Ms Cathriona Hallahan:

I will start and ask my colleagues to continue. Regarding change management and cultural changes, Deputy Collins hit the nail on the head. I have been with Microsoft for 28 years. In Ireland, it has transformed from a manufacturing facility into an operations, development and data centre. An element of transformation is change management, given people's fear factor. This is particularly the case in manufacturing facilities, where people are concerned about whether they have the ability to upskill and move into value added services. One must put in place a change management strategy, help in educating people on their opportunities and the skills they will need, and have a communications strategy. The public sector is undergoing significant changes. In general, an overarching change management or transformation strategy must be built, including a communications pillar. Such a strategy is the only way to alleviate some of the fear factor. Small steps should be taken. For example, identify areas in which success is demonstrable.

Deputy Kyne asked about the types of small business that could use cloud computing. E-mail is a good example. Many small businesses do not buy their own exchange servers. Instead, they use e-mail in the cloud. They log onto a service and pay a subscription. This helps them in two ways. First, it moves from making the capital investment of buying servers and licences to paying a subscription cost. Second, it helps small businesses to be more cost efficient and gives them some of the predictability they need to be able to scale and grow, as it is an operating expense as opposed to a capital one.

Deputy Collins asked for public sector examples. The HSE could benefit greatly. Mr. O'Leary has been working closely with it in that regard. He has also been working with the health services in Northern Ireland. We can share a number of good examples.