Kent County Council, a Conservative Party controlled authority with 84 elected councillors. Paul Carter is the current leader. Within Kent there is the unitary authority of Medway that the County Council cooperates with. IT Leader:Peter Bole, Director of Information and Communication Technology In role since: Peter Bole, has had about eight or nine previous roles in the council and has been with the authority for 20 years, previously he has been Head of Operations and Head of Strategy Reporting line: Deputy Managing Director- David Coburn Board level seat: Yes, but the extended board of directors IT budget: £40 million, from a turnover of £2.4 billion IT estate and or number of log on accounts under the control of the IT leader:17,000 users Level of the workforce that relies on technology to carry out their tasks:90 per cent IT staff currently employed: 346 in-house staff IT management team and reporting structure:Operations manager, a business partner- internet account manager, partnership manager and a head of school business unit. Primary technology platforms at the organisation:ERP by Oracle Primary technology suppliers:Oracle, Microsoft, Siemens, Unisys What is the strategic aim of the CIO and IT operations for the next financial year?The organisation reorganised in April 2011. The restructure was around the strategic authority objective, the 20 year plan that is set out is reviewed every five years. Kent County Council recently funded the digital enablement for three different authorities in Kent. Also aiming to drive efficiency for IT and make the overall organisation more efficient. Technologies considered by the leader to offer their organisation potential:Kent has a lot of applications which are old that need to be virtualised. How do you see technology transforming your organisation in the near future?Kent County Council want to be an enabler for radical transformation, customer service transformation, which will change the way people operate within the council. It will also be used in a way that means people can access public services easier. ICT can also change the way in which people see public services.
