Benchmarking services: summary for 2007

Produced by: Socitm Insight

Type: Reports

For the first time we have combined our end of year reviews of our two main benchmarking services about ICT performance and user satisfaction to give an overview of the state of ICT services, and to provide pointers to opportunities for improvement.

Section 1 - Introduction

Benchmarking maintained its popularity throughout 2007, with 103 and 45 participants for the ICT service and user satisfaction service respectively. We take this opportunity to combine and analyse the overall results and reflect upon the current development of public sector ICT compared with our records of achievement to date.

Part A - Analysing the results

Section 2 - ICT resources

We look at the proportion of their budgets that public sector organisations choose to spend on ICT, and the amount of money that leaves for the ICT function to spend. We also look at the trends over the previous two years.

Section 3 - ICT performance

By analysing the data from our benchmarking surveys, we look at the broad trends and issues that ICT services faced in 2007, identifying priorities by their frequency of appearance as the top issue for any type of organisation. We compare these results with our historical data from both services in order to highlight trends and the important issues for ICT management to address in 2008.

Section 4 - Users' perceptions

All pervasive application of technology in the workplace increases user dependency, so their perception of service quality tells us much about the quality of their working life. If dissatisfied, it is likely that their frustration will be apparent to the community served, and could hamper initiatives for further investment.

Section 5 - Outsourcing

Interest in outsourcing continues against a backdrop of government encouragement to partner with the private sector. However, does this approach offer good value for money?

Part B - Learning from the results

Section 6 - ICT service excellence

We look in more detail at some of the top performers identified from both services.

Section 7 - Conclusions

In describing the picture of service provision and the user experience of it in 2007, we identified six major issues common to most organisations that have participated. These are now critical issues as organisations plan wholesale transformations of services in response to CSR07 and beyond. We set out our recommendations for dealing with these challenges.

Last modified: 3rd February 2010