Western Australia spends big on keeping IT systems up to date

Western Australia's tech budget may not have many huge IT projects on the books, but the state government hasn't neglected the necessary spending on keeping its systems up to date.

Many departments will be making continual investments into their systems over the next year and the three subsequent years. Some of the more notable ones include the Insurance Commission of WA, which is spending AU$3.2 million over four years on IT hardware and AU$9.6 million on software for the same period; Commerce's four-year, AU$9.3 million IT Asset Infrastructure plan; and the Geraldton Port Authority's AU$6.6 million spend on its IT infrastructure upgrades over four years.

The port is one of the few state departments to have a sizeable IT project. In its case, it is spending AU$2.3 million on upgrades that will help ships navigate the harbour.

WA Police also had a few projects to fight crime, but they pale in comparison to the overhaul set to occur to its systems. Over the next two years, it will spend AU$31.72 million on its core business systems and AU$1.3 million on infrastructure replacement. A separate Infrastructure Replacement and Continuity line item in its budget for 2013-15 adds a further AU$35.8 million to its books.

Utilities Horizon Power and Synergy also have large line items for their IT systems' upkeep. Horizon is spending AU$1.7 million on its IT business investment program, but Synergy has broken down its spending further. It will spend AU$10.7 million over the next three years to implement its asset replacement program and ensure that it has disaster recovery in place for its critical core servers.

Over the next four years, customer information and billing systems will receive an AU$4.1 million upgrade, its software and product development will receive an AU$7.1 million injection, and AU$12.2 million will be spent on system enhancements. Its call centre will also see an AU$3.5 million upgrade for 2013-14.