I think the answer is obvious (but would welcome other ideas as well). It must be that industry demonstrates on the one hand, that ICT costs need to be managed effectively and provide value, and on the other that strategic investment in ICT has the potential to cut operational costs and generate wider efficiency savings at the same time as improving services.
This is our view on the Operational Efficiency Programme announced by HM Treasury almost six months ago. The OEP aims to make efficiency savings of £3.2 billion in IT, with £1.6 billion of this resulting from collaborative procurement. As taxpayers we all agree that savings must be made and that efficiency in government be improved. However, as the technology industry we also believe that government will not achieve this by just cutting IT spend by 20% as we have first-hand insight of the integral role technology plays in both making government operations efficient and delivering world-class public services.
