The approach of senior public officials to information technology-related reform: lessons from India

A review of global experience suggests that information technology (IT) has great potential to contribute to public sector reform. However, the Indian reality ? like that for many countries ? has been more problematic, with many failures of IT-related reform; failures that can be described as total, partial or failures of sustainability and replication. Many factors help explain such failure, but a key component is the approach to IT and reform adopted by senior public officials. A ?four Is? model of approaches is described: the non-IT approach of ?ignore? and the IT-related approaches of ?isolate?, ?idolize? and ?integrate?. Analysis of Indian cases suggests that it is the last approach that is most likely to deliver reform objectives; yet it remains the least commonly adopted. Changes are therefore required in current strategies for public administration training and in the planning and management of change.