government technology investment continue to delay or limit the adoption of digital innovation and radically redesigned service models.

But CIOs at all levels of government can help ease the path.

Part of the problem is that the structure of government has remained largely unchanged for more than half a century, while the needs and expectations of citizens and businesses have outpaced the ability to adequately address them.

Andrew Garner, Director General of the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, which houses the office of Queensland’s whole of government CIO, made the announcement of Mills’ appointment in a media release this morning after it was outed yesterday by the Adelaide Advertiser.

Simon Finn, Minister for Information and Communication Technology announced on 1 December 2011 that Professor Peter Grant will begin his QGCIO role on the day itself.

“I’m very pleased that Peter will take on this role, which is the first of its kind in the nation,” Mr Finn said. “Peter brings over 40 years of experience to this position—half of which is in the public sector.”

Just a day on from issuing a statement that it was still looking for a whole-of-government CIO, the Queensland government has announced that it has appointed Professor Peter Grant to the role.

According to the government, Grant began in the role today and was appointed following an extensive merit selection process following the creation of the role by Premier Anna Bligh in July.

Queensland’s ICT reforms were highlighted earlier by the Minister for Technology Mr Ian Walker.

Australian Defence Force CIO Patrick Hannan has been poached for the role of Victorian CIO. Tony Aitkenhead, former Information Services Branch executive officer at the Victorian Department of Human Services, will take up the CTO position.

Australian Defence Force CIO Patrick Hannan has been headhunted for the role of Victorian CIO, while former Victorian Department of Human Services Information Services Branch executive officer Tony Aitkenhead has been appointed CTO.

No other state has either a CTO or a CIO.

Patrick Hannan will commence as CIO on December 8. He will “assist the Bracks government to deliver on its e-government strategy by providing authoritative advice and strong leadership of information and communication technology matters across government,” said Marsha Thomson, Information and Communication Technology Minister

As chief information officers at all levels of government take a wider, more enterprise look at their role than in the past, it is becoming increasingly important that they are more than just tech-savvy.

In 2011, when Mark Raymond was first appointed chief information officer of Connecticut, the No. 1 tech priority in state government was hardware virtualization, according to the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). Raymond, who was recently re-appointed by incoming Gov. Ned Lamont, found that much of his time was spent doing just that: virtualizing the state’s technology, moving a data center, anything to improve the technical efficiency of the operations, he recalled.

Kyalo was opening the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) inaugural East Africa CIO Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, focusing on the evolution of the role of CIOs in the changing technology environment.

In der Diskussion ist der "Bundes-CIO" bereits seit zwei Jahren. Jetzt werden die Pläne konkret. Wie die "Financial Times" heute meldet, haben sich Finanzminister Peer Steinbrück, Innenminister Wolfgang Schäuble und Kanzleramtsminister Thomas de Maizière grundsätzlich darauf geeinigt, einen Chief Information Officer für die Bundesregierung berufen zu wollen. Seine oder ihre Aufgaben werden darin bestehen, die IT- und E-Government-Aktivitäten der Bundesregierung zu koordinieren. Einzelheiten werden Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel und Wirtschaftsminister Michael Glos voraussichtlich im Dezember auf dem "IT-Gipfel" in Hannover verraten.

The government should appoint a public sector chief information officer (CIO) to oversee technology implementation and evaluation, according to Gartner.