Public-sector IT managers are under twice as much pressure to reduce operational costs as their private-sector counterparts, according to research by Centralis.
One in two IT departments said that they had been asked by senior management to help to reduce their organisation’s operating costs, compared with fewer than a quarter in the private sector.
Increasing workforce flexibility and enhancing remote working capabilities are considered the most effective ways of making savings, with more than half (56 per cent) of public-sector IT departments saying that they will focus on those areas during the rest of 2009.
According to Centralis’ research, the top five IT initiatives in the public sector were:
- Increasing workforce flexibility and remote working capabilities (56 per cent);
- Refreshing desktop or laptop estates (28 per cent);
- Upgrading operating systems (21 per cent);
- Improving datacentre performance (18 per cent);
- Reviewing business continuity and disaster recovery systems (18 per cent).
The research also found that while over half of all IT projects in the public sector are being driven from the top down, one third of IT departments are driving innovation themselves from the bottom up.
Ewen Anderson, managing director, Centralis, said, “It’s no surprise that the public sector is under pressure to reduce costs, and IT spending is an obvious target. But this can also be seen as an opportunity to invest in increased agility. Aligning IT capabilities with organisational goals, such as shared services, business continuity and flexible working, will deliver significant overall cost savings and help to meet a wide range of operational targets.”
