'This challenge to revolutionise the way we provide services is as big as the challenge that EasyJet faced in changing the way people travel. That's what I can tell my team," says Paul Kilner, director of the Planning Portal, a government project run through the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
His goal is for every planning application to be submitted and handled electronically. Already, the portal is fully integrated with one in seven local authority planning departments.
Although Kilner was employed by KPMG until 18 months ago, his team understands his unlikely call to arms, because 75% of them are also from the private sector. "When I go out and meet people, I get asked, 'Are you really a town planner?' I take it as a compliment," he says.
With aggressive deadlines (not least the target of getting all public services online by the end of 2005), a trend to more manageable and innovative projects, and a closing pay gap, the public sector is in danger of becoming a glamorous career move for senior IT managers.
"Over the past two to three years, we have seen a lot of our best people heading for the public sector. I've seen several senior IT directors leave investment banks and head for the government sector. They are certainly sought-after as candidates," says Louise Smith, the managing director of jm, a recruitment consultancy, which specialises in placing candidates in the financial community. "A lot of the big ticket work is in government these days. Blocks are getting unblocked. Work gets done."
The public sector has benefited from the downturn in the corporate IT cycle: redundancies, budget cuts and cancelled projects have left many aspiring and talented managers with no option but to cast the net wider. Smith has seen another trend, though: high achievers for whom money alone is not enough.
"Some people are deciding that they would feel good about working on a system that will transform patient care in UK hospitals, rather than another front office trading system for an investment bank," she says. "You get to the age of 40, and if you're good, you've paid off your mortgage and have a bit salted away. You can do something challenging and still see your kids at night. It's not nine-to-five in the public sector, but it's not seven-to-10 either."
Gary Nolan, the e-communications manager at the London Borough of Southwark, admits he is an ex-dotcommer who slipped into public service by accident. Having worked for Digitas, an internet marketing company, on accounts such as American Express and GM, joining a borough where 50% of residents do not own their house was a culture change.
"It's a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. That's why I stayed. You get the feeling that everyone is looking to change, I'm not held back in any way," he explains. "It's quite similar, but the focus isn't just on getting new customers."
Nolan's focus is on adapting IT to meet the needs of ordinary people. He has recently been working on making services accessible for the visually impaired. He probably would not have done that had he stayed in the private sector: after all, there is no return on investment.
Working for government has plenty of downsides: most obviously, you do not get paid as much, and salaries are constrained by rigid pay scales. "The comparison of salaries looks good at the moment, because in the private sector salaries are deflated. When that changes, we can't react as quickly. We play a longer game, and there's more to the job than the headline salary," says Andy Roberts, head of ICT at Leicestershire County Council. He points out the benefits: flexible working, longer holidays and a pension scheme. Another alternative used in some projects is a fixed short-term permanent position of one to three years, with a higher salary, but no benefits.
There's also the mess that you might inherit. Guy Hains, president of CSC UK, is directly accountable for some of the largest government IT projects in the NHS and the Royal Mail, and he admits the overall record of government IT doesn't look good so far. "Public opinion is that government doesn't do this well. So for the senior people who are being brought in to manage the big programmes, it's the challenge of a lifetime. If you can pull it off, what you do has a huge impact on the public." He adds that those managers are teaching the civil service about how to stop projects ballooning or stagnating, achieved chiefly by breaking them down into manageable chunks.
The fear of stifling bureaucracy still keeps talented senior IT managers out of the public sector, says Smith. She admits that when placing candidates, she advises them not to take the job unless they are convinced they can really make a difference.
It's a criticism that Chris Guest, the president of the Society of IT Management (SocITM), has heard many times, but he claims the 2005 deadline is forcing employers to hand over responsibility for process change to the IT function as well - giving it influence rarely seen in the private sector.
"The role of head of IT in a lot of authorities these days is being a change leader. We're expected to lead the change towards e-government, and you can make that happen. Now the head of IT does have influence. It's like a seat on the board. The pressure is on, and e-government has enabled this to happen.'
At Southwark Council, Nolan has noticed a dramatic change over the past two years in who is going to work for the government. "There are a few people wearing cardigans, but not many. Instead, there are lots of young people with experience of the private sector. They tend to come along and think, 'It's not bad working at the council after all'."
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