Four municipalities share an IT organization, but culture matters most

Four Swedish municipalities share an IT organization to pool expertise, platforms and costs, but aligning local priorities takes ongoing dialogue. In an interview with Techtidningen, CIO and administration director Önay Jakobov says that trust and shared working practices matter more than technology choices.

Laxå, Lekeberg, Askersund and Hallsberg have shared an IT administration since 2014. Lekeberg is the host municipality, and the organization serves nearly 20 municipal administrations and eight municipal companies. Jakobov says cooperation helps smaller municipalities access skills that can be difficult to build independently, while sharing platforms and licensing costs.

Each municipality still controls its own operations, so proposals for shared technology start with identifying the problem to solve. Sydnärkes IT typically makes the case for common solutions on security, cost or quality grounds. When a local need seems unusual, the IT administration first considers whether the shared platform can meet it.

After taking up his role roughly two years ago, Jakobov worked with the municipalities to clarify what the shared IT service includes and what individual departments must handle. Sydnärkes IT now focuses on technical infrastructure and common platforms; each municipality leads its own service development and digitalization, with IT support and advice.

Cybersecurity and prioritization remain major demands as the organization modernizes infrastructure and strengthens IT security. Jakobov says the work has no fixed endpoint because infrastructure needs continuous lifecycle management. His main lesson for smaller municipalities is to build trust, agreement and common working practices, and to standardize where possible. Technology, he says, comes second to culture, working methods and relationships.