Government works past crushing ego
While entrepreneurs sell ideas,
Federal and State departments are saving on the Web.
DANCING DINOSAURS by Paul
Ham
It can be exhausting, meeting an Internet whiz-kid.
Such people seem to have limitless enthusiasm for themselves. No
matter how often they lose other people's money, or humiliate their
mums and dads, they keep popping up full of buoyant self-confidence
in their next "killer app".
A curious sense of self-absorption animates your common-or-garden
whiz-kid - possibly borne of years spent staring at a computer, or
in the mirror. They seem to exist only in their mind's "I",
dangerously isolated by dreams of mega-wealth.
When encountered in packs - at an Internet boot camp, for example
- whiz-kids remind one of a mutant breed of sub-Nietzschian supermen
mouthing hilarious lines from Hollywood, such as "what cannot crush
me makes me stronger".
Many of our very own whiz-kids are stronger as a result of all
this crushing. One example is Christopher O'Hanlon, ex-CEO of Spike,
who popped up on telly the other night explaining the importance of
his legacy and how posterity would judge his achievements. "I'm a
bit like Steve Jobs," O'Hanlon modestly concluded. (Jobs co-invented
the first home computer, the Apple, in the early '70s, and built the
company into a global computer manufacturer.)
Known as Denim Vader among his friends, O'Hanlon was renowned for
his volcanic temper and failure to notice the discomfort of his
subordinates.
Elsewhere, we see variations on the whiz-kid theme. Marc
Phillips, founder and director of APT Strategies, the research firm,
is not a whiz-kid. But he does admire them. For example, Phillips
admires O'Hanlon's knack of relieving large companies of millions of
dollars: "I had lunch with Chris in Tokyo the other day. Did you
know that Chris managed to get $9 million out of Toyota? And it took
him only 20 minutes to persuade Richard Li to back him?"
But that's enough whiz-kids. It's time we moved on to "excellence
in egovernment".
In this regard, we should not hold Phillips's fleeting credulity
against the admirable achievements of his company, APT Strategies,
which is conducting a gutsy little investigation called "Economic
Benefits for Australian Government Online". So far, APT concludes:
"Up to $300 million will be saved in costs by Australian government
departments in 2001 resulting from the introduction of electronic
service delivery."
One wonders how these impressive savings will be spent.
In a rare example of a researcher magnificently interpreting its
own findings, APT this week accused the Government and the
Opposition parties of ripping off the battlers: "There are clear
examples of both Australian Federal and State government departments
and agencies failing to correctly document and publicise the cost
savings [derived from taking their functions online]. In some cases,
these savings are not being passed on to taxpayers," Phillips
declared. "APT Strategies recommends that government departments
provide improved measurement processes and greater disclosure about
the significant cost savings [of $300m] being achieved."
John Howard, Kim Beazley, Bob Carr and Richard Alston were all
out to lunch when I phoned to inquire about their $300 million
windfall. I suspect they'll call me back in due course.
But wait, here's Kim Yeadon's office on the line. Yeadon delights
in the title of NSW Minister for Information Technology, Minister
for Energy, Minister for Forestry and Minister for Western Sydney.
So he administers a thing or two.
The Minister's office seems remarkably abreast of the
cost-cutting benefits of the Internet. Did you know that NSW
Government Web sites let you check your pension card status and buy
opera tickets online, locate camping grounds with running water, and
watch endless video footage of the rare Mallee Fowl doing its Mallee
thing?
The NSW Government's Internet-based business licensing service,
when completed, is expected to save $70 million over five years;
while its online land title service costs the consumer just $9.50,
against $15 previously.
The sighs of relief are almost audible. But there's more: the NSW
Government is shifting its entire $4 billion procurement program on
to the Web. All the things that oil the wheels of government, from
pencil sharpeners to Holden cars - will be bought electronically.
Then, based on the US experience, "we envisage savings of up to 60
per cent", said Yeadon's office.
The immense savings have not yet flowed through to taxpayers, but
when they do, promised the NSW Government, "we'll redeploy them". On
what? "On training people - on making people better trained, in IT
and data input."
Wow. The Carr Government is nothing if not candid about its
"excellence in egovernment".
We can look forward to enjoying the service of some very highly
trained public servants. Now, about all these whiz-kids...
Paul Ham is the publisher of ebusiness Web site,
www.businessgene.com
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