Check out an exclusive interview with Ben Dornier, Director of Corporate & Community Services at City of Palmerston conducted ahead of the 6th Cloud Asia Forum where Ben will be speaking at. He gives exclusive insight into the challenges of and opportunities presented by, deploying Cloud services in a public sector organisation. Download Ben's interview here: http://goo.gl/AfEiHS

1. Melina Diamantopoulou, Senior Conference Researcher spoke with Ben Dornier,
Director of Corporate & Community Services, City of Palmerston
Melina: What does your role involve and how is technology helping your
organisation grow and reach more customers? What is the role of Cloud
Computing in this?
Ben: My role includes responsibility for general corporate affairs (finance,
city tax revenue, legal affairs, HR, IT, contracts, insurance and risk) as well
as governance and strategy (the city
strategy, annual budget, annual financial
reporting, performance reporting,
policy and corporate strategy), and
community services (libraries, city
recreational facilities, city facilities,
city community services). ICT plays a
major role in ensuring this portfolio
can not only be adequately delivered,
but especially in ensuring it is done
efficiently and sustainably. Cloud
computing is a major player, with several major
systems already in the cloud, and our transfer of all corporate ICT systems
into public/private cloud hybrids over the course of this financial year. It
has reduced our risk and cost base, and allowed us a shift of emphasis
from employing pure technical expertise to technical strategy expertise,
allowing us to focus on our core services while improving service
standards.
Melina: What do you consider as the three main challenges for wide
Cloud Computing adoption in Asia and how do you anticipate they can
be overcome?
Ben: Interesting question, and really I can only answer regarding the
public sector – the first is primarily HK based. I note a reticence amongst
public agencies to provide mobility solutions to their employees, and I
think this seriously hampers the effectiveness of cloud based solutions to
get government workers out of their desks and into the city infrastructure
and services, which I believe likely drags on costs and efficiency. With this
as a barrier, many of the benefits of cloud based solutions will not be
readily as apparent to the government – and the skill sets of highly
competent, highly mobile workforce will not be an advantage. Second, I
see the structural issues associated with data governance and related
Ben Dornier
Director of Corporate &
Community Services
City Of Palmerston

2. policy as a serious barrier, although this is steadily decreasing. As long as
policy makers are not actively addressing cloud procurement and
adoption issues, the ICT staff supporting internal decision making will not
be able to recommend new and innovative models of service delivery
without there being fairly high costs associated with development. This
continues the prevalence of ‘bespoke systems’ and the myth that ‘our
agency and its requirements are unique, and we need a unique system’. I
simply do not believe this is true any longer, and nations which address
this at a federal or national level are reaping the benefits. Third, in ‘cloud-
readiness’, Asia is rapidly climbing – but this is really a private sector
metric. I would strongly advocate that there be a concerted effort in the
industry to support a public sector metric, which could bootstrap some of
the incredible work happening in the private sector, and be a convincing
argument for changes in public policy towards cloud use. Public sector
use will be a serious revenue driver once procurement practices are able
to support government cloud use in the least restrictive manner
appropriate.
How much is Mobility part of your strategy? Is it important for
organisations to enable employee mobility and reach out to customers
through mobile devices?
Ben: Mobility is a ‘force-multiplier’ for us (to borrow from military terms),
which allows us to increase productivity while reducing pressures on
human resources. Municipal employees are able to spend less time at
their desks entering data into corporate systems, be it for inspections and
assessments of civic assets, to animal and parking infringements. For
these staff, less time at the desk means more time doing the work they
were hired to do. It also allows us to offer better employment flexibility
for staff who would prefer to operate part time or odd hours, without
some of the productivity issues often associated with workplace
flexibility. We are also finding that young employees are increasingly
expecting us to provide this capability, and quickly adopt mobile
solutions. As for our city residents, more than 50% are accessing city
information through mobile devices when and where they need it, and an
increasing proportion of these rely on mobile devices as their primary
access. This will only increase.
Melina: How do you think Disruptive Technologies affect the way
business is done in your industry?
Ben: Technology disruption is continuing to be a key component,
particularly as older, expensive Line of Business systems are proving not
nearly as capable as well managed cloud based solutions. I believe an
increasing disruptor in this area will be cloud based integration services
offering connections which tie multiple cloud based solutions into
effectively a single service from the perspective of the end user. There
will always be a role for major system suppliers, but increasingly the
aggregated cloud based service sector will take a large chunk of market
share while reducing the risks associated to big capex spends and

3. expensive implementations. When I am spending tax money, this is an
important consideration!
Melina: Can you recommend a - relevant to Cloud and Technology -
book/film/article that inspired you?
Ben: Being a bit more digital, might I suggest a blog! I have a heavy
interest in concepts around ‘smart cities’, a technology disruption
occurring around the business of building very expensive but often
technologically ‘dumb’ civil infrastructure like bridges and waste facilities.
I am an avid reader of posts at Jesse Berst’s “Smart Cities Now” blog,
through his site at www.smartcitiescouncil.com. There are a few good
blogs in this sector, but I enjoy the variety Jesse’s site provides.
Melina: What was your interest in attending Cloud Asia Forum? What
are you looking to achieve by attending the event?
Ben: Frankly, I know from past experience that I am guaranteed an ‘ah-
hah’ moment, or even several, which will change my thinking and
perspective on a specific area related to cloud solutions in government. I
am looking forward to hearing the speakers and interacting with
delegates and finding out where these ‘ah-hah’ moments will occur. This
year I am particularly interested in listening to topics covering C-Level
persuasion, the translation of the technical advantages of cloud
computing into corporate decision making involving non-technical
(meaning ICT!) executives. For me, I think this will be helpful in
persuading elected officials on their own terms about the benefits of
cloud adoption.
Hear Ben present and learn more about City Of Palmerston’s impressive
operations at 6th
Annual Cloud Asia Forum, 24 & 25 November 2015, The
Mira, Hong Kong
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For speaking opportunities please contact:
Melina Diamantopoulou
E: melina@cloudworldseries.com
T: +44 (0) 207 017 4288
For sponsorship opportunities please contact:
Matt Williamson
E: matt@cloudworldseries.com
T: +44 (0) 207 017 5450