Leader: A helpful push towards efficiency

There has been much grumbling and rolling of eyes from people in local authorities tasked with squeezing more cost out of their systems as a result of the government's efficiency targets.

But as our case study with St Helens Council shows, big savings can be seen by those willing to take bold moves - in this case moving from a mainframe to a server environment. And they are not alone, as other local authorities are undertaking similar initiatives.

The pressures of e-government and the Gershon Report may actually help local authorities to streamline their systems in ways they may not have thought of before, or where the political will may have been lacking previously.

In the financial services world, painful compliance projects - thanks to regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley - have helped companies rethink their systems and actually make them better. While the first year might be painful, benefits can come from it.

In the same way the pressures of e-government and the Gershon Report may actually help local authorities to streamline their systems in ways they may not have thought of before, or where the political will may have been lacking previously.

We aren't suggesting that every council switches off their mainframe - for many these powerful machines are the heart of their systems. But it is always a good idea to take a look at your environment with fresh eyes and work out what is best for your operation today and tomorrow.

This is of course where the hard work with e-government really starts - rebuilding that back end infrastructure so that local authorities can better share information with each other and other agencies. And this is likely to be much more painful than putting a few internet kiosks in post offices but eventually more useful.

It is very easy to put off change - perhaps the government's efficiency targets will have a side benefit of not just cutting cost but improving services too.