Research and Markets: 2011/2012 ICT Trends in Local Government in Australia and New Zealand

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9d4a67/20112012_ict_tren) has announced the addition of the "2011/2012 ICT Trends in Local Government in Australia and New Zealand" report to their offering.

This report on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in local government in Australia and New Zealand is produced every two years and provides the basis for the analysis of ICT budgets and staffing, as well as key ICT challenges and priorities specific to this sector.

The report highlights a number of changes that emerged in the last two years:

• increased ICT budget and ICT staffing levels,
• increased levels of contract staff,
• a relative decline in ICT infrastructure optimization initiatives (eg server virtualization, networks consolidation) and a shift towards more effort dedicated to consolidation and rationalization of local councils' business applications.

The report is based on feedback from both business and ICT executives and provides an insight into local councils' perceptions of the value for money delivered through their ICT. While ICT is recognized for its business enabling role in on-going improvement of the councils' internal operations, only about 10% of the councils rated their ICT teams as being proactive in advancing councils' capabilities required to deal with changes in the public expectations, economy and environment.

The report also provides a rare fact-based insight into changes in ICT delivery models, and, in particular, challenges and opportunities associated with ICT outsourcing and Shared Services arrangements between peer local councils.

The ICT Trends report is used by local councils in Australia and New Zealand for ICT budgeting, strategic planning and performance benchmarking. ICT vendors servicing the local government sector use this report to validate and calibrate their sales and marketing strategies.

Key Topics Covered:

ICT FINANCIAL METRICS: changes in ICT budgets, % of council revenue spent on ICT, Opex and Capex ratios;

ICT STAFFING: ICT team composition (by function), ICT staff to total council staff ratio, staffing changes, contract staff levels;

ICT TEAM CAPABILITIES: sector average scores across key capability areas (technical skills, business knowledge, change agility, succession planning, key person risk), staff management priorities, ICT training budget;

ICT DELIVERY MODELS: current and desired levels of ICT work a) delivered by in-house ICT staff, b) outsourced to ICT vendors, c) delivered through Shared Services. Barriers to the set-up and expansion of Shared Services. Preferred delivery models by ICT function (eg applications management, Help Desk).

ICT ENVIRONMENT: support ratios for ICT Help Desk services, desktop support, server administration;

ICT PRIORITIES: relative priorities of initiatives grouped by key business benefits (cost reduction, efficiency and productivity improvement, risk management, customer service improvements);

ICT VALUE: ICT contribution to key local council's functions (economic development, community/ social development, infrastructure/ land use, environment management and governance).

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9d4a67/20112012_ict_tren.