Former COO at C&W takes on e-gov challenge
Director of e-Government Ian Tibbetts
(CNS Business): The Cabinet office has appointed Ian Tibbetts to take on the task of dragging the Cayman Islands Government into the 21st century and help it provide many more services via the internet. A former chief operating officer with Cable and Wireless with extensive communications experience, the new director of e-government has been given the challenge of getting public services online and meeting the policy objectives to cut the cost of service delivery and make CIG more effective and efficient.
Having taken up the post at the beginning of this month, Tibbetts will lead the development of technology and systems in the public sector to allow people to do business with government not just in the financial services sector but across many more departments.
Last month in the government’s Strategic Policy Statement the premier said the PPM administration would continue “to improve and increase e-government services, develop and implement e-filing for other banking, insurance and fiduciary areas of the Monetary Authority, and implement an electronic filing and payment system for director registration and licensing.â€
Alva Suckoo, the Progressive’s backbencher appointed as counsellor for e-government and chair of the e-Government Task Force, will work closely with Tibbetts and the steering committee once it is appointed. He said government’s objective was to adopt a more structured and predictable model for the delivery of e-services.
“We also need to carry out a visioning exercise to determine our strategic objectives. Some other immediate steps are: the creation of a unique identifier for users of the Cayman Islands’ e-Government platform, and a decision on how electronic transactions will be accepted and processed by all Government entities. In all of these things Mr Tibbetts will play a central role,†Suckoo said.
The development and transition to e-government will involve Computer Services, the Home Affairs Ministry and external vendors, as well as the Cabinet office where Tibbetts is working.
Acknowledging that institutional change of this nature can face numerous obstacles, Tibbetts said they could be overcome through strong communication and capacity building. He plans to make it a priority to bring together agencies and people with all levels of experience to share best practice and to learn from each other.
Tibbetts pointed out that a number of public authorities, such as the General Registry, immigration and the Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing, have already made strides in the area of e-government.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about making it quicker and easier for residents, visitors and businesses to interact with government. My role is to ensure we have a plan that is coordinated, practical and which addresses: people, processes and technology,†he said.
Despite facing a daunting challenge, Tibbetts comes to the job with considerable experience. Formerly the vice-president responsible for customer experience at an international telecommunications company, Tibbetts is well versed in the skills necessary to ensure the success of technological change.
During more than 30 years with LIME (formerly Cable and Wireless), he worked his way up from records system serviceman to chief operating officer (COO) for the Cayman Islands business, and then to vice president (VP) of customer experience (Caribbean). He headed various departments, including government and business services, residential and small business services, as well as data and the Internet. He moved on to become VP of programme management, then of sales and customer service before spending five years as COO (Cayman). Among his many roles he also oversaw the recovery operations for the telecoms provider in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Tibbetts beat out a field of 17 people who applied for the post. The recruitment process included pre-interview testing, which involved two scenario-based exercises designed to assess candidates’ approach to resolving ongoing e-government enablement challenges, as well as their approach to future initiatives. Panelists included Cabinet Secretary Samuel Rose, Ministry of Home Affairs Deputy Chief Officer Wes Howell and Partner at Deloitte, Taron Jackman.
To help government reach the goal of transforming service delivery, Tibbetts will lead a small unit based in the Cabinet Office but he will work with public sector agencies across the board to make their services available online in an efficient and user friendly manner, and to enable them to interact with stakeholders more effectively. Following his appointment Rose expressed his portfolio’s full commitment to working with the new e-government director to achieve streamlined, efficient and reliable services for the people of the Cayman Islands.
Category: Finance, Financial Services, Government, ICT, Local Business, Technology
I’m really glad to see that government now has a senior person like Ian Tibbetts dedicated to making more services available over the web. I am a civil servant, and I see how ineffective Computer Services is so I sure hope they don’t get in his way.
Great to see Mr. Tibbetts in this position, he’s got the experience to do the job.
Show of hands, who thinks that someone who used to run Cable and Useless is going to bring us into the modern age.
Careless and Worthless? Those methods should fit right in to a government post.