Name
Bevan Doyle
Title
Director, Information
and Communication Technologies
Company
Department of Education
Time in position:
18 months
Is the role of CIO gaining importance in WA: Yes. As the State’s focus on technology, information and knowledge increases, the role of the CIO in guiding their respective organisations to ensure they either remain competitive, for the private sector, or relevant, informative and efficient for government becomes increasingly important.
How many employees are you responsible for: 90 with a mix of salaried and contract staff.
Has the number of staff in your company, devoted to IT, changed in the past five years: Marginally, up by five.
What are some of the challenges you face as a CIO in WA: We have similar challenges to organisations on the eastern seaboard but our technology industry is much smaller and consequently access to specialist skills can at times be difficult. In an organisation such as ours the issues of distance and a very distributed environment present their own challenges. We are also looking over the horizon to explore emerging technologies for their potential to support improved learning outcomes for students.
What is your opinion of WA’s ICT market and future outlook: From a government perspective there is a real desire to foster the IT industry in WA. A number of initiatives have been implemented or are being considered to support the growth of the IT industry here. This type of attitude can only have a positive impact on the IT industry. However, the industry itself is also looking at opportunities for growth.
What are the top six issues on your agenda:
p Permanent high-bandwidth networks to all sites for curriculum and administrative purposes.
p Implementation of applications infrastructure to support collaborative development and delivery of curriculum materials. There will be a heavy focus on both Internet and Intranet and e-learning for this initiative.
p Better management and utilisation of our IT infrastructure as a whole. There are a number of projects underway that are tied to this initiative.
p Being a knowledge-based organisation, knowledge management will be a key area.
p Improving teacher ICT competencies through targeted professional learning programs.
p Improving the technical infrastructure within schools to enable effective integration of ICT into the learning programs in schools.
