Public sector IT too rigid, says Capgemini CTO

IT industry needs to undo 15 years of locked-down thinking

Public sector IT chiefs are still not as flexible as the most innovative private sector CIOs, according to Capgemini CTO Karl Deacon, who was speaking at the last Computing IT Leaders event.

At the event, entitled Virtualisation - From Planning to Implementation, Deacon said the structured budget lines, and traditional siloed departments in government mean that public sector IT leaders find it more difficult to make strategic cross-departmental decisions than those in the private sector.

He said that when deciding whether to virtualise an infrastructure, a department may not see the benefits of its investment because it is not responsible for costs such as power and rent.

"The effects of virtualisation can be like those of throwing a stone into a pond. Initial costs will be felt by the IT department, but the subsequent ripples (benefits) will be felt far beyond, and so decision-makers need to take a strategic approach," he said.

This type of flexibility requires a change in mindset that can also be difficult for IT vendors and buyers outside government to adopt.

Stuart Dommett, business development manager at Intel, who was also speaking at the event, reiterated this point: "IT leaders now see the flexibility of end points as paramount. Staff want to consume services using any and every gadget, but this means a lot of re-thinking.

"The industry has to change its mindset of the past 15 years. It provided business leaders with something they didn't want in the form of desktop computing, which saw end points locked down and used in one way.

"The supply chain was made simple this way and it was cheaper, but people don't like working like that. There is the technology to enable agility now - all it requires is a change in thinking."