You make excellent points on the differences of IT needs for municipal services vs. a luxury hotel as regards scope and complexity. Taking that into account, a good audit could probably find ways to streamline, especially with an eye towards personnel redundancies among the departmental functions.
"Taking that into account, a good audit could probably find ways to streamline, especially with an eye towards personnel redundancies among the departmental functions."
Also look for custom in-house designed and maintained software that could effectively be replaced with off-the-shelf commercial software.....seen that MANY times during my career.
That's true, but it's not necessarily easy.
We tend to forget that city bureaucracies tend to build up over decades. The problems with restructuring in an environment like that are manifold; not just because of turf protection (which is a real issue), but also because the governmental entities are more like an organism than a set of well-defined departments -- it's often difficult to tell where one department stops and the next one starts.
That's true, but it's not necessarily easy.
We tend to forget that city bureaucracies tend to build up over decades. The problems with restructuring in an environment like that are manifold; not just because of turf protection (which is a real issue), but also because the governmental entities are more like an organism than a set of well-defined departments -- it's often difficult to tell where one department stops and the next one starts.