The extent of the costs and challenges pertaining to digital transformation have been shown with several public sector digital transformation initiatives. This is not least because of massive number of legacy information technology systems; the complexities around software licencing; an inability to innovate sufficiently; and due to services which have never been digitized. One case in point us with the province of Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.
A report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office, as reported by The Belfast Telegraph, reveals how expensive digitization of local government services has become, with costs ballooning from a planned £50 million ($70 million) to somewhere in the region of £110 million ($140 million), according to the BBC.
Northern Ireland scoped out a digital transformation project back in 2012. This was established an initial seven-year contract between the devolved government’s Department of Finance and the private communications company British Telecom. Things did not run according to plan. This is partly in keeping with things overall across the U.K.; a 2017 government report showed 60 percent of state related digital projects were on ‘amber’ status (that is, being in danger of not meeting targets).
Not only have costs more than doubled, there have been reports if people not always being able to access services, and with concerns about maintaining the continuity if service provision. Irish News notes that the Audit Office has criticized what it sees as a lack of monitoring and control if the contact by the government department responsible.
The report the report also raised concerns over the way in which individual projects delivered through the Strategic Partner Project were prioritized. Notably, projects were seen as too focused on central government services instead of those most valued by the public, such as health or social services.
The local government body has stated that lessons will be learned from the process, and that it is working with the Audit Office in order to ensure that the remaining stages of digital transformation run more smoothly and that better value for money will be provided for tax payers.
