* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    Nantucket Dance Festival opens July 8 – The Inquirer and Mirror

    Nantucket Dance Festival Launches with Thrilling Performances Beginning July 8

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse Netflix and YRF Entertainment’s ‘Mandala Murders’ Premieres July 25 – About Netflix

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse: Dive into the Chilling World of ‘Mandala Murders’ Premiering July 25

    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    New center coming to Mizzou will focus on energy research and technology – Columbia Missourian

    Mizzou Launches Innovative New Center Dedicated to Energy Research and Technology

    Mirrors in space and underwater curtains: can technology buy us enough time to save the Arctic ice caps? – The Guardian

    Can Technology Like Space Mirrors and Underwater Curtains Buy Us Time to Save the Arctic Ice Caps?

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

    Nantucket Dance Festival opens July 8 – The Inquirer and Mirror

    Nantucket Dance Festival Launches with Thrilling Performances Beginning July 8

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse Netflix and YRF Entertainment’s ‘Mandala Murders’ Premieres July 25 – About Netflix

    A Secret Society, Ritualistic Killings, and a Century-Old Curse: Dive into the Chilling World of ‘Mandala Murders’ Premiering July 25

    Susquehanna Raises Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN) Price Target. – Yahoo Finance

    Susquehanna Raises Price Target for Penn Entertainment Inc. (PENN)

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    George Lopez is coming to Spokane – KXLY.com

    Netflix unveils Dallas immersive venue for fans of hit shows like ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Stranger Things’ – Houston Chronicle

    Step Inside Netflix’s New Dallas Immersive Experience Featuring Hits Like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Stranger Things

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Inspira Technologies Secures Landmark $22.5M Deal: Major Revenue Breakthrough After FDA Clearance – Stock Titan

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Meiwu Technology Company Limited and Shenzhen Zhinuo – GlobeNewswire

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    Owls inspire new revolutionary noise reduction technology – KTEN

    New center coming to Mizzou will focus on energy research and technology – Columbia Missourian

    Mizzou Launches Innovative New Center Dedicated to Energy Research and Technology

    Mirrors in space and underwater curtains: can technology buy us enough time to save the Arctic ice caps? – The Guardian

    Can Technology Like Space Mirrors and Underwater Curtains Buy Us Time to Save the Arctic Ice Caps?

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Naples restaurant owner prepares for hurricane season with new flood technology – Fox4Now.com

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Skills the Irish Government CIO uses to advance digital transformation

June 1, 2024
in Business
Skills the Irish Government CIO uses to advance digital transformation
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In his eight-year tenure as CIO at Ireland’s Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Barry Lowry always had a vision of what digital government could look like. Here, he details how an approach built on transparency and innovation is continuously tested by EU regulations, US cloud providers, and politicians who want quick wins.

By the time he took up the CIO role in 2016, Lowry had already formed a leadership style more carrot than stick. Working in the British public sector, he’d seen a digitalization program fail because of command-and-control management, where gains achieved by a highly centralized approach quickly unravelled when the civil servant at the helm moved on.

“All the big departments were bullied in a certain direction and it collapsed when he was no longer there. They pushed back and reclaimed lost ground,” says Lowry, who took the lessons onboard and made building alliances his focus. So when he started working on the first digital strategy for the Irish Government, he went for a collegiate-based approach to encourage a shared vision of cross-department co-operation and teamwork. To win stakeholders over, it took patiently explaining each initiative since it was clear to Lowry the concept of digital government would only work with shared data and joined-up thinking — a big challenge in the public sector where departments and agencies often operate in silos.  

Some steps forward have been painfully slow, however. He met with resistance from politicians when plans for a public services card and a public sector data center seemed to intersect with politically sensitive issues, privacy rights, and the path to net zero. Undeterred, he slowly won the argument, with one minister flipping to become an advocate for both initiatives when he better understood the plans.

Yet privacy activists remained opposed to the public services card, arguing that citizens who change their address should be able to decide which government bodies to tell, while the European model, which Ireland signed up to, is a once-only approach. “We join up your data in the background, because that’s what good public services look like,” says Lowry. “I spent a lot of time fighting battles, notably with Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, who was much more attracted to the privacy arguments than the government arguments. But we got through all that successfully.”

Legislating for data sharing 

Lowry considers the 2019 Data Sharing Governance Act his biggest achievement as CIO. Because the Irish government was set up as several legal entities, each with its own data structures and ways of working, a change in the law was needed to advance digital transformation.

The Act is compliant with GDPR, which was crucial to provide the legal basis for public bodies to share data. “It helped make the noise go away about the murky use of data by governments,” he says. “Every data-sharing agreement goes out to public consultation and then it’s published. It’s fully transparent.”

Another big win came during the pandemic in 2020 with the launch of a government app that combined a COVID tracker service with the digital vaccination certificate. “Both of those were specifically called out by Bloomberg,” he says. “They did a review of the worldwide response to COVID and lauded Ireland as the best response in terms of how technology was used.”

Overseen by Lowry, the development of the app showcased the public sector’s ability to deliver a digital service just as effectively as the private sector. His office had already notched up a major success with MyGovID, a public services portal that proves the value of his data-sharing strategy with backend complexity hidden behind a user-friendly interface, which has encouraged 80% of adult Irish citizens to sign up for a range of services.

The next move in citizen engagement will be a digital wallet. Scheduled for an end-of-year launch, it can store a number of credentials on a mobile phone, including a digital driving license and an age card for over-18s. The age ID will show a QR code but no name or address, tackling privacy concerns that have so far prevented Ireland, like the UK, from launching a national identity card.

Running a three-circle strategy

Digitalization of public services is one circle in Lowry’s three-circle strategy plan. The other two are ensuring regulatory compliance and scoring quick wins, which will strike a chord with any CIO who’s achieved buy-in for a long-term strategy by delivering short-term successes. It’s more heightened in Lowry’s world, though, where politicians want to show they make a difference before the next election comes around.

“If you want to keep politicians on board, you’ve got to build outcomes,” he says. “The old way of doing things, when you said that in seven years the project would be ready, is of no interest. So, we do agile, we move fast, we do prototypes, and move into ‘live running’ as quickly as possible.”

Quick wins are important but can’t waver from the bigger plan. An online national childcare scheme, for example, was developed with a proprietary login system proposed by the vendor. But it was rejected by Lowry’s office, which insisted that the system use the MyGovID login. The assistant secretary standing over the project had to be persuaded that would be an easier way for people to engage, but she got it straight away and ended up building the system faster.

Government departments are given some autonomy in the pursuit of digital transformation, but bigger projects must always be signed off by Lowry’s office. Not just a way to keep everyone aligned on strategy, it’s a safety net to avoid IT disasters that make the wrong kind of headlines and waste taxpayer money.

“We put a team of experts in and if they feel a project is veering towards the red, the chair will write a note of concern to me. I meet the sponsors and the department or agency concerned and remediation occurs,” says Lowry. “Most projects actually fail because of lack of senior engagement, so if you can reinvigorate the senior engagement, you’re very likely to get a project back on the rails.”

Leading in digital government

Another complexity in the CIO role is the Irish state’s engagement with hyperscale cloud providers. In 2019, Lowry’s office published an advisory document that encouraged the government to use public cloud services. Knowing that cloud would be a vital component in digital transformation, he wanted to lower barriers to adoption when the model made sense. To advance plans further, he set about developing a public cloud procurement framework, a quick way for departments to run a tender between pre-approved cloud providers, but a request for participants unearthed more regulatory challenges.

The plan was scuppered at the last minute because AWS and Microsoft Azure couldn’t accept the terms and conditions. The problem stemmed from hyperscalers operating under the US Cloud Act, which gives US courts jurisdiction over an entity where data is being sought — a piece of legalese that’s supposed to supersede other legislation, but EU rules say that no law takes precedent over GDPR.

The impasse is made more complex because corporation tax receipts from US tech companies make an enormous contribution to the Irish economy. The prospect of falling out with US companies that have invested heavily in Ireland makes politicians nervous, but the risk of confidential information about Irish citizens surfacing in another jurisdiction is equally onerous. “We’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” says Lowry. “It’ll slow us down a little, but we’re in discussions with Microsoft and AWS about how we can repair this.”

It’s a small dent in Ireland’s progress to becoming a leader in digital government. The country’s EU Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) ranking in digital public services rose from 10th in 2019 to sixth in 2022, and Lowry is confident he’ll get 90% of applicable services consumed online by 2030.

Another crowning achievement, and the secret of Ireland’s progress to date, is his success in changing a culture, a challenge in every business that’s compounded in the risk-adverse public sector. After the success of the COVID app, however, Lowry detected forward momentum among his colleagues, a new-found confidence, and an appetite to achieve more.

When he talks of the two types of civil servant, he could be talking about employees in any organization facing change. “There are those who are afraid of the pace of transformation, and there are those who are invigorated by it,” he says. “You hopefully get enough of the latter that you can persuade the former it’s going to be all right. We’ve now got to the point where we’re all on the same team working with a common vision.”

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

From our editors straight to your inbox

Get started by entering your email address below.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : CIO – https://www.cio.com/article/2121469/skills-the-irish-government-cio-uses-to-advance-digital-transformation.html

Tags: businessIrishSkills
Previous Post

Telefónica Tech acelera su negocio de IA para empresas con 10 centros especializados

Next Post

IT leaders’ AI talent needs hinge on reskilling

Stellantis Revives SRT: High-Performance Street and Racing Division Makes a Triumphant Return

July 3, 2025
Josh Hart Delivers Promise to Fans After Knicks’ Recent Move – Yahoo Sports

Josh Hart Delivers Promise to Fans After Knicks’ Recent Move – Yahoo Sports

July 3, 2025
LensToLens: Wetlands guard bird species from plateau to urban landscape – Xinhua

How Wetlands Safeguard Bird Species Across Plateaus and Urban Landscapes

July 3, 2025
Commentary: Vatican defends science from politics, ideology and misinformation – The Salt Lake Tribune

Vatican Takes a Bold Stand: Defending Science from Politics, Ideology, and Misinformation

July 2, 2025
Scientists Merged 3 Human Brains by Thought Alone – Popular Mechanics

Scientists Achieve Mind-Blowing Feat by Merging Three Human Brains Through Thought Alone

July 3, 2025
Retired woman shares inside look at lifestyle after moving into unconventional tiny home: ‘The best decision I’ve ever made’ – The Cool Down

Retired Woman Reveals Life-Changing Joys of Living in an Unconventional Tiny Home: “The Best Decision I’ve Ever Made

July 2, 2025
​​World Rural Development Day: Refugee-Led Farming Projects That Are Feeding the World – USA for UNHCR

​​World Rural Development Day: Refugee-Led Farming Projects That Are Feeding the World – USA for UNHCR

July 2, 2025
Trump’s economy: A weak link in MAGA’s chain – The Hill

Trump’s economy: A weak link in MAGA’s chain – The Hill

July 2, 2025
BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

BTS Announce Their Big Return and Yes, They Already Have Some Major Plans in the Works – Yahoo

July 2, 2025
About 17 Million More People Could be Uninsured due to the Big Beautiful Bill and other Policy Changes – KFF

How the Big Beautiful Bill and Policy Changes Could Leave 17 Million More People Uninsured

July 2, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (702)
  • Economy (728)
  • Entertainment (21,616)
  • General (15,681)
  • Health (9,767)
  • Lifestyle (732)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (729)
  • Politics (735)
  • Science (15,946)
  • Sports (21,226)
  • Technology (15,712)
  • World (709)

Recent News

Stellantis Revives SRT: High-Performance Street and Racing Division Makes a Triumphant Return

July 3, 2025
Josh Hart Delivers Promise to Fans After Knicks’ Recent Move – Yahoo Sports

Josh Hart Delivers Promise to Fans After Knicks’ Recent Move – Yahoo Sports

July 3, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version