Computer bill a wretched surprise.

LIVERPOOL City Council is not the first big organisation to be wrong-footed by the pace of change in information technology, nor will it be the last.

Every company, every public body, has its tales to tell of computer equipment in as good working order as it was when it was new, but made obsolete as often as not by new software,or the requirements of some new items of hardware.

But, even so, most organisations were bitten in this manner several years ago as the digital revolution gathered pace. Even though change is still going ahead at a giddy rate, most IT managers are now on top of the need to stay one pace ahead of new developments simply in order not to be left behind.

The fact that Liverpool City Council needs to replace anything up to 4,000 computers should not really come as a surprise. What has been a surprise, though, is the very fact that it has come as a surprise.

Someone, somewhere, should have seen what was coming. Whether that someone was buried away in the depths of the council hierarchy, or was intimately involved in setting up the Liverpool, Direct Limited joint IT venture with British Telecom, has not emerged.

LDL is in bad odour with the council at the moment as the expected profits from the project have yet to materialise, and the pressure is on for the contract not to be renewed when it comes to its end.

Until more information becomes available, it is not possible to declare with absolute certainty that the computing crisis can be laid at LDL's door.

But the bill for computer replacement is an unwelcome and seemingly unexpected one. In the interests of everyone, some urgent explanation is called for.

.