The European Union wants Government services to be accessible online by 2005, and many public sector organisations are making good progress towards this goal. But, while it's undoubtedly convenient to be able to email our MP or renew our library books on the web, many citizens and businesses will soon expect a great deal more from electronic Government.
With more than half the UK population now online, electronic access to information, products and services is becoming the norm, not an unexpected bonus.
This increased demand comes at a time when Government is suffering lost revenues due to economic lows, as well as unprecedented international security challenges, a growing skills crisis and the pressures of devolution and the changing relationship of central and local government.
However, a range of IT services companies are currently busily engaged in developing the software required to ensure Government is accessible to citizens.
One of these is Steria, a French-owned IT services company operating in 12 countries across Europe which employs around 10,000 people and last year had revenues in excess of 1bn Euros.
The company acquired Integris (formerly the Services Division of Bull Information Systems) in 2001, and is one of the top 10 IT services companies in Europe. Its core businesses cover consulting, systems integration and managed services.
The specialist company, which employs 40 people at its centre in Belfast, designs, develops and delivers quality IT systems solutions for clients in the defence, criminal justice, emergency services, transport and insurance markets. In addition, a high proportion of business is with Government departments.
In Northern Ireland, where the company has become a market leader, Steria uses it's highlydeveloped local skills and talents to operate IT contracts with many important public bodies, including the PSNI, Laganside Corporation and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The company's biggest coup in Northern Ireland has been a £26.7m contract with the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety which will see Steria managing IT links between all GP's and Hospital Trusts in the Province over the next 10 years.
Growth for the company has, therefore, been substantial over the last few years with revenue increasing by more than 300 per cent from £2m in 2001, to close to £7m in 2004.
John Torrie, CEO, Steria UK, says he expects that level of growth to continue as electronic processes become embedded across Government, and not just when it comes to dealing with citizens.
"The public sector has driven growth and the market in Northern Ireland is heavily predicated on the public sector.
"I draw a distinction between e-government as it is at the moment - because it is more to do with an e-interface between the citizen and the authority - and true egovernment, which is about radically changing the system of Government much further than just through an einterface.
"The e-government initiative started off with the right intent, which was about restructuring the Government process. But it seems as though the process has been shortcut and an einterface has been put between the citizen and the authority.
"In reality, egovernment has to be about all of the fundamental processes that makes the business of Government work."
The opportunities for growth, John Torrie says, centre on providing portable solutions to Government agencies.
"Where we have good solutions - be it Germany or Belgium - we want that solution to be portable so that it can be used by Government agencies in other countries.
"We have so much experience in the redesign of the processes of local government that we are now working on shared services where several authorities will get together and we create structures for them to use. This is of particular benefit to authorities who, on their own, could not justify the investment."
With regard to the Northern Ireland Health Service contract, Steria's IT system will allow all healthcare organisations in the Province to link up and modernise GPs' surgeries.
The complex system will link 350 GP practices, 19 hospital trusts, four health boards, the Central Services Agency and, in due course, the General Register Office of Northern Ireland, allowing them to share patient information electronically and securely between one another.
With 400 organisations sharing patient information for the first time, the aim of an aspect called Health and Care Number is to stop duplication of patient information across branches of the health system.
The contract also includes a major ICT modernisation programme for GP practices, connecting the 350 surgeries electronically into the healthcare community and providing all with secure email, internet and electronic inter-system connection.
This is the first time a healthcare community as large as Northern Ireland has been inter-connected in this way. It is also planned to link Northern Ireland to similar systems in Scotland, England and Wales when they are in place.
Steria has signed similar deals in Sweden, enabling different medical organisations in the national health system to exchange confidential information.
"The project we are doing to the health service in Northern Ireland will deliver much better access to information in the health sector," says John Torrie. "It will allow a person to move almost seamlessly through the health service so that their records are always at hand. It means information will flow from health service to GPs, pharmacies, dentists. It is about making a seamless link between the individual and the health care professionals.
"With such a project, it means that efficiencies can be gained. These kinds of projects in the public sector means are about delivering business efficiencies so that the money can be handed back to the public sector."
Steria's Belfast operation last year generated sales worth £8m and, such is the success of the team, that some of the processes pioneered in Northern Ireland are being used as a blueprint for the rest of the group in Europe.
"We have achieved a business model and style of supplier and customer in Northern Ireland that we would aspire to achieve in the rest of the company," adds John.
"The staff in Belfast invest themselves in the client - if we could do that in some other areas of the UK, it would transform our relationship with the customer and also the public perception of what it is like to work in the IT industry.
"Belfast is one of the best businesses that we have in the group in terms of the ability, enthusiasm and quality of the workforce."
John says the primary objective now is to sustain the level of growth and there is an excellent sales pipeline for 2005.
"The future looks very exciting indeed," he adds.
Autor: Adrienne McGill
Quelle: News Letter, 30.11.2004
