Q&A: Bill McCluggage
Bill McCluggage, newly appointed Government Chief Information Officer, answers our questions about his role and priorities for e-government and cloud strategies across government.
Outline your role as Chief Information Officer.
My role as CIO for the Irish Government is to help enable the reform agenda underway across government departments by exploiting the opportunities ICT provides for transformation.
If we pause and take a look at the changes that ICT has had on our day to day lives over the past 3-5 years, the biggest change has been brought about by the internet, connectivity and the availability of smart devices. We can now book travel online, print our own tickets and manage our journeys in a way that suits us. We communicate through new social media platforms that connect us to a whole range of new contacts and channels, and we consume information and facts on the move, and at times and in places that suit us.
So I see my role as CIO to lead and manage the definition and implementation of a new enterprise-wide ICT strategy that helps public service organisations deliver a step change in the citizen experience when interacting with government and public services, the implementation of a range of ‘build once, use many’ platforms that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public services, and driving a new focus on metrics, benchmarks and dashboards that will allow us to measure and manage the delivery of improved services.
What has been your career background before taking up your current role?
I’m an electronics engineer by background and a graduate from Queen’s University Belfast. I’ve worked in aviation and with aircraft systems for a significant portion of my career and have an MSc in aero-systems engineering. I returned to Belfast in 1999 and was IT Director at the Harland & Wolff shipyard before becoming Director of e-government for Northern Ireland in 2003 and then CIO for the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) in 2005.
At this time, the NICS was going through a major period of consolidation onto shared services (HRConnect, AccountNI, NetworkNI, IT Assist, and RecordsNI) and the first phase of the implementation of a cross-government contact centre strategy that has resulted in the NIDirect platform. I then moved to the Cabinet Office in London in 2009 and became the Deputy Government CIO for the UK, delivering the ICT strategies for both the previous Labour and current Coalition governments. Finally, my last role prior to becoming CIO for the Irish Government was with EMC as the CTO for public sector across UK and Ireland.
What are your initial priorities?
My first priority has been to identify where we are with the implementation of the existing e-government and cloud computing strategies across the public service in Ireland, and define a new organisation structure for the Office of Government CIO that builds on the good components of the old CMOD but also signals a move to a new ‘digital’ era.
With this new organisation in place, I’ll be working with the CIO Council on devising a new ICT strategy that will cover how we move from e-government to a focus on ‘Digital First’, accelerate the implementation of cloud computing across the public service, develop a new approach to data sharing and deliver a 21st century network service as the platform upon which to base the new set of shared services being developed across government, work on how we continue the open data agenda and, finally, how we introduce a new PMO style management approach to the delivery of ICT that exploits metrics and dashboards to drive improvement.
How do you see the potential for developing the public sector’s e-government strategy in the future?
As I said before, I think we need to see a positive step change in the experience that citizens have when they interact with public services. Over the past few years Ireland has been recognised by the EU and OECD within the top group of countries in terms of e-government. Proof that the existing e-government strategy has been really successful in getting a whole range of services on line and there are a number of examples where we have led the world in the delivery of online services.
However, times move on and if we are to continue to be a world class place in which to live, work and do business we now need to take a hard look at how we can move to the next level by making the whole digital experience for our citizens and businesses more streamlined and effective. Initially, this will involve identifying the services with the highest transactional volumes and focusing efforts on ensuring these are as efficient and user focused as possible.
As an example, in the UK the Government Digital Service has identified the top 26 transactional services, which out of 660 services delivered to the public account for over 90 per cent of the volume of transactional services, and they are now working with the delivery organisations to redesign the delivery these as part of their ‘Digital by Default’ programme.
How do you see cloud computing unfolding in the delivery of public services?
Cloud computing represents a fundamental shift in the way businesses consume ICT services. I remember in the late 90s the rise of so-called application service provision (ASP) but constraints surrounding connectivity and the lack of broadband restricted the early benefits of this approach. This has changed and we now use cloud services in our day to day lives without really thinking.
We download music from the cloud, store images and videos in the cloud, and buy and sell goods over the cloud. So in terms of public service delivery, I see implementation of the cloud computing strategy as a key enabler in our reform agenda. So, over my first few weeks in office I’ve been working with a few of my team to see how we can accelerate implementation of the strategy and plan to establish a cloud programme office in the new OGCIO. Hopefully, by late autumn you’ll see real progress.
How big a role does technology have to play in public service reform?
Technology plays a fundamental role in virtually all public services, be it in healthcare, education, tax, benefits, agriculture and justice et al. So it stands to reason that it can play a big role in reform. But it is not just about implementing new technology that can deliver faster results. It’s about looking at the processes and redesigning them to make the most of the new capabilities that exist. By looking at how we can share data in an appropriate but more meaningful way we could help improve collaboration, converge service operations and bring more services online, hence improving the citizen experience and driving out costly duplication.
In your experience in both the public and private sectors, what should managers focus on in any change process?
That’s simple: people, people and people! Once you’ve brought the people with you, you can then look after the processes and technology.
You have been involved in the implementation of several successful large scale ICT projects. What are key success factors for such big projects and why do many fail?
I’m not sure that we’ve got the space to deal with this issue here, but I believe it involves getting a real clarity on the objective, getting the right people and resources in place, and then – instead of adopting a large waterfall approach – designing the project to start small and be capable of scaling rapidly.
What scope is there for shared services in delivering public services? What did you learn in your time with the NICS?
There is already an ongoing programme of shared services underway and this involves HR, payroll and will hopefully move on to encompass financials and ICT. In my experience you’ve got to get top level support and plan to bring the users along with you. It’s not a smooth ride and 54-56you can expect lots of issues to pop up that you never thought of when you planned the programme. But by working together and adopting a flexible and collaborative approach to problem solving, you can get past most hurdles. It’s also important to understand the level of resourcing required and adopt a phased approach to migration.
How do you deliver innovation in public services using technology? Have you experience of ICT projects that delivered real innovation?
Start small, try things out and adopt things that work in other areas. Innovation is not about invention. It’s generally about identifying something that works in another area and exploiting it quickly to solve an issue somewhere else. I suppose the main one that I’ve experienced recently is the whole move by the airline industry to online booking and ticketing, and how this has radically changed the traveller’s experience. There are several examples of new and innovative services enabled by ICT – for instance, in terms of vehicle transit, the whole NRA e-flow service is excellent and has made a dramatic difference in the whole travel experience on Ireland’s roads network.
Looking to the future, what is the one trend that you think will have the biggest impact on the delivery of public services?
Again, simple: digital. Over the next decade the biggest impact will be the way we redesign services to exploit digital channels of delivery.
Personal profile: What do you do outside work?
Outside work I love to watch TV series that allow me to escape: such as NCIS, CSI, and I’ve just started watching some of the newer US SiFi series. I also like gardening and doing things with the family. Unfortunately over the past couple of years I’ve not got out on to the golf course as much as I’d have liked – but maybe I’ll leave that until I retire.
