JASON SIMONS: Acceleration in IT project deliverance

WGP 13May15 - WGP 20May15 - WGP 27May15 - WGP 03Jun15 - WGP 10Jun15 - WGP 17Jun15 -

THE days when information technology departments could take years to develop a project and deliver it to market are truly over.

Remember when phone banking was introduced? That project would have taken banks years to implement - from the project delivery, through to setting up call centres, infrastructure, training the public on how to use the system, and creating the software to allow it to happen.

Now information technology projects are expected to take months - to create and deliver.

Globally, there is a trend for a shorter delivery time, to the point where customers are given a solution to a problem that they did not know existed.

How do information technologists strategise for this high level of customer expectation? By being smart about what platforms and systems to have in place.

It is important when looking at what platforms you use in a business to ensure that they are responsive and can be built upon. So when a manager requests a fast turnaround and solution to an issue, the systems are already in place to provide the solution - just by pushing a button or flicking a switch.

An example at Wanganui District Council is in the way we provide customer information. There are legislative requirements for providing information, and it can be work-intensive to find the information and make it available.

But by implementing cross-platform searching for information, we can get it faster and more reliably to the customer. And we want to work to a point whereby customers can access public information easily online.

The less time staff have to put towards searching for information, the more time can be spent on other areas of service delivery, making the business smarter and more efficient.