I am very pleased to see the convening of Chief Information Officers(CIOs) again for the 2003 IT strategic planning (ITSP) process. When we embarked on this process in 2003, we were cautiously optimistic on the project success. Considering that the efforts of the Federal Government in ITSP have not progressed very much since it was started 2 years ago, we are looking good at this point. I would like to congratulate all of you here today for your efforts in developing the State’s ITSP program to where it is today.

In this regard too, I reiterate my personal support and that of the State Government in this initiative. The State Government’s vision of a Knowledge-based Society cannot be achieved overnight but only through systematic planning and methodical implementation of the plan. Here I need to emphasize that Statutory Bodies, Local Authorities and other State Agencies play a critical role as well. It is no accident that this project is for the entire State Public Service.

Having said all that, we need to confront realities. The reality is that we have a long way to go. There are wide ranging skills, capability and exposure among the CIOs. Many of us still think in terms of technology and solutions rather than wider issues. We need to readjust our thinking in terms of information management and services delivery. We need to reflect on how we can help meet the agency’s business objectives and our customer’s demands. ITSP is not about technology, but about how technology should be applied to improve the agencies’ services to the customers. Through ITSP, we must continually look at new approaches and ways to improve customer service through the application of technology.

On this note, I am disappointed that some agencies do not have any business plans. There are other initiatives to address this such as the balanced scorecards and ISO quality certification projects, but some agencies do not seem to have a consistent or definitive business plan. Without such plans, ICT strategic planning has limited value. The ICT Unit has downsized the scope of the ICT Strategic Planning methodology to cater for this, that is, to limit its discussion to address mainly short to medium term business objectives, rather than the agencies total and long-term business plans. CIOs can play a key role in helping the agencies shape these business objectives.

I mentioned earlier on the government’s support for the ITSP. I am pleased to inform you that I shall be presenting notebook computers for selective CIOs later on. As you are all aware, the notebooks are presented only to CIOs who have completed their plans – we reward those who perform. It was also announced earlier that the site visits planned for State CIOs. In return for all these incentives, however, I shall be scrutinizing more closely the strategic plans in terms of quality. Enforcement of policies will be more stringent starting this year once we codify these policies, procedures and guidelines on the ITSP planning and evaluation process.

I have further plans for the CIOs. It goes beyond just ICT Strategic Planning. There is already a list of ICT roles and personalities in the agencies that will come under the management and supervision of the CIO. Among them are webmasters, ICT Security Officers and ICT Focal Persons. We may be introducing another role this year in the form of ICT Administrator. I understand your concern on your ability or capability to manage this. It must be emphasized that this is a role and need not be assigned to one person. Moreover we are not introducing anything new in the way of responsibilities. We are merely identifying them and formalizing them. The human resource for these roles is an issue for your head of agency to address. Issues on permanent posts or financial incentives will take time to resolve as this affects the whole government.

Our long-term goal is to decentralize ICT. What we are experiencing now is a natural evolution. By necessity, when we started in a big way in ICT in 1992, we adopted a centralized planning model with SAINS providing most of the ICT resource. Since 2001, we have transferred the planning and management roles to the ICT Unit. As part of the plan, eventually more of those responsibilities will be transferred to the agencies. This of course must be done methodically and with a proper framework and comprehensive policies, procedures and guidelines. The CIO’s role, therefore, is the catalyst for all my ICT initiatives. I hope that you can meet the challenge.