A survey of leading public sector figures by Kable market intelligence on the implications of the operational efficiency programme suggest there is no unified response to its call for 20% savings on IT spending and back office functions.
Carried out at the recent GC Live procurement conference in London, analysts questioned 100 public sector delegates and were asked if their senior management would pay more attention to the need for direct savings on IT, or to invest in IT to provide savings elsewhere.
55% said that spending on IT would be more important in boosting efficiency, against 45% expecting management to look for direct savings on IT spending. The group most likely to believe that IT investment is a necessary component for efficiencies elsewhere was in healthcare, while delegates from education were more likely to think it will be cut to provide savings.
On being asked whether it is possible to achieve 20% savings on IT spending over three years without damaging performance on core objectives, 52% agreed and 48% said no.
There were indications that procurement professionals rather than IT staff were more likely to believe there is scope to reduce IT spending without undermining operational effectiveness. They also emphasised that it is more difficult to justify IT investment during austere times rather than in a period of transformation.
Delegates from central government were the least likely to believe the Treasury's targets are achievable, while those from the education, healthcare and criminal justice sectors – ironically the furthest away from Treasury control – were more likely to think they could be achieved.
Stephen Roberts, principal analyst at Kable, said: "Even if only half of officialdom believes that 20% reductions in IT spend will be achieved, these findings imply that vendors should expect the procurement environment to feel significantly tougher this year. Investments in IT solutions will need to be directly linked to savings elsewhere."
