Essex County Council in East Anglia is a busy authority as a close neighbour to London, a significant proportion of the community commute into the capital. Essex also borders boom-county Cambridgeshire and is a strong business community in its own right, supporting London Stansted Airport and significant financial services businesses. IT Leader:David Wilde In role since:5 months Reporting line:COO for operations, CEO for governance Board level seat:Yes to Outcomes (transformation) Board, not on executive board IT budget:£32million per annum running costs, £15million capital. IT spend is about five per cent of total turnover of £2.14billion IT estate and or number of log on accounts under the control of the IT leader:12,400 users plus 35,000 for schools, run through the education network Level of the workforce that relies on technology to carry out their tasks:80 per cent IT staff currently employed:320 Split between in-house/outsourced staff:80 per cent in-house IT management team and reporting structure:Reporting structure comprises eight direct reports: service delivery, information management, IT security, IT strategy, four heads of technology for the four main business arms covering the relationship and services between IT and business Primary technology platforms at the organisation: Windows7 and Office 2010, over 200 other line of business systems Primary technology suppliers: Microsoft, Oracle, Siemens, Northgate, IDOX, Liquidlogic, IBM, HP Significant strategic technology deals been struck in the last 12 months: None in last 12 months but several major procurements under way, expected to award over next 12 months Strategic aim of the CIO and IT operations for the next financial year:Upgrade and consolidate core systems and in parallel embed stronger information governance Technologies considered by the leader to offer their organisation potential:Cloud, but private in the main. On a course to be fully private cloud by 2015 Future transformation and technology vision for the organisation:Key enabler for economic growth in Essex so I am leading on several projects designed to improve citizen and business access to technology to enable greater digital take-up and business growth. Within the council, I’m leading on a technology programme to improve access to services through digital means, mainly web and mobile apps