Resellers keen to crack into government work can look to the Australian Taxation Office for hints. Specifically, the ATO’s chief information officer, because CIO Bill Gibson has two things at the front of his mind when it comes to information and communications technology – and they are both common considerations for public sector CIOs.
Gibson’s vision for the tax office’s approach to ICT is to make it easy for citizens to work with the tax man and to lift staff productivity. The Australian Public Service ICT Roadmap 2012-15 and the Australian Public Service Mobile Roadmap show that these two concepts are common considerations for public sector chief information officers.
It may come as a surprise to those who see the tax office as just an edifice to which they begrudgingly give money, but Gibson’s prime focus is serving citizens and businesses, agency staff – and partners. In this way, many of the concerns of government departments like the ATO mirror those of private enterprise.
This philosophy flows through to the ATO’s citizen services including pre-filling annual tax returns with data from reporting organisations such as employers, banks, share registries and other government agencies.
Gibson, who this year celebrates 10 years as the agency’s CIO, is in the midst of ICT projects that over the next two years will transform how the nation’s tax collector does business. The agency’s IT department is one of the biggest in the nation, with 2,000 workers and an annual budget of $650 million. The Australian last year ranked Gibson one of Australia’s 50 most influential CIOs.
Informing his approach are twin demands to balance flexibility with security on staff mobile devices while enabling employees, partners and taxpayers to work with the department using their native systems.
The tax office ICT initiatives include rolling out secure smartphones and tablets to employees so they can work from anywhere; integrating core ATO systems with whole-of-government systems and citizen portals such as MyGov; and deploying a next-generation desktop to the department’s 25,000 workers while pushing ahead with the Australian Public Sector telework trial.
Gibson is also aware of the need to work closely with the channel.
“We’re looking to expose more of our ICT or business services to the software community so they can provide more of their own value-added services [to taxpayers],” Gibson says. That includes the growing number of software-as-a-service providers.
The ATO has outsourcing relationships with the likes of Optus, Lockheed Martin, Datacom and HP to run its operations, contact centres, and centralised computing services including data centres and software management.
Gibson is protective of the agency’s in-house role developing its own applications but is keen to work with value-added partners such as software developers and increasingly cloud services providers.
Complex channels
The task for government has become more complex as more channels for service delivery have evolved, including online, social and mobile.
In the recent ‘Optus Future of Business Report’, about two-thirds of the 110 government respondents listed citizen satisfaction with their online presences as key measures of the channel’s success.
This commitment to online agency transformation is reflected in how the ATO is working with MyGov, a single point-of-entry to government services to simplify how taxpayers interact with the agency.
“There’s a terrific momentum building up in government, recognising that our clients are clients of other agencies so we’ll use recognisable standards to supply that consistent online experience,” Gibson says.
“The ATO is working within that [MyGov] framework. In 2014, we’ll expose some of our services so, as a citizen, you’ll be able to log in once and do business with the ATO or other agencies – that’s an extremely powerful enabler to provide a much more integrated environment.”
This necessitated some deft work in ATO systems to authenticate users across systems.
“At the moment, the authentication layer is hosted in our environment but we did that in a way that allows us to simply point to the MyGov authentication layer when we’re ready to switch over,” adds Gibson.
That means that an individual taxpayer can log into virtually any government service, including a mobile app or web browser and, once authenticated, access ATO services. This will become especially important as the ATO rolls out mobile apps over the next year, which will be updated every three to four months with new functions.
By the end of the calendar year, a decision will also be made about the desktop strategy, with Gibson leaning towards hosted, virtualised desktops. “We’re also looking very, very closely at thin clients. If the case can be made for us using on a broader base thin clients then we will do that in the next two to three months.”
Gibson says this strategy simplifies desktop management, accelerates the agency’s bring-your-own-device (BYOD) aims by allowing a wide array of devices to function on the ATO network, and will mobilise its workforce, including offering workers the opportunity to work from home.
This also enhances security because data will not be stored on devices and only accessed through secure networks – even over the internet. He’s excited about cutting desktop PC emissions up to 90 percent by replacing them with tablets and thin clients. These plans dovetail with the ATO’s on-premise pilot of a Wi-Fi network for Adelaide staff to unshackle workers from their desks.
The panel discussion
Many in the channel would aspire to having a client like the ATO on its books. Governments tend to be steady spenders, even during economic downturns. They are also good test beds and are influential references.
In contrast to a global downturn in public sector spending, Gartner predicts that public spending across the three tiers of Australian government will rise 2.68 percent this year and 3.32 percent next year. The analyst firm predicts that combined spending will lift next year to $10.5 billion, with the Federal government spending $5.7 billion while local and state governments will spend $4.8 billion. Last year, the three tiers of governments spent a combined $9.9 billion.
But signing government business means competing for tenders that may be written in such a way that they exclude candidates. And it is difficult to know who the competition is or why a tender was rejected.
Panels are a popular alternative to tenders. Using these ‘a la carte’ lists, government can source services and cut its contracting burden. And panels are a bit more transparent for the channel, says Verizon regional vice-president John Karabin. The local subsidiary of the US telecoms giant provides data centres and information security services including analytics to government. Verizon also has a channel programme, although Karabin cautions prospective partners to do their homework on Verizon and be patient with the on-boarding process.
“We see [panels] as an advantage because we only have to negotiate once, get on a panel and then it comes down to features and functions,” Karabin says. “With tenders, you have to be in the right verticals otherwise you miss out on some of the bigger opportunities.”
A panel listing allows agencies to pick a supplier from a catalogue, which eases the selection task. Panels don’t replace marketing and tenders, but they are another way to reach government decision-makers.
Karabin says governments are trying to be open to smaller suppliers and have recently expanded the number of panels. “[But] at the end of the day, you have to prove you provide value or you’ll be excluded.”
Karabin sees great opportunities in mobility, information security and analytics: “Big data is a critical part because, as bandwidth goes up through the NBN or upgrades of mobile networks, huge amounts of data will be sent around and managing, hosting and running analytics over that is critical.”
As networks become smarter through the deployment of smart utilities grids, e-health networks and car and truck logistics systems, machine-to-machine networks will be in demand, he says.
“The smart grid is a perfect example – electricity meters are enabled, all IT-based. We predict this will be one of the fastest-growing areas in the next five years.”
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