Cambridge Judge Business School academic Mark Thompson was invited to chair the afternoon plenary at the 9th Annual Government Conference in ICT 2013, at QEII Conference Centre in Westminster on 15 January 2013.
The conference focused on the opportunities for improved public services, innovation, and cost savings (estimated at £1.4 billion over the next four years) presented by the new Government Digital Strategy. Also discussed were the significant transformational challenges in achieving the organisational and culture change needed to make digital government a reality within the UK.
The title of Mark’s talk, ‘The Great Deverticalisation’, painted a humorous picture of the history of technology commissioning by Government, from ‘build your own’, through ‘outsourcing’, then ‘shared services’ to the current challenge, which is all about technology consumption models based on open standards and platforms.
The talk was well received at the conference, and has now been picked up by Computer Weekly, who will be publishing a five-article series around it.
Mark is also published in a number of international journals, including the Journal of Public Administration, Research & Theory and Information & Organization. Recent contributions include the only academic paper on open architecture and public services (co-authored with Jerry Fishenden), and various white papers, policy documents, and speaking engagements. Recent commentary by Mark in this area has appeared in The Guardian‘s Public Leaders Network, Computer Weekly, and FT.com.
Mark is a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems at Cambridge’s Judge Business School, Strategy Director for service innovator Methods, ICT Futures Advisor to the Cabinet Office, and main Board Director of Intellect UK. One of the architects of the Government’s current open approach to technology, Mark produced a landmark paper in 2008 for George Osborne, setting out a future for open standards in government, credited by Francis Maude as the foundation for the subsequent ‘open’ government ICT strategy, and he continues to help shape debate in this important field.
© Photograph copyright by GOVNET 2013