Each year, we go through a long call for papers and invitation process for the GTEC Conference. After 17 years as “Canada’s Government Technology Event”, you can imagine the list of submissions is long and the process for identifying the right speakers for our theme is fairly arduous.

We develop the conference with the support of our Honourary Chair, the CIO of the Government of Canada, Corinne Charette. We also vet the program through our board of governors, a public-private group of senior executives who are actively engaged in government.

The sessions at GTEC 2010 will be focused on a theme of “High Performance Government” which is a very timely theme for federal decision makers, in the wake of the Spring 2010 Auditor General’s Report and the current Administrative Review.

Canada is not alone. Globally, there is pressure on governments world-wide to provide more and better services and to do so within diminishing budgets; doing more with less, while not a new phrase is an accurate one. Doing more with less requires optimal performance. GTEC has traditionally explored the use of IM and IT to enable service delivery, this year we will consider these but look at them within the context of optimal performance.

Through our keynotes, seminars and workshops, we’ll also explore 5 basic approaches to high performance in government:

1. How technology enables high performance - How is technology leveraged at each phase of the management cycle: from planning, to execution, measurement, monitoring, talent management, and procurement?
2. How information enables better decisions - Governments must manage information and data horizontally across departments and between jurisdictions. How must governments address the issues of open data, security and privacy, to make more informed decisions?
3. High performance work cultures – High performing organizations require creativity and leadership from people at every level. What role should the CIO play as an advocate of high performance, and how can the IT/IM communities become agents of change?
4. What makes organizational transformation work – How can people and technology create new organizational structures that permit adaptability and change?
5. How to mitigate risk – If leveraged strategically, IM/IT can be a valuable tool for the public sector to evaluate and mitigate risk. If technologies can lead to better informed policy and service delivery strategies, then how do high performing governments quantify and measure risk?

History has already shown that technology can enable better service delivery, but high performance governments in the web 2.0 world must find new ways to address the human and organizational dimensions of public sector service delivery.
It’s important to note that there are a wide range of sessions you can attend at GTEC, including:

• Free Workshops (no charge) http://www.gtec.ca/conference/gtec-2010-workshops.pdf
• Cloud Camp (no charge) http://www.gtec.ca/conference/educational-programs.php
• Networking events (no charge, TBA)
• Unconferences and Sessions in the Demonstration Suites (no charge, TBA)
• Keynotes and Breakout Sessions (paid program) http://www.gtec.ca/conference/conference-by-day.php
• CIO BootCamp (paid program) http://www.gtec.ca/conference/cio-bootcamp.php

This year, I will be posting a number of speaker profiles, including the session abstract, speaker bio and notes from GTEC on why we believe the speaker is an important addition to the program. I hope these previews provide some useful context for your agenda planning during the event.

The sessions on the program include private and public sector speakers and the real value of the program comes from the significant level of the speakers and the blend of private and public sector perspectives. GTEC has always offered a level platform for dialogue on the issues that matter to government. Our hope is that innovation will come from sharing multiple perspectives, as the solutions to the complex challenges of service delivery can only come through collaboration and partnership.
Please look for our first conference session profile on…

CIO Role: Enabling the Government of the Future

Rick Webb,Chief Technology Officer, Canada, State & Local, Health & Public Service, Accenture

Tags: CIO Bootcamp, GTEC, High performance government

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