The days of "More for Less" are almost behind us, and the only credible future for government now is "Less".  The Civil Service Reform Plan is leading to a smaller more strategic Civil Service, and yet a vital part of the continued strategic remit for government is to safeguard its citizens – in both physical and cyber space - and uphold the rule of law and order.  The effective use of technology is key to delivering this strategy, for example:

• The economic case for reducing reoffending is clear; effective rehabilitation now requires solid Business Intelligence about what type of sentence or intervention works best for different offenders.  By integrating this with Geo-Data analytical tools with a predictive capability you can put real power into the hands of policy makers and practitioners alike.
• More and more transactions with citizens who operate on both sides of the law will be digital – especially the routine, repeatable ones.  As organisations re-engineer and transform the ways they work to support new ways of working, the ability to develop secure and thoroughly tested technology applications both rapidly and iteratively will drive down costs.
• As the business of Courts becomes increasingly separated from the physical estate, new models of resolving disputes between individuals, businesses and the State itself will be supported by this kind of capability. Secure, Cloud-based approaches will naturally lend themselves to this type of environment.

Collaboration

In an increasingly networked world, 'collaboration' is becoming the watchword.  As the ‘Service Tower’ model for the provision of IT services increasingly gains traction, suppliers who are demonstrably committed to collaborative Open Source technologies will be very well placed to provide sustained support to government.