Government goes Green

After selling his stake, Wright decided to take a 12-month sabbatical “to find myself”. “That lasted about four weeks. I was just completely bored. For the first two weeks I just hit golf balls, and then for the second two weeks I thought about how boring it would be to hit golf balls for the rest of the 52 weeks.”

Scrolling through an online job site, Wright came across an entry for a marketing director with a government background – Cisco was looking for someone to run marketing in its government relations program. “I thought, that’s ridiculous, you don’t find too many of those.”

Wright said there is much more involved in IT than in media or telco work. “In the media space there is still an inherent desire to get the story out now. In a technology space they are very focused on the best way to distribute, the best infrastructure and architecture for my organisation. So it’s a much more involved process.”

Wright said he has noticed a trend towards closer relationships between resellers and customers which is particularly obvious in government. In what could be read as a sign of maturation within the industry, larger customers are looking for partnerships rather than just the best
price box-dropper.

This trend goes beyond government, said Wright. “Larger enterprise organisations are looking for significantly more from their vendors. It’s not just product placement anymore.”

But how do you make and develop relationships with government? One way is through public-private partnerships (PPPs), where governments share the cost and burden and revenue of public projects. A partnership means there is more likely to be “a mutual understanding of a common direction”, said Wright, who adds that he believes PPPs are becoming more common in tech rollouts.

“The country is littered with governments seeking to partner with organisations for the delivery of service, be they roads or ports or rails or broadband deployment. I think there will be a lot [more] emphasis on collaborative work between the two sectors than there was in the past,” said Wright. “Governments aren’t interested in owning all the infrastructure anymore. I can’t recall the last [time] where they’ve funded a complete project on their own.”

As with many ideas, PPPs sometimes work better in theory than in practice. Famous stuff-ups include Sydney’s recent motorways, such as the Lane Cove Tunnel, which could go broke next year. The private operator has been forced to refinance after the NSW government overestimated the daily number of vehicles and concurrent revenue.

What is the risk of ending up with a tech version of the Lane Cove Tunnel on your hands? Wright said that while there have been some difficulties in software deployments, few mishaps have occurred with hardware.

Given the trend towards joint responsibility for IT projects, joint ownership of the gear makes sense, he said. The PPP model “is the future of the industry”, said Wright.

A more hands-on approach by the channel means plenty more opportunities to be involved in other broader based initiatives. “I’m excited about the industry’s opportunities to participate in climate change and environmental footprint, I think it’s a got a huge role there. I’m excited about the industry’s opportunities to provide assistance from a CSR perspective, where it can genuinely make a difference to enhancing the lives of those less fortunate than others,” said Wright.

“It’s a long way from the tech wreck where it was all about how big a purchase order I can raise. There are now significantly more responsible approaches being taken to IT deployment. It’s a good opportunity to do something for the next generation of Australians around IT.”

collaboration goes government green networking