SmartGov Live 2010: Belfast City CIO says top IT job is "transformed"

Rose Crozier: "A CIO must be a political animal and know who she/he needs to keep on side"

Ex-Socitm president and current Belfast City Council CIO Rose Crozier used her keynote at the SmartGov Live 2010 conference in London today to highlight how the role of the CIO has been transformed compared with just a few years ago.

"A CIO's role is now about managing change more than managing programmes, and understanding and being able to influence people is essential to this," she said.

Crozier said negotiating skills and strong advocacy and leadership skills are vital elements of the CIO's skillset.

"A CIO must be a political animal and know who she/he needs to keep on side, " she added.

To keep Belfast City's IT function close to those holding the council's purse strings, Crozier has appointed business relationship managers to liaise with senior decision makers and demonstrate how technology can help them achieve their goals. They also organise pilots for new technology implementations.

The business relationship managers are due to go into their third planning cycle in July, which will see them conduct reviews of previous projects as well as workshops with departments looking at where to target new investment.

"These IT and business focused business relationship managers help shine a light on spending within the council and ensure money is not wasted," she said.

Crozier is also looking to support greater collaboration and data sharing between the City Council and the voluntary sector.

“Belfast has nine of the 10 most social deprived wards in Northern Ireland and as such our customers are many of the same customers being catered to by the voluntary sector. Sharing information with them has and will help us deliver better services,” she said.

Collaborative procurement between the council and voluntary bodies has already delivered benefits. For example, a reverse auction for PCs conducted in collaboration with 14 voluntary organisations earlier this year yielded significant savings for the council.