By Sascha Giese, Head Geek™ at SolarWinds
With citizens looking for convenience wherever they can—from responsive mobile apps to joined-up services—public sector organisations are under increasing pressure to develop and deliver the IT solutions needed to facilitate such services.
It was something laid out in June when the U.K. Government published its 2022 – 2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data.
In it, ministers set out their ambitions to “transform digital public services, deliver world-class digital technology and systems, and attract and retain the best in digital talent.”
It also spoke about the need to “drive value for money to the taxpayer, by transforming our ways of working to enable the civil service to work smarter and faster and deliver on our ambitions for widespread digital transformation.”
Demand for digital government services is growing
But there was also an admission that, as set out in a report by the National Audit Office in 2021, prior attempts at public sector digital transformation have had “mixed success.”
“Previous strategies have lacked specificity, cross-government endorsement, clear lines of accountability, and business ownership. Subsequently, former flagship programmes have slowly shut down and failed to deliver results,” it said.
While this may be true, the reality for many front-line public sector IT teams is somewhat different. In many cases, they have to deal with siloed legacy systems, some of which are built around 30-year-old supercomputers.
I’m not the first to point this out—nor will I be the last—but the truth is these systems are often ill-equipped to meet the needs of people and government today.
In many cases, the challenge for public sector IT teams is how to stitch together legacy technology with modern solutions to deliver the kinds of interactive experiences people expect. But it’s not so simple.
Complexity is acting as a handbrake on progress
A report published by SolarWinds, Getting IT Right: Managing Hybrid IT Complexity
2022, found four in 10 (38%) enterprise tech pros found the fragmentation between legacy technologies and new technologies was the number one cause of increased complexity within their operation.
When asked about how confident they were this IT complexity could be managed, only 16% said they felt extremely confident, with a third (34%) admitting they “weren’t fully equipped” to manage such complexity.
Sascha Giese
In a nod to the rapid progress made in the last couple of years, the report pointed out in many cases, the response to the pandemic had accelerated the pace of digital transformation across the world. Instead of migrating to the cloud as part of a phased rollout, the report observed it “happened overnight, as workers everywhere went remote and were no longer within the office’s four walls.”
But while this response helped keep businesses and public sector organisations running, it added more levels of complexity on top of already complex systems.
Training, preparation, and investment are key to successful delivery
In highlighting a key conclusion, the report points out: “IT professionals have a concerning lack of confidence in their ability to manage today’s hybrid IT environments. And more worrisome, most IT pros believe return on investment (ROI) has been impacted due to increasing IT complexity.
“Successful digital transformation is only within reach of every organisation with the right amount of training, preparation, and investment,” it said.
And yet, there’s clearly an appetite for change. In a separate report—SolarWinds Public Sector Cybersecurity Survey Report—200 public sector decision-makers and influencers in the U.S. were asked about the challenges faced by public sector IT professionals.
When pressed on investment priorities, 60% said replacing legacy applications and migrating systems to the cloud was a “high priority.”
Of course, calls for change come at a time when tax-funded budgets are under tight scrutiny and increasing inflationary pressure. Exactly how such limited budgets are juggled when nations face increasing demands on the public purse remains to be seen.
What’s clear, though, is the demand for digital public services is growing not only from citizens but also from government.
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