IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Greater efficiency while improving customer service in local authorities is possible through end-to-end process streamlining and joining up technologies but managers in councils don’t have the complete skill sets required to progress change programmes they are asked to implement.

The survey of 102 local authority chief executives, policy makers and change managers across the UK - commissioned by Civica, a market leader in software-based solutions that helps organisations improve service delivery, found that one third of respondents (34%) claims to have made significant progress on service transformation so far.

The government wants IT employers to work more closely with the sector skills body e-Skills UK to improve the UK’s IT capabilities.

Speaking at the launch of a new campaign to promote skills across the workforce, minister of state for lifelong learning Bill Rammell said firms must increase their commitment and investment in staff training.

NHS trusts are lacking the IT skills needed to deliver the information changes planned by the government, according to Intellect.

In a surprising warning from the body that represents IT services firms, Intellect said that outsourcing NHS IT under the £12.7 billion National Programme for IT had essentially left some trusts without the skills needed. Nevertheless, it also made a number of detailed recommendations for handling information and improving processes with IT.

The growing digital divide in the UK should be addressed through a mix of better communications infrastructure, IT education courses, employer initiatives and improved government web sites, delegates at an IT skills event yesterday were told.

The event was held at the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to mark the beginning of e-Skills week.

Leeds City Council’s 345-strong IT department is at the vanguard of plans to establish a fully-fledged technology profession within the public sector.

The local authority is the first such body to implement a skills competency framework developed by the Cabinet Office’s eGovernment Unit (eGU) as part of its IT professionalism agenda.

The days of mass budgets and even bigger departments are long gone. Public sector IT now has to be faster, quicker and smarter than private sector businesses.

Participants of an e-government workshop are attending a two-day training session today on information and communication technology (ICT) for development at a regional United Nations capacity building institute in the Republic of Korea.

The Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP), a regional institute of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, began a training session on ICT project management for twenty-three government officials from Pacific Island States at its training facilities in Incheon, Republic of Korea, from 12 to 13 July 2010.

High-level officials are to attend the inaugural National Workshop of the “Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders” (Academy), a core ICT for development curriculum developed by the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 9 to 12 March.

Knowledge and education can be used to build confident in young women and men as well as to allow them to stand on their two feet, she said at the opening of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Forum on ICT in Education (AMFIE) 2012 held in Bangkok last week.

“ICT can and must serve this essential goal,” she added and continued: “We must ensure that ICT are accessible, and that they bridge divides and favour inclusive education, that they draw on appropriate content, and that they support quality teaching.”

According to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, her organization is willing to support Thailand in terms of technological development as information and communication technology (ICT) is very important nowadays. Not only is the knowledge on ICT vital to teachers and students but also to everyone. She expressed that tablet PCs should not be used just for education, but also for occupational purposes.

Union Minister of Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan launched AI for India 2.0, a free online training programme on Artificial Intelligence, today on World Youth Skills’ Day.

A joint initiative of Skill India and GUVI, this NCVET and IIT Madras accredited online programme will equip youth with frontier skills.

It's gotten harder to get government workers the training they need. Virtual learning can help to fill the gap.

With public-sector budgets tight and conference-related spending under continuing scrutiny, how are government agencies adapting to develop their employees without compromising quality? One response: Many public agencies are increasingly moving training online and out of the traditional classroom setting.

GovLoop, an online training and collaboration community that describes itself as "the knowledge network for government," surveyed its members and found that almost 90 percent of respondents had attended at least one virtual learning event in 2014, up 2 percent from 2013. It's not hard to see why that number has been growing: Going virtual eliminates geographic, spatial and time constraints, since learners can attend from any convenient location. Webinars and virtual classroom tools such as surveys, whiteboards and text chat facilitate session engagement and appeal to participants' different learning styles. Archived recordings of sessions allow for on-demand and repeat viewings. And the cost savings related to travel, lodging, and lost time and office productivity are significant.

The federal workforce is approaching a tipping point.

Agencies are reconciling digital change with the realities of a changing talent pool. And, while the public sector is no stranger to change, the rate at which technology is transforming government operations necessitates a completely different approach to worker development.

There’s a great sense of urgency here. McKinsey estimates that digitization may provide more than $3.5 trillion in economic value for the public sector. Meanwhile, Gartner found that 81% of public sector firms have prioritized digital transformation, with significant investments in AI, cybersecurity, and managed IT services.

But this process currently passes through five people with specialized skill sets in different departments. And it takes weeks, if not months to do. Oftentimes, the market has changed by then, so the data's not even relevant.

IT jobs are growing at a much faster rate than the number of employees who are trained to fill them. Fewer people are graduating with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees. And many current IT employees are set to retire soon.

This situation has led to a shortage of skilled IT workers in 18 states and Washington, D.C., according to an America's Tech Talent Crunch report from Dice, a career site for technology and engineering professionals. States with the highest shortages are New Jersey, Texas, New York, Massachusetts and California -- and in California, many software engineers receive five to 10 job offers a day on LinkedIn.

We’re already seeing the potential for what tools like ChatGPT can do to improve public services. It’s time for governments at all levels to invest in training their people in the technology.

Two U.S. senators recently introduced the bipartisan AI Leadership Training Act. The bill, which is moving forward to the full Senate for consideration, calls for the federal Office of Personnel Management to train senior leaders across the federal government in the basics and risks of artificial intelligence.

The American College of Physician Executives has a new 40-hour course program in health IT that can help M.D. who lead hospitals, integrated health delivery networks, physician groups, and committees better understand the important health IT projects underway at their organizations.

The ACPE certificate program can also give the participants a head start for a earning a master's degree in healthcare management from several U.S. universities.

The transportation industry is known for its acronyms. Smart city is one of these vast yet vague concepts left for the masses to define. It is shocking to see the size of the gap between the creativity of the industry and the adoption by implementing agencies. The Federal government ought to be commended for trying to kick-start the implementation of technology with programs, incentives, and funding. Despite a few successes here and there, the implementation is not yet strong enough to reward and encourage the growth of the smart city industry.

From a civil servant perspective, I share my personal experience with major inhibitors of success and the reasons why we continue to function light years behind technological advances in local government.

“Across the developing world, places like China and India are putting the informational pedal to the metal,” Schumer said. “If we don’t have our kids keep pace, then our kids are going to be left in the interview line as someone else takes their place.”