1. Exploring the opportunities and pitfalls of new and emerging technologies in Australian local government Future of Local Government Summit Rydges, Melbourne Thursday 23 rd May 2013 © All rights reserved. Rob Livingstone Advisory Pty Ltd. Unauthorized redistribution prohibited without prior approval. Navigating through the Cloud and Success is our story, lets make it yours are Trademarks of Rob Livingstone Advisory Pty Ltd.

2. Agenda Cloud under the lens

3. Session 6 Flickr.com Technology fuelled Disruption + current climate: Weathering the sea of perfect storms A perspective on Emerging Technologies

4. Organisations across the board, are finding themselves in the perfect storm arising from the combination of forces: The first, and most influential of these forces in my view, is the increase uncertainty and volatility facing Australian organisations, whether public, private or government. This tends to drives technology decision making which is increasingly focussed on the short term. The second influence is the fundamental shift in the expectations of enterprise IT by other executives and the business as a whole. This is a direct consequence of having first hand exposure to user friendly, low cost (or free) consumer grade IT technologies and solutions, and compelling marketing from IT vendors. A perspective on Emerging Technologies

5. Organisations across the board, are finding themselves in the perfect storm arising from the combination of forces: The third is inconsistency of business strategies across organisations. This presents a challenge for those in IT leadership roles, who are expected to respond to inconsistent short term demands, some of which are fragmented, not always well thought through, potentially contradictory and not always in the long term best interests of the organisation. The fourth is the expectation that IT leadership should not appear as technologists. The new IT leader should be able to communicate clearly in business speak and turn technical, governance and risk complexity into plain language. A perspective on Emerging Technologies

6. Determining the optimal approach in the use of Technology for the enterprise is not a trivial exercise

7. http://info.publicintelligence.net/GlobalTrends2030.pdf December 2012 Context: Global influences

8. http://info.publicintelligence.net/GlobalTrends2030.pdf December 2012 Context: Global influences

9. Potential for cross-organisational collaboration to achieve joint outcomes using emerging technologies a now reality. –Question is, what is the appetite for a change from the organisational perspective. The opportunities for LGs to maximise the upside potential of disruptive, new and emerging technologies exists –This will, however require a coherent and deliberate umbrella IT strategy Fragmentation and inconsistency of existing IT systems, technologies & related services across LG agencies contributes to duplication of effort. Context: Government (Not in order of importance)

10. Limited budget and resourcing at LG level to take on major IT initiatives change –Seduction of the Cloud computing model – pay as you go. State and Federal Governments collaboration sits astride an active fault-line with occasional earthquake. A well known example being healthcare funding. –Question is: How does this influence LGs willing and/or capability to embark on a LG state-wide structural change on how IT is used? LG IT is operational and has no real funding for innovation Technology initiated disruptive change is the norm, and responding to this volatility with legacy enterprise IT business model is neither simple or risk free. Context: Government (Not in order of importance)

11. Budgetary pressures, cost cutting, austerity, uncertainty contribute to increasingly short term thinking and planning across all industries, whether public, private or Government. (result of GFC, deficit reductions and other factors) –Appetite and capability for making big, bold changes requiring long term thinking. –Innovation, speed, agility not easy For LG, shifting away from locally developed, bespoke, non- integrated legacy IT systems with known cost and risk is not a trivial exercise. Ratepayers are increasingly tech savvy and increasingly expect consumer style technology such as apps, etc Context: Government (Not in order of importance)

12. Context – Challenges facing Local Government What are the key technology challenges facing LG? 1.Seduction of being spoilt for choice: Cloud 2.Political reality 3.Governance 4.Standardisation Cloud – is it a metaphor for disruption?

13. Context – Challenges facing Local Government Challenge #1: Seduction of being spoilt for choice: Cloud Whats the perceived value of specific cloud offerings, vs. the actual value. Cloud lowers (or can eliminate) the barrier to entry to enterprise IT systems The Cloud market is innovative, volatile and new products and offerings are appearing on almost a daily basis Cloud allows stretched internal LG IT staff to be directed to value adding tasks, not just keeping the lights on. Pay as you go model removes the need for up-front capital investment which is appealing for organisations that are capital constrained. Real risk of a fragmented, inconsistent array of Cloud applications which are poorly integrated, which could compound the problem Showcasing a series of Cloud vendors without understanding the key organisational drivers or requirements may not be in LGs best interests

14. Context – Challenges facing Local Government Challenge #2: Political reality At what level of government should the LG technology strategy sit? What influence does LG have to elevate the discussion to the Australian Local Government of Australia (ALGA) (national) level? Balance between local loss of control and a coherent, well thought through umbrella IT and technology strategy needs to be struck to: Maximise value Maximise collaboration between LG councils. Minimise cost (Both short term and TCO) Minimise risk (or at least identify the risks & mitigate) Minimise risks associated with opportunistic vendor predation Develop and relevant vendor management strategy

15. Challenge #3: Governance: Map the inventory of legislative, policy or other compliance mandates to your current and any proposed cloud solutions. Public Cloud offerings may present a range of challenges to LG in respect of the various statutes and regulatory mandates (eg: Privacy using overseas Cloud services). Recognise that Cloud may not eliminate the need for effective IT governance (eg: change control) Context – Challenges facing Local Government

16. Challenge #3: Governance: New / emerging technologies Making sense of the myriad of position papers, guidelines etc across Federal and State governments no small task. For LG: Like drinking from a fire hydrant Based on the principle of Heres the guidelines, then proceed on an informed basis! Context – Challenges facing Local Government

17. Challenge #4: Standardisation: Public Cloud is built on the premise of standardisation. Build once, use many times allows for greater efficiencies, hence lower cost. The challenge lies in ensuring that, over the life of a specific Cloud systems use, if it cannot be configured to meet a changing environment (eg new legislation), LG may be forced to adapt or abandon that Cloud system. Understand where the real value in the standardisation of so called, commodity IT services using Cloud lies. Eg: email, file and network storage, etc Context – Challenges facing Local Government

18. Cloud Computing under the Lens

19. Real opportunities will be identified through the systematic and deliberate attention to what is possible, rather than looking for a solution to fix a problem. Emerging can lower IT operational costs – but not always! Faster delivery of IT projects and related initiatives Increasing organisational agility through the configuration of, rather than development (e.g. coding) of systems Universal access to smart systems using Smartphones can be a game-changer in delivering services to ratepayers Improved coordination between LG services Emerging lends itself to pilot project / proof of concept trials for innovative local initiatives with low penalty costs for failures. Opportunities of Cloud Computing

20. Some Pitfalls of Cloud Lack of clarity over what organisational problem needs solving by the application of the latest big thing in technology Fragmented, localised Cloud systems could increase the systemic (not technical) risk to LG Vendor predation and/or individual stakeholders opinions are no substitute to good, well informed commercial decision making on new technologies. Adopting Cloud without knowing your exit or transition-out strategy at the start Inappropriate pre-purchase due diligence leading to real problems Lack of visibility of total cost of ownership Legal and jurisdictional issues associated with overseas Cloud providers

21. Integrating Cloud systems with any others can be costly & complex Security – You are at the mercy of the providers standards Business Continuity Identity Management Forensics Contractual complexity ….. To name but a few Some Pitfalls of Cloud

22. Recognise that Cloud computing is only one of a number of new and emerging, potentially disruptive technologies Clarify what problems youre trying to fix first, then identify the potential solutions Do not necessarily, make public Cloud, or any specific technology your default position without careful assessment. Due diligence is the weapon of choice in the fight against future systemic risks. What next? Systemic Risk Time

23. W: www.rob-livingstone.com E: rob@rob-livingstone.com P: +61 2 8005 1972 M: +61 419 632 673 F: +61 2 9879 5004 Tw: @rladvisory ROB LIVINGSTONE - Fellow, University of Technology, Sydney - Principal, Rob Livingstone Advisory Pty Ltd Thank You! © All rights reserved. Rob Livingstone Advisory Pty Ltd. Unauthorized redistribution prohibited without prior approval. Navigating through the Cloud and Success is our story, lets make it yours are Trademarks of Rob Livingstone Advisory Pty Ltd.