Since we launched the Council of the Future in October (was it really only six months ago?) we have been speaking to over 150 councils up and down the country about their progress towards this vision - of councils that spend less, but achieve more. Two of the key points to come out of these discussions are (a) "how can we tell how far we are from the Council of the Future?" and (b) "how can we get the message across more clearly to the Chief Executive, Council Leader and the whole of the corporate management team?" 

The demands on local authority ICT services are changing fast. Today's successful teams have much less involvement in low-level hardware or software issues. Instead they're focused on understanding the needs of the authority and of the wider community, and delivering appropriate and cost-effective technology solutions.

Failure to re-align the ICT service will lead to customers going their own way - resulting in fragmentation rather than consolidation, increased costs, worse results and greater risk.