What are your priorities for Socitm's research in 2013
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The survey results (from 47 respondents) confirm the following priorities for research in 2013, based on their votes for the top four topics.
| Priority | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Digital delivery: the next generation |
| 2 | Channel shift |
| 3 | Shape of future ICT function |
| 4 | Information governance |
| 5 | 'Bring your own device' (BYOD) |
| 6 | Shared services: an ICT perspective |
| 7 | Lessons from outsourcing and strategic partnerships |
| 8 | Innovation |
| 9 | ID authentication and assurance |
| 10 | Agile |
The priorities broadly confirmed the initial selection by members of the Socitm Insight Steering Group (to be renamed Research Steering Group) at its meeting of 10 October. Very few new topics were suggested by respondents to the 10 projects identified (and outlined below)
Brief outline of 10 topics
1. Agile
This will document the main features of the agile methodology for ICT-enabled projects, its benefits and provide checklists of advice about how it might be introduced and the pitfalls to avoid, using the case study material available in our environment.
2. 'Bring your own device' (BYOD)
This will explore the trend, define the scope of the technologies involved, highlight the benefits and issues, and how to overcome them with practical checklists (eg scope of policies and codes of conduct) and sample documents.
3. Channel shift
This will examine case studies from organisations genuinely pursuing this corporately, covering all services, and will analyse the different approaches, benefits realised and critical success factors.
4. Digital delivery: the next generation
This will advise about the next generation of digital delivery practices that the local public sector should now embrace for supporting self-service (eg use of customer accounts, impact of personalisation. development of mobile access).
5. ID authentication and assurance
This will provide practical advice to the local public sector about the options available in the light of recent DWP announcements.
6. Information governance
This will identify issues of governance that arise from practical experience in information sharing and managing data quality, particularly in partnership operations, and will show practical steps to put in place the relevant governance and good practice for information management.
7. Innovation
This will outline the importance of innovation in today's climate, describe the different sources and types of innovation and advise on how to set up an environment to support innovation and manage the production of good ideas within the local public sector.
8. Lessons from outsourcing and strategic partnerships
Building on the principles set out in the forthcoming pocket guide on strategic sourcing, this will draw out from all the sources available (Socitm and elsewhere) the evidence of the outcomes from large-scale outsourcing and strategic partnerships with the private sector over the past decade and identify the lessons to learn for the future.
9. Shape of future ICT function
This will identify the organisational and technology trends that may influence the shape of the ICT function in the next five years (eg the cloud, mobile apps, utility computing, BYOD etc), the different scenarios that might emerge, the implications of each scenario and the steps that might be taken to achieve the most appropriate outcome.
10. Shared services: an ICT perspective
Building on the forthcoming pocket guide on shared services, this will set out good and poor practice in preparing for, implementing and running a shared ICT services operation, whether or not it is part of a broader shared services initiative and identify a list of issues for ICT managers with checklists of actions.