Ignite Lab

It’s customary at this time of year for the media commentators to do one of two things:

• A retrospective on what 2010 brought – the events, mishaps and surprises.
• A look forward to 2011 – predictions and forecasts of what will take the world by storm and what, specifically, CIOs will need to be able to grapple with.

We’re well into 2011 now, so here’s our take on what we think the year has in store for senior IT executives, but with a twist.  We aren’t technologists; our focus is on what it takes to extract value from technology , and what we believe 2011 will bring is an increasingly loud and clear call for CIOs to go beyond project delivery and ‘keeping the lights on’ – into the whole arena of business value.  We see more and more evidence that senior management teams are waking up to the fact that delivering technology projects to time and budget is only part of the story.  More and more emphasis is rightly being placed on what you need to do to get value from the system long after the project team has gone away.

Will your IT team surprise you this year?

Read on →

In the current climate councils are faced with the challenge of cutting cost but do want to default to cutting levels of service.

But is the process of enabling the community to do more for itself just a polite way of dressing up a service cut. At Ignite we would argue not – what is important is using the scarce resources of the council to deliver outcomes for the community.

Building the capacity of the community also needs to go hand in hand with the sensible management of expectations of what the council will do and what the community – and individuals within it – need to take responsibility for. Read on →

Eric Pickles was recently heard saying that it is all about localisation/localisation/localisation, but not necessarily in that order. Whatever your view of localisation his point was well made.

So it is with managing change.  Engage/Engage/Engage, but not necessarily in that order.

Anyone who has attempted to manage change that does not have the support of the organisation knows that it is like pushing jelly uphill.  You can’t keep it all together and any progress seems to slip through your fingers. Read on →

Well – the news has been out a while now.  Local authorities now have an extra layer of clarity. The general consensus seems to be that at 28% the cuts are slightly less painful than the worst expectations.  What came as a nasty surprise was that the cuts are to be front loaded.

Whatever the interpretation – it is time to act. Anybody waiting for more clarity in December will find that time will run out.

So will this make a difference to the way local authorities respond? Read on →

“Actively engaging customers in a meaningful and creative way to inform the future direction of an organization is a powerful tactic.”

There is no doubting the changing nature of the relationship between customer and supplier. Modern technology, globalisation and changing lifestyles are all reasons why an organisation needs to respond to a new breed of confident and empowered customer.

But how far should this impact spread? There is a myriad of examples of organisations that have gone to extraordinary lengths to get closer to their customers. In terms of engaging them to help develop innovative new products or services, successes at Lego are often cited as a compelling argument for finding ways to tap into the creativity and insight of existing customers. BMW has found a way to collect the views and opinions of car enthusiasts and is using these to inform future commercial activities. Computer gaming giants have for many years benefited from being able to co-create products with computer-savvy youths.

So what have the most forward thinking organisations suggested are the key things to get right when engaging customers in informing the development of future products & services?

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Can it be true

We have been working for many years across public services on the opportunities available from cross sector working.  The barriers are numerous, but budgets – if not right at the top of the list –  comes pretty close.

The difficulty of coming together around the money really does get in the way of some very sensible opportunities. So anything coming from government to enable seamless working would be a huge breakthrough.

The notion of Place Based Budgets may sound dull but the implications are huge.  Could this be the thing that opens the possibility of Public Service Without Frontiers.

This article just published in the Local Government Chronicle announces that there are to be eight new workstreams looking at new ways of working  ahead of the potential introduction of place based budgets.  The eight workstream leaders are real heavyweights (in the gravitas sense of the word) indicating that this might be a realistic possibility.

http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/efficiency/chiefs-to-join-place-based-productivity-programme/5019036.article 

Ignite as real leaders in cross sector working and Public Service Without Frontiers will be following this development with anticipation.

“We’re not interested in good ideas for their own sake – even though we love good ideas.”

 Ignite’s business is innovation and change – it’s something we’re passionate about. There is a strong and positive correlation between innovation and success – provided that the great ideas are underpinned by rigorous challenge and effective implementation.

This is a vital link for us. We’re not interested in good ideas for their own sake – even though we love good ideas.  There is no innovation without implementation: the best sounding ideas in the world are only really exciting if they lead to a result.

Read on →