Major cities are spending 6% of their budgets on IT but not in ‘smart’ ways that maximise impact, according to a report.
University College London (UCL) and consultancy Arup examined the IT spending habits of eight city councils in England and found it was almost double the amount spent on areas such as transportation and utilities.
And yet they found little in the way of strategic investment or efforts to share costs across departments.
‘When IT spending is monitored within a city government, it is usually tracked by individual departments rather than as a central, standalone category of spend, like transport or education. A more integrated view of IT spend within cities could help to finance initiatives, like a city data platform, whose benefits spill over multiple agencies,’ it said.
The eight cities – Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Portsmouth and Sheffield – could all benefit from a more strategic approach, the report said.
‘Our research shows that cities are comparatively ahead of the curve in viewing IT as an essential part of their annual expenditure,’ said Ellie Cosgrave, research associate at UCL.
‘Although this is very positive, we also see that cities aren’t benefitting fully from their existing investments in smart technology and could improve this through more strategic oversight.
‘This can be achieved by sharing innovative ideas and lessons learnt within and between cities, and by creating governance structures that enable efficient cross-department working.’
Lean Doody, smart cities lead consultant at Arup, said: ‘Smart technology does not need to be a new cost item on the balance sheets of city governments. Rather than adding to the city’s existing technology expenditure, smart technology can enable cities to get more value from their IT investment. Cities do not need to start from scratch to realise the opportunity of smart.’
