The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has inadequate knowledge management and information sharing, its new IT strategy admits this week.

The document states that “information sharing and the registration/retention of key information are generally less than adequate, as is our ability to find information as key staff move on and the contents of their inbox and private file stores are lost.”

It adds that “improvements in information management are essential if the FCO is to become a leader in the field of knowledge management, as it should.” The strategy pledges to engage staff and use technology to make information management easier.

The strategy also aims to cut IT costs by at least 33 per cent by 2015, compared to 2010/11 costs. These savings will be made through an upgraded network, called Echo, and through renegotiation of contracts.

Staff will be less reliant on email in the future, it pledges. Instead, the FCO will provide alternatives to email, including instant messaging and an online platform to share information collaboratively (SharePoint).

The FCO also wants to have more sustainable IT systems, stating that “we will reduce the carbon footprint of our IT operations by at least 20 per cent by 2015 (compared to 2009/10), and cut paper use by 10 per cent in 2011/12.”

It will do this by “ensuring our suppliers actively support our sustainability targets, and by improvement management of our data centres and printing needs.”

The full strategy is available here.

Written by CSW