US Government embarks on 'bring your own device' strategy

As well as pushing cloud computing services and undertaking a standardisation agenda the government is also embarking on a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategy as it seeks to improve its IT efficiency.

Significant amounts of public money will be saved by allowing staff to bring their own devices into the workplace, claimed Liam Maxwell, director of ICT Futures at the Cabinet Office, who was speaking at an Intellect conference on Thursday.

"BYOD is coming to government although obviously not in the areas needing the greatest security," said Maxwell.
"My laptop was costing £1,600 a year to run but then Chris Chant [director of the government G-Cloud programme] gave me an Apple Mac and it costs just £350."

Those price differences reflect the cost of managing and servicing the Mac compared to the other device. "If you look at the amount of money we can save it's huge," he said.

The mention of Chant's name is unsurprising, given he is director of the government G-Cloud programme, an initiative aimed at reducing the cost of public sector IT and increasing the number of suppliers in the government market.

The G-Cloud cloud computing service will allow the public sector to rent the use of services as is needed and do away with lengthy contracts.

Maxwell said the G-Cloud, which aims to bring more flexibility to procurement contracts, will help the BYOD strategy to develop.
Maxwell also spoke of some of the challenges to the G-Cloud programme, such as the difficulties of getting smaller businesses on board and giving the suppliers the information they need to develop products the government demands.

"One of the reasons why small and medium sized businesses find it difficult to work with government is because we have 300 platforms but we need a single common one so they all know where they stand," said Maxwell.

"We also need to be more upfront with suppliers on what we are doing. They need to know how to plan for us."
According to Maxwell, suppliers will have access to the government plans for ICT from this Spring.
He added that Intellect had helped the government produce a market intelligence report to help it choose the players to approach in the supplier market.

Maxwell also explained that the government was encouraging more staff to work from home, particularly in the run up to the Olympics.

"This week we are having a rehearsal with Operation Step Change, where the government will see whether it can work from home. Soon it will be the Olympics. We want to encourage more home working," he explained.
Finally, Maxwell made strong calls for more standardisation in government and for greater adoption of open source standards.

He said the government was holding a three-month consultation to discuss standards and he urged to the industry to come forward with its ideas.

Maxwell also spoke of some of the challenges to the G-Cloud programme, such as the difficulties of getting smaller businesses on board and giving the suppliers the information they need to develop products the government demands.

"One of the reasons why small and medium sized businesses find it difficult to work with government is because we have 300 platforms but we need a single common one so they all know where they stand," said Maxwell.
"We also need to be more upfront with suppliers on what we are doing. They need to know how to plan for us."

According to Maxwell, suppliers will have access to the government plans for ICT from this Spring.
He added that Intellect had helped the government produce a market intelligence report to help it choose the players to approach in the supplier market.

Maxwell also explained that the government was encouraging more staff to work from home, particularly in the run up to the Olympics.

"This week we are having a rehearsal with Operation Step Change, where the government will see whether it can work from home. Soon it will be the Olympics. We want to encourage more home working," he explained.
Finally, Maxwell made strong calls for more standardisation in government and for greater adoption of open source standards.

He said the government was holding a three-month consultation to discuss standards and he urged to the industry to come forward with its ideas.