By Ivan Milam, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

More than a decade ago, most Canadian public sector and government CIOs focused on providing “the pipes, power and ping” for their organizations. Their primary job was to keep the department’s IT infrastructure and applications running. Their priorities were often set by other executives whose primary purpose was to drive down cost while demanding increased service.  However, over the past 10 years public sector CIOs have increasingly come to the  understanding that to be an equal partner at the executive table they must break from their traditional “infrastructure delivery” roles and embrace a much more strategic one of an equal business partner in the organization.

As a trusted public sector advisor with PwC, I have helped many departments make this very important transition.  Through these experiences, I’ve witnessed CIO’s make this journey by using, to varying degrees, elements of the following 6 key activities.

1. Deliver core services efficiently

IT departments are continually asked to do more with less. CIOs who are strategic partners demonstrate to business executives that they’re delivering core services at the lowest expense while achieving high levels of client satisfaction.  Without this foundation piece, CIOs typically get stuck in the process of continually defending IT’s cost instead highlighting its value.

But doing so means utilizing all available options to enhance IT efficiency. These include outsourcing, co-sourcing, co-partnerships, and improving collaboration with other stakeholders and partners.  Leveraging all options to improve the day-to-day IT functions free up CIOs to do what CIOs do best – highlight strategic and innovation opportunities to help drive their organization’s to meet their strategic goals and outcomes.

2. Immerse yourself in the business and demonstrate your knowledge

CIOs must not only show value by delivering services efficiently. They must also develop a genuine understanding of the business outside of IT operations. High performing IM/IT executives learn about the business processes, business drivers, and strategic focus of all business units in their organization.  By showing their knowledge of the organization and selling ideas supported by data and a sound knowledge of the business, they demonstrate they are not only a technology person but a strategic peer at the executive level.

3. Align your innovation and ideas with the organization’s strategic vision using a structured process

Instead of taking orders at the board room table, leading CIO’s are proactive in presenting ideas that align IT’s investments with the organization’s priorities. One way to do this is to develop a structured process for prioritizing innovative ideas for IT investment. A structured process helps to identify, evaluate, develop and present new IT innovations to the organization. Then, as an executive team, they can determine the best ideas that align with the organization’s strategic vision.

4. Stay engaged by connecting with people

Gaining visibility at the executive, stakeholder and staff level with active participation and collaboration is another tool used by many CIOs. Building these relationships allows CIOs to share the organization’s vision and learn how vendors, suppliers or employees can contribute.

Successful CIOs are often seen engaging stakeholders by participating in local public speaking events to communicate where they’re taking their organizations and how stakeholders can help. Other platforms used to get the message out to staff include wikis, blogs and social networking tools. These methods contribute to collaboration and innovation, and build awareness around the IT department’s value to the organization.

5. Enable agility with effective architecture

Typically, a lot of companies have a complex IT architecture with different systems that do not work well together. This hampers innovation and the agility to solve problems quickly.

CIOs who bring IT from the back office to the executive table develop and more importantly implement architectures that provide flexibility to handle the changes that innovation brings. Reducing system complexity and increasing standardization are two key approaches that allow organizations to pivot on a dime when embracing new technologies or discovering new priorities.

6. Keep an eye on risk

The balancing act for CIOs is to bring value while remaining cognizant of risk. IT represents a significant area of vulnerability for an organization in different ways. Without adequate controls, companies may leave themselves open to fraud, security breaches, or a loss of intellectual capital. 

Effective CIOs balance security, risk and compliance requirements with innovation.

With technology playing such a large role in our lives today, CIOs must be equal partners at the executive table.  Today, an ever increasing number of CIOs are advancing down this path. For each CIO and each organization, the journey is different but many of the steps are similar. 

Ottawa, Ontario – Wednesday, April 29, 2009 – GTEC announced that the 2009 Showcase Province will be Saskatchewan.  Saskatchewan is a leading province in innovation and technology, with a strong partnership of private sector firms, public and Crown entities working together to expand technology and business opportunities in the province.

“The Government of Saskatchewan views technology as one of the keys to building our province and sustaining our economic momentum,” Minister responsible for the Information Technology Office, Dan D’Autremont said.  “Whether it’s enhancing our research and development tax credit or developing more efficient government services through the adoption of technology, our goal is to make it easier for our private sector to develop the innovations that are helping to grow our province’s economy.”

The Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) will lead the delegation.  Saskatchewan will also exhibit some of the innovative ways it is using technology to improve services to its citizens and grow the economy, including:

• How its unique public-private trade organization (Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership) is helping companies to export Saskatchewan-developed technology around the world.
• The expansion of high-speed Internet coverage to every corner of the province.
• How centralization of IT services is creating opportunities to develop less expensive and more effective technology-based services for citizens.
• How major advancements in the use of geomatics and geomapping is helping the private and public sectors to make better decisions.

“Whether it’s enhancing our research and development tax credit or developing a more efficient government oil and gas system, our goal is to facilitate the ideas and innovation that our private sector is using to build Saskatchewan and exporting around the world,” D’Autremont said.

“GTEC is not just about the federal government, and neither is government service delivery.  The truth is that communities and services are becoming increasingly interwoven and governments need to collaborate across jurisdictions to deliver services better,” said Kevin d’Entremont, Executive Director of GTEC.  “There are lessons to be learned from the provincial model for service delivery, and I am pleased that Saskatchewan’s presence will highlight both private and public sector innovation.”

The GTEC 2009 focus is “Service Mashups”.  GTEC’s Government 2.0 (G2.0) Conference will bring leaders together to “mash-up” public sector programs and services to uncover the underlying issues that enable or prevent governments from innovating service delivery. Rather than offering a series of presentations, GTEC’s conference will challenge community leaders to collaborate on a vision of government 2.0 services based on actual benefits and limitations of their policy and operating environments.

At NRCan we are in the second year of our Web 2.0 implementation. Depending on who you speak with in the department, Web 2.0 is the best thing since sliced bread, and is enabling employees to work more collaboratively than ever before – or, you might be met with indifference and a dismissive wave of the hand informing you that Web 2.0 technology has no place government and is just a passing fad.

Given that over half of all NRCan employees are actively using internal tools like the Wiki, blogs, discussion forums, polling software, social networking tools and, many are using FaceBook, YouTube and Twitter externally to share knowledge and mobilize communities, I would say with confidence that Web 2.0 is much more than a passing fad at NRCan.  By their nature alone, Web 2.0 tools are designed to be shared, used interactively and simultaneously.  They are about bringing people together, enabling interaction and building upon interests and expertise.  They are also immediate and easy to use. 

Why then, after almost two years do we not have 100% of NRCan employees fully exploiting our suite of Web 2.0 tools?

It’s all about change. 

As the “chief engagement officer” of Web 2.0 at NRCan (self titled to satisfy my long-standing desire to be CEO), I am always looking for interesting, new ways to engage employees.  My goal is to get them as excited as I am about changing the way government works.  I want to get them thinking about information differently – to get them experimenting with the tools and discovering for themselves the power they have to really make a difference in the department…in government. 

When we launched our Wiki with a departmental Hawaiian Luau and delivered an innovative podcast message from our Deputy Minister, we ensured that every single NRCan employee knew about the Wiki.  We have continued our quirky award recognitions, extensive Wiki training sessions and barn raisings, Web 2.0 orientations and we never miss an opportunity to promote the Wiki and other tools.  We celebrate many successes. 

Early adopters have embraced Web 2.0 and have become evangelical about using the tools to change the way they work.  Their enthusiasm is infectious.  The challenge now is finding ways to support and encourage those employees that aren’t quite so sure about Web 2.0.

My research tells me not to worry.  Not to get hung up on achieving a 100% take up rate.  The risk in putting too much emphasis on engaging those who are truly unwilling or afraid to change the way they work is in losing the support and trust of lead users. 

Engagement is a key enabler for culture change.   It increases awareness and builds community, confidence and trust.  By continuing to profile the innovation, creativity and bold approaches of champion users, we can demonstrate the value of Web 2.0 in government – the power it has to simplify administrative processes, to improve collaboration and to enable the integration of knowledge.   It is through consistent, innovative, fun, bold, risky, thoughtful and ongoing engagement that true culture change will begin to take root.

Is Web 2.0 changing the way government organizations are working together internally, as organizations?  Is Web 2.0 causing us to think more about the contribution we, as employees, can make to our organizations?  Is Web 2.0 breaking down some traditional silos and stimulating us to work outside of typical work structures?  In my opinion, the answers are obvious:  Yes!  Yes!  And yes!

Web 2.0 has started a revolution….an evolution and a new way of working together, sharing information, contributing knowledge and respecting the active participation of a wide range of users.  This is the genesis of Government 2.0. 

At Natural Resources Canada, we are in the midst of such a revolution.   We began with some simple exploration into a few ‘collaborative tools’.  But, we quickly discovered the power of collaboration and Web 2.0 technology.  From then on we were hooked and we were excited.  As we shared our stories with others, we discovered that the excitement was contagious…not because we simply talked about it or gave demos, but because this technology is immediate and accessible. 

When we started our journey into Gov 2.0, we knew we wanted to try out a lot of ‘really cool stuff’.  We also knew we needed to demonstrate value to NRCan employees.  Our focus was on two major deliverables:  a departmental Wiki and a Business Case for implementing Collaborative Technology.  Our Wiki 101 pilot, (101 users in 101 days) was established to assess how a wiki could enable the creation of rich, integrated content amongst government employees (after all, a Wiki is only as good as the content it holds).  We also wanted to build some support and identify lead users.  The pilot exceeded our expectations.  Employees were asking to take part, they wanted to help each other out, and communities of employees with common interests were emerging.

In October, 2007 we launched our Wiki to all the employees of NRCan and three months later, the Business Case was approved.  Since then, our wiki continues to evolve and grow and, we continue to introduce additional tools. 

Has the transition to Gov 2.0 at NRCan been easy?  No.  It has been hard work.  Has it been worthwhile?  Absolutely!  Our bold approach has enabled renewal in the department.   It is supporting new ways of working and increasing the level of collaborating amongst employees.  It is changing the culture of work at NRCan. 

We were thrilled to be invited as contributors to this blog to stimulate dialogue on topics such as culture change, social technologies, innovative approaches, GC collaboration, rules of engagement and many others.  Through this dialogue we will exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions; share best practices; and talk about the challenges, risks and our changing role.  Most importantly, we will learn from each other in an open and collaborative environment.  In the spirit of Government 2.0, let’s start collaborating…….