Alex Allan: The legacy of an e-envoy

Alex Allan's brief time as the UK's e-envoy will be remembered as a period of ups and downs.

His appointment at the end of 1999 was broadly welcomed. Most people in IT, as well as politicians and consumers, had come to recognise the need for someone who could work between government and industry, preach the virtues of the new economy, and plan the electronic delivery of public services.

Allan - the former High Commissioner to Australia - seemed to relish his appointment. And he set about doing just those things once he took up the post in January.

His views on ecommerce and IT representation at the highest levels were being welcomed by users and organisations such as the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA).

silicon.com was also encouraged by his stance on women in IT and the need to attract the young into a profession which still suffers from an image problem.

However, his brief time in office wasn't all positive. The last eight months has seen the government pushing on into political minefields, such as IR35 and the RIP Bill.

And speaking to silicon.com in January he unwisely, if honestly, admitted to the poor state of some government IT systems - without detailing how the situation could be improved. He later adopted a surprisingly laisser-faire attitude to the Powergen security breach.

It's fair to say he needed more time to work on some worthy initiatives, and we wish him, and his family, well. Now it'll be up to the government to find someone else to take up the reins - a person it aims to find through an "open competition", whatever that means. It won't be easy.