2012 news markthompson digitalconference

Why digital growth and innovation is changing the relationships between government, citizens and private organisations

29 May 2012

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Dr Mark Thompson joins expert panel at the 7th National Digital Conference Dr Mark Thompson, Lecturer in Information Systems at Cambridge Judge …

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Dr Mark Thompson joins expert panel at the 7th National Digital Conference

Dr Mark ThompsonDr Mark Thompson, Lecturer in Information Systems at Cambridge Judge Business School, will be joining a panel of expert speakers at the 7th National Digital Conference (ND2012) in London on 30 and 31 May.

The two-day event will focus on the policies, partnership activity and investment needed to drive digital enabled growth and encourage digital innovation in all sectors of the UK economy and society. It will also explore the latest social action to support people, particularly in hard to reach groups, to take their first steps online.

Dr Thompson will join other expert panellists, including Lord Erroll, Chairman of The Information Society Alliance (EURIM), Lord Freud, Minister for Welfare Reform, and Paula Vennells, Chief Executive of the Post Office, to discuss how and why technology is changing the relationship between government, citizens and private organisations. The panel will also explore the challenges of designing and delivering user focused digital services in practice. As part of this they will consider the importance of communications, phasing of service roll out, incentives and ensuring the availability of ‘assisted digital’ access to digital public services for those who are not currently online or who don’t have the ability to use the internet.

Dr Thompson commented:

There is much discussion currently about reforming public services, but often little clarity about what is to be done. The government has a real opportunity to rethink some of the traditional ways in which many services have been provided in the past by building a common platform for the more standard of these – especially corporate services. Such a platform could eventually save UK plc tens of billions. ND2012 represents a valuable chance to encourage more national debate about this important issue.”

With 18 years of information systems and change management consultancy experience, including four years with Andersen Consulting (Accenture), Dr Thompson is currently a Director of London-based service innovator Methods and is also a Main Board Member of Intellect, the UK’s leading technology trade association.