Former government CIO relishes private-sector role without

Earlier this week, former government CIO Joe Harley announced that he would be taking up the role of strategic adviser at managed services company Amor Group.

He follows a long line of government figures who have moved to the private sector, including the former deputy CIO Bill McCluggage, who is now an advisory technology consultant at storage company EMC.

In an exclusive interview with Computing, Harley explained what his new role at Amor is – and how it differs to his joint role of Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) CIO and government CIO. "Amor is on a significant growth agenda so the CEO John Innis is looking for advice, guidance and expertise in IT, customer management and strategies," he said. "It is quite a different role from the government CIO role, for example the difference of scale is quite apparent. As government CIO I had an executive delivery role so I was responsible for the delivery of big business outcomes – similarly, I'm an adviser to Amor," he said.

He added: "As government CIO, I was an adviser to government ministers and on how the ICT strategy should be implemented – so the advisory element is very similar but the scale of accountability is different." Harley said he was relishing the new role, particularly as it is not hindered by "the big bureaucratic processes" found in government. "It is easier to get things done at Amor; in government there are a lot of committees, which is right and appropriate for the scale of the money that is involved, but driving a smaller company is quite refreshing," he said.

A question frequently aimed at Harley, and his successor as government CIO Andy Nelson, is whether the Whitehall CIO role is really a part-time job. Harley had worked for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for more than six years before he was appointed government CIO in February 2011, taking over from John Suffolk.

He had to manage his DWP CIO role at the same time as his new role at the helm of government ICT for a year. Meanwhile Nelson, who took over from Harley in April, has to juggle his recent appointment with the demands of his role as CIO of the Ministry of Justice.

On reflection, Harley argued that it is a role that could be balanced, particularly since the creation of the CIO delivery board. "I had at least six big government CIOs working on the government's agenda as oppose to the past when it was just the CIO sitting in the Cabinet Office. So if you had all of that horse power together – the HMRC, DWP, Defence, Home Office and others – then you get better traction," he said.