Wipro's Azim Premji pushes for CIOs in government

BANGALORE: IT czar Azim Premji on Wednesday pushed for creation of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) structure in all government departments on the lines of the one in the private sector.

Speaking at the inauguration of BangaloreIT.Biz 2009, Karnataka's annual premier ICT (Information Technology, Communication,telecom) event here, he urged government to make education, innovation and ICT part of their economic policy agenda.

Stressing the role of ICT in government, the Chairman of the Bangalore-headquartered, New York Stock Exchange-listed Wipro Limited said that it would increase the reach and improve efficiency in delivery of citizen services.

He expressed the view that such deliveries are "too fragmented" in the country today and best practices "don't come to the surface", while there is a lot of duplication between different organisations in the government resulting in higher costs.

States should share their expertise in ICT, he said. States lagging behind "need not reinvent the wheel; they can learn from leading ICT States, do some minimum customisation and implement in their States," Premji added.