CIOs-Businesses-Govt~Tripping-on-Innovation-and-Climate-Change
I had a chance to review the fresh and shiny Gershon review earlier this week as part of my current project work, identifying the key impacts upon my project schedule and giving me a chance to reflect on future Govt ICT changes. It proved timely as it coincided nicely with an Australian software vendors focus group, a colleagues participation in an 'innovation' workshop, and a CIO article on how Aussie CIOs, businesses don't understand Garnaut Review implications. I'll join the dots shortly. I'd also needed to review the technical guidelines (all 353 pages of goodness) for the National Greenhouse and Energy Reduction Act 2007 to inform my thinking about Asset Lifecycle Management and short to longer term impacts on Property Portfolio information.
The challenges posed by Climate Change impact require significant acceleration of innovation and profound levels of transformation, across communities, businesses, governments and nations. At CeBIT 2008 in the opening plenary, it was recognised as being the challenge of our lifetimes, which will easily outstrip the level of investment seen in the ICT sector over the last 50years (collectively trillions of dollars). In previous work with Environment Business Australia, we've seen it recognised as the fourth major wave of transformation (building on the earlier ages of Agrarian/Industrial/Technological ages) that's going to be needed to surmount the challenges. Yet the signals that we're 'getting it' aren't encouraging. Whilst I was encouraged to see the start of some moves to capture basic volumetric measures in a major government finance platform (which allows for being able to view volumes of energy, water consumed independent of price fluctuations), when the question was asked around the room of "is there anybody doing this?" the silence was deafening, aside from mention of some good work being done by Local Government Organisations. Considering the composition of the stakeholders in the room, readers should be nervous. I found myself similarly underwhelmed when appraising the Gershon review for its examination of Green ICT. There is nowhere in such a foundation review, given its significant gravity by the sector and Finance minister, where it deals with these larger information management challenges beyond token mentions of 'Virtualisation" and Data Centres. The focus was squarely on the T, missing the I&C. It's important, as the Information components of ICT represent the greatest enabler of informing a correctly focused response to the challenges of climate change. It's got me stirred up enough to start a Facebook Group to see how others are digesting it (See Gershon Review Gastronomes) and whether colleagues at LinkedIn have any constructive take on it before we see it reported on in the wider press.
A salient point crept out of a talented colleagues report back on a recent innovation in Government session this week, where a room full of Deputy Secretaries have shrugged their shoulders at the mention of ICT in Innovation, regarding ICT as 'Just Too Hard', along with one of the senior Innovation Review staff. I'm gobsmacked - ICT is well recognised as a critical enabler of successive waves of innovation, yet it gets parked into the too hard basket?. Spare me...