IT industry backs Government plans

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The tech industry is widely supportive of the Government’s plans to shake up public spending on ICT, but its backing depends on how the changes are implemented.

A new survey by TechMarketView showed unanimous support for the reformation of government IT procurement, outsourcing of back office functions and reduction of consultancy costs.

However, the respondents also saw the way in which changes were enforced as imperative, with a need for a strong mandate, professionalism and a radical change at the heart of Government operations.

“For the new ICT strategy to succeed reform must be implemented both carefully and robustly,” said Georgina O’Toole, research director at TechMarketView and author of the report.

“However, where the UK Government has contradictory aspirations with broader government policy, these areas must be defined clearly.”

The other issue highlighted by the report was strong opposition for Government encouragement of open source solutions.

Almost a third – 32 per cent – of respondents were against the creation of an “open playing field for open source software.”

Yet, despite concerns, an average of 82 per cent of the respondents supported each proposal.

“Whilst the results of this survey demonstrate that the ICT industry is largely in agreement with the new Government’s policies on IT reform and spending, some policy areas are seen as contradictory or unclear,” concluded O’Toole.

“The Government must go further to clarify their position before the key ICT suppliers will fully rubber stamp these proposals, especially on topics such as contract size limit, open source software and the creation of a government ‘skunkworks.’”

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