Open source and Internet of Things can save public sector millions

Edward Qualtrough | Nov. 25, 2014

Camden Council CIO says disrupting the vendor market and working closely with other councils can save the government millions.

Open source software and the Internet of Things are two of the disruptive approaches which can save the public sector during the government's austerity measures and lay the ground to deliver next generation digital services, Camden Council CIO John Jackson believes.

Local government organisations are approaching a critical tipping point which could save the public sector and the taxpayer billions, Jackson said when he spoke at theOpen Source, the Cloud and your Businessevent hosted by Paolo Vecchi, the CEO of open source and Linux distribution specialists Omnis Systems.

Camden has to save 150 million between 2012 and 2018 from its bottom line while at the same time delivering fundamental transformation to tackle inequality, foster economic growth and deliver citizen centric services, Jackson explained as he outlined the council's challenges.

"There's a huge opportunity in government for innovation, putting citizens at the heart, cutting costs and doing things differently," Jackson said.

"But the problem is we don't have lots of money - we can't afford the largess of the past, in the future.

"Our existing apps are largely proprietary; there's a disproportionately small number of large vendors dominating the market, and no real open source advocates in government.

"There's lots of cynicism around open source and the art of the possible, particularly in the CIO community who want to buy things off the shelf and are too worried about security."

Disrupting the vendor market Jackson said that local government CIOs need to UK software and services market, and instead of getting shaped by products, shape the tools themselves so they are useful for the public sector.

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Open source and Internet of Things can save public sector millions