The Department of Economic Development’s Information Systems Division (ISD) continues to strive for excellence – and that hard work has already been recognised this year in a variety of ways:
• The Energy Expo 2011 Energy Champions Award presented in May for the biggest energy saving in the public sector – with annual savings of more than ?350,000 in energy consumption through effective data centre and desktop PC management.
• The award of MVP (Most Valued Professional) for ISD’s work on data storage management and private cloud computing, presented in May at the EMC World conference in Las Vegas (attended by 10,000 people).
• Short-listing for the Techworld Virtualisation award, to be announced on 30th June 2011. (Techworld is a UK industry leader in Enterprise IT analysis and news).
Minister for the Department of Economic Development, Allan Bell MHK, commented:
‘It is often difficult to understand the value from investment in information technology. I know that ISD has already delivered real financial savings to Government in areas such as the cost of telecommunications, data centre, desktop infrastructure, etc. whilst at the same time supporting increases in the user base and the number of systems and services supported. External recognition, whether it be the ISO accreditations held by ISD or these Awards is another validation of the good work being undertaken.’
The most recent external review has been carried out on behalf of Government by Capgemini Consulting. This was in the form of scrutiny and measurement of the quality of Government’s Online Public Services (eServices) against targets set by the European Union for EU countries. Capgemini carry out an annual benchmark measurement of the 27 member states plus five other associated countries for the EU. The EU measurement process has been ongoing since 2001. ISD have previously commissioned Capgemini to measure Isle of Man Government progress against the European targets in 2006 and 2008. This is done using an identical process to the annual EU measurement.
The May 2011 review concludes:
• The Isle of Man is steadily closing the gap with Europe as regards the full online availability of eServices, showing faster growth than the average European country (only six countries show more improvement).
• The largest improvement has been made in the areas of public services that generate income for Government, achieving 100% of the EU target in this category.
• The User Experience ranking reveals the Isle of Man as a leading practice in Europe, positioned second place in the overall country comparison.
• The Isle of Man has reached the full 100% target as regards the user experience of its National Portal, whereas Europe stands at 77%.
• Although not a part of the benchmark measurement, the advanced accessibility features of the portal and services deserve special attention.
• The Isle of Man is among the key players in Europe as regards the availability and monitoring of key technology enablers, such as Single Sign On, ePayment, Secure eDelivery, and Source Authentication.
The report concludes that the Isle of Man is committed to the use of integrated ICT for competitive advantage and has achieved outstanding results, in particular considering its size in terms of ICT budgets and staff to other EU nations. (Isle of Man Government’s ICT Budget is 1.0% of GDP; EU average is 2.4% of GDP).
Chief Executive for the Department of Economic Development, Colin Kniveton, sees this report as particularly important at this time. He said:
‘This independent report confirms the value of the Department of Economic Development’s continuing support for ISD’s focus on technology as a shared service, and the associated standards and principles underpinning the development of OneMann on-line services. I am personally very pleased with the 100% achievement in the category described as Revenue Generation (Income Tax, VAT, etc).’
Minister Bell noted that another key category is described as Registration, and confirmed that the Department of Economic Development is committed to developing world-class online services for Company Registration and Returns. He concluded:
‘Once again, external validation concludes that Government’s investment in Information Technology is delivering services that compare positively with the best in Europe and represent real value for money.’
Ends
Wednesday 22nd, June 2011 04:18pm.
