Nottingham City Council in the non-metropolitan district council for the unitary authority of Nottingham. Mark Gannon has been director of information technology since July 2011. Have you completed an MBA? No Order the following sources of advice/information by value to you:1. Peer group2. Analyst3. In-house4. Vendors5. Consultant Technology strategy and spending What is the major transformational IT project that has been recently completed, or is underway at your organisation?I have initiated a large transformation programme called the "FIT programme" which is about putting in place an IT Service and an IT infrastructure that is fit for purpose and fit for the future. What impact will it/does it have on the organisation?When I took over in post, I inherited a service and an infrastructure that has been underinvested in for a significant period of time and had lacked proper strategic leadership. The FIT programme is aligning the IT Service with ITIL best practice to enable it to deliver the operation effectively and it is investing in the core infrastructure to give customers reliable, fast and modern devices and software. What new strategic technology deals has your organisation struck and with whom?We have just procured a new £2m SAN based on world class technology although I am unable to say with whom at this point. Name your strategic technology suppliers?Oracle, Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix, VMware. What is the IT budget?My revenue budget is circa £7m and I also manage a corporate IT Revenue Reserve which is used to fund capital IT programmes – "The IT Efficiency Fund" – which is £6m pa on a rolling basis. What is the strategic aim of the CIO and IT operations for the next financial year?Seeing the FIT programme through to conclusion and developing shared delivery opportunities with peer Councils. Transformation achievements Would you describe the CIO role as a transformation leader in your organisation?I have worked hard to get the CIO role recognised as not just about technology. This is being recognised as I sit on the Corporate Transformation Steering Group and am Lead Director for the Council's key transformation programme around customer service, reporting directly to the CEO. Describe the transformations you have led / been involved in, how did they transform operations, customer experience or the organisation?1 – Restructured the entire IT operation to be in line with the ITIL framework. This has led to significant improvements including fixes at first point of delivery rising from 40% to 80% and successfully implemented changes rising from 50% to 95%. 2 – Implemented a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement to bring the estate up to the latest version and enable Windows 7 to be rolled out. 3 – Deployed VOIP telephony to 100 sites enabling colleagues to log in to telephones from any site, vastly improving agile working opportunities and significantly reducing telephony costs. 4 – Refreshed the Council's website and moved the web team from Communications and Marketing to IT. Beyond technology, can you describe a business transformation programme that you own or contribute to?I am lead Director for the Council's Customer Access Programme. This is a significant transformation programme which I personally devleoped from vision to strategy and we are now about to commence implementation. This will realise massive customer service improvements through the establishment of a new customer service function for the Council and undertaking BPR of all Council services. It will deliver £2m+ per annum savings and deliver a return on investment from year 2. The CEX is sponsor for the Programme and I report directly to him on it. What key technologies are being considered to enable transformation?Mobile platforms.CRM and workflow. What percentage of your applications / infrastructure is run from the Cloud?Negligible at present although we have plans to massively increase this. How is the use by employees of their own technology, use of mobiles and social networking impacting operations, customer experiences or the organisation at present?My view has always been to embrace these areas and to actively promote them. We have implemented a secure email solution to allow all employees to securely access corporate email from any devices. We are also developing a Council endorsed BYOD solution which employees can purchase a laptop via salary sacrifice and use it in place of a corporately issued device. When I took over social networking access was locked down by default. Given the amount of engagement we do as a Council with our customers via social media it seemed to me to be perverse that our own staff could not access it. I arranged for social media access to be unlocked by default and this has allowed colleagues to better engage with and see  feedback from customers. Do you have a plan in place for how to deal with shadow IT and BYOD. How do you influence and engage executives, place the right controls around employee choice and engage with the organisation on this issue?I am a 'liberal' when it come to BYOD and access. I believe in controlling to the lowest risk rather than throwing a blanket over everything to catch residual risks. Where do you seek transformational inspiration from?1 – Peer individuals and organisations can provide massive inspiration, either by providing good ideas from things they have already done or by things to avoid.2 – Outside local government and the public sector. I think lessons can be learned across sectors and I don't believe it is healthy to limit oneself to one's own sector only.3 – I make the most of social media and like to network with other thinkers, not just those in IT.4 – Conferences and thought leadership events can provide invaluable inspiration. The CIO role in the business Who do you report to?CFO Do you have a seat on the board?No How often do you meet with the CEO?Weekly Does your organisation have a digital leader and what is the difference in their responsibilities to yours?This is an interesting point. We don't currently have a digital leader but I am currently taking on the responsibility for this area as my organisation recognises that CIOs add value not from "running IT" but ensuring that IT and technology delivers value to the organisation and its customers. We are in the process of moving to that vision with me taking on responsibility for Digitial and Technology Transformation with one of my team being left to "run IT" with me as commissioner of the service. What percentage of IT budget do you control and what percentage of IT budget does your digital peer hold?I control 100%. The IT department How many staff make up the IT team? (What is the split between in-house/outsourced staff)We have a completely insourced model at present and the IT Service is approximately 140 staff. This includes the Digital/Web Team and a commercial function which sells IT services to schools. Describe the CIO’s management team, do you have direct reports that develop the relationship and services between the business and IT?I have arranged my structure to be totally in line with the ITIL workflow. I have a Head of Strategy, a Head of Change and Transition, a Head o Infrastructure and a Head of Delivery. I also have a "Process Manager" reporting to me who take on the role of Problem Management but also challenged me and my leadership team to ensure we are continually operating according to best practice and are continuously improving. We have a business partner model with key "account managers" aligned to different parts of the business. We have also established departmental IT governance to ensure that we help the business develop their IT strategies but also ensure that these requirements are smart and that they are fed into the IT service early. And how many log-in accounts do you issue across you organisation?We have approximately 6,500 end users. What is the primary technology platform? ( for example ERP, Website, trading system)We are a complex organisation with a range of functions each with diverse technology needs. There is no single primary technology platform. My team manages and supports 200+ applications.