Civil servants not convinced IT can help - report

Survey claims just a third of government workers believe IT can help deliver their objectives

The government and its IT suppliers need to work harder to convince civil servants that better technology can help meet their objectives, according to public sector IT company Eduserv.

The firm spoke to 100 civil servants as part of a research project and claims to have uncovered "low levels of confidence" among them when it comes to the benefits IT can bring them.

Just one in three respondents said they were confident IT could help improve collaboration or services and a significant majority – 71 per cent – said they did not think their department would invest in better IT as a result.

Just under four fifths admitted their department does not have an IT strategy aligned to future business needs, and only a tenth said IT worked effectively with its department to meet its needs.

Ivan Harris, chief strategy officer for managed cloud services at Eduserv, said this attitude needs to change.

"Today, the overwhelming priority for central government is to harness technology in order to improve service delivery – an area which many acknowledge has been ignored so far," he said.

"But with only a quarter of organisations able to say their people understand the role of IT in service delivery, the defining challenge for successful digital transformation in government is less about technology and more about culture and people.

"To create the environment for success, managers and leaders need to stop flying solo and show greater strategic leadership by getting IT on board with the digital transformation agenda if we are to get close to the government's vision for a digital government."