North Sydney Council creates CIO role

North Sydney Council is seeking its first chief information officer (CIO), a role created in a late-2023 council reorganisation.

As recorded in December 2023 minutes [pdf], the council decided to adopt a new structure in March last year, and in December, a suite of changes was recommended to council.

That restructure included a reorganised information technology services unit, bringing together “digital platforms, application management, service management and information management (records)”.

“These changes are in acknowledgement of the considerable impact the unit has on the productivity of all operations”, the minutes noted.

It also involved resourcing to create the CIO role, which has now been advertised.

The advertisement states the CIO will report to the director of corporate services, to provide “systems, data and strategy for the effective delivery of technology services”.

According to the council’s annual report [pdf], key technology strategies are being developed for records management, and information communication and technology.

To improve the council’s records management, the CIO will be overseeing the ongoing rollout of a development applications tracking system, integrated with existing property and rates systems.

The council is also working to integrate its applications tracking system with the NSW government’s ePlanning portal.

An online CRM rollout “to provide a personalised service with streamlined customer to officer workflow” is also in the works.