The information and communications technology (ICT) function should be transformed into a business information service, a new report has said.
Rapid technology change, austerity and changes in public services are causing disruption for the ICT function, according to the report by the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm).
The report described how cloud services, mobile usage, commoditisation and big data analytics are driving disruptive change.
Report author Chris Head said: ‘The information age has seen data processing and mainframes give way to information technology and PCs, and now we’re seeing consumer devices herald another phase.’
A Socitm spokeswoman added: ‘By becoming business information services, ICT functions can embrace these challenges by actively promoting the opportunities that information assets and new technologies offer to modernise public services and save money while improving the customer experience.
‘This will involve selling the digital concept to top management and promoting ICT capability rather than adopting the reactive approach of running the ICT estate purely as a facilities management operation, where ICT waits for the business to ask for new systems.’
