Companies need to recognise this before they farm out one piece to a third party and work out beforehand how they are

Companies need to recognise this before they farm out one piece to a third party, and work out beforehand how they are going to manage the interface.* This column is provided by TBC Research, an events, publishing and research group. Contact www.tbcresearch . Andrew Pinder could not have had a more auspicious start to his first day as the Government’s e-Envoy if he’d tried. Over sandwiches he met Michael Dell, energetic boss of the world’s second largest computer manufacturer, Dell. Andrew Pinder could not have had a more auspicious start to his first day as the Government’s e-Envoy if he’d tried. Over sandwiches he met Michael Dell, energetic boss of the world’s second largest computer manufacturer, Dell.
At the meeting, Sir Andrew Turnbull, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, flanked Mr Pinder, who took up his £120,000-a-year post on Wednesday.

And the Whitehall meeting room was packed with 40 other senior government officials, eager to talk about all things “e”.For two hours, Mr Pinder was exposed to the very people he is supposed to be influencing in his new post. In short, his task is to bridge the wide gap between the Government and the IT industry.It is not an easy task. Not only will Mr Pinder have overall responsibility for UKOnline – the £1bn project to distribute the Government’s services on to the internet – but he will have to keep on-side with a sceptical IT industry that feels disenchanted with many of Labour’s policies.”My role will be the implementation of the large issues – getting the Government online by 2005,” he says. “It will also involve achieving universal internet access and rolling out broadband and digital TV.”Mr Pinder very nearly didn’t get the job. In October he was appointed “caretaker e-Envoy” after the resignation of Alex Allan, the first holder of the post. At the time Mr Pinder, who previously held senior positions at Citibank and the Inland Revenue, made it clear that he wasn’t interested in the job full-time. But he now explains: “When I got into the job, it really started to grow on me.

In the end I was totally addicted.” When approached by the Government’s headhunters, Whitehead Mann, he says: “I had to say ‘yes’.”Mr Pinder may be hooked on his job, but he needs to spread some of that enthusiasm to the hundreds of civil servants who will have to take day-to-day responsibility for his initiatives “It’s rather like turning around a large super-tanker. The Government has to adapt to a totally new way of doing business,” he says.A lot is at stake. Mr Pinder has just four years to transform the culture of the Civil Service, which at times can be set in its ways. The reputation of one of Labour’s key initiatives is resting on the shoulders of the new e-Envoy, who reports to Tony Blair.Jim Norton, head of e-commerce at the Institute of Directors and a former Downing Street adviser on the internet, welcomes the appointment of Mr Pinder. “He’s just the right sort of person as he’s got a good mix of public and private experience,” he says. But Mr Norton adds that Mr Pinder will have to “crack the whip in Whitehall” if the project is to succeed.

With his 80-strong team, set to grow to more than 150 under his tenure, Mr Pinder will have to lend a sympathetic ear to the IT industry.Top of the list of grumbles is the Treasury’s introduction of National Insurance on share options – the favourite recruitment tool of IT companies. Vance Kearney, vice-president of European human resources at Oracle, says: “It is an unacceptable tax burden that hits international companies as well as start-ups. With some companies it could be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.”Mr Pinder explains: “I want to make sure that the tax is not a burden. I can talk to the Treasury about the tax but I am not in a position to interfere with tax policy.” Asked if he has a view on the tax, he says: “I would rather not comment on that.”This may disappoint some IT companies that found a sympathetic ear at the e-Envoy’s office under Mr Allen.Vying with National Insurance at the top of the IT industry’s hate list is the RIP Act, which gives security authorities the power to snoop on emails. Mr Pinder plans to ensure that the legislation does not affect small internet service providers (ISPs).”I don’t want it to be a burden on business,” he says “We will aim to help small ISPs with the costs.

This doesn’t mean subsidising them, but ensuring that the Home Office provides the ISPs with the necessary equipment.”The e-Envoy is next week due to meet David Edmonds, the telecoms regulator, to discuss the roll-out of broadband in the UK. There is concern that the break-up of BT’s monopoly on high-speed internet access will create a “digital divide”, in which uneconomic rural areas will be deprived of the new technology.But Mr Pinder aims to bridge this divide. “Where it is less commercially viable we will look at the public procurement policy,” he says. “Local authorities, the police and the health service all need broadband. I want to make sure that the commercial opportunities of this are made clear to telecoms companies.”Mr Pinder has a lot to prove as the Government’s second e-Envoy Already there are calls for the post to be abolished. David Heathcoat-Amory, the shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, says: “The e-Envoy is a gimmicky position The Government is obsessed with initiatives and titles. It doesn’t impress business.”Gimmick, piggy-in-the-middle or genuine agent of change? Welcome to the world of Westminster, Mr Pinder..