If anything Local Government has been more innovative and proactive than central government. Luckily, digital transformation covers the whole range of government processes from departmental to inter-council. It is not all AI, machine learning and expensive big data projects.
There are plenty of opportunities to harness the ideas of employees and empower them with the means to make and execute better decisions.
Take asset management in which 35% of costs are attributable to waste and remedial work. A digital platform can help council members manage contractors far better to reduce this significantly.
Related to that is social housing- the landlord-tenant relationship. How much better if tenants can submit "self-service" custom templated reports to initiate repairs and maintenance.
Capturing property surveys on video and storing them in the cloud means you can always see a view of the property as it was. Videos can be shared with third parties for work to be carried out or used by third parties to demonstrate a task has been done.
Integrated with existing document management systems to ensure you can retrieve all your files and building information with ease whatever the format it was in originally.
Save money, save time and reduce your liability.
Next there is joining up silos and departments that actually deal with the same people even if for different needs e.g. parking, traffic permits, waste management, social housing, benefits.
There is the interface with other public sector organisations like the NHS, vital if the current challenges of caring for the elderly are to be tackled effectively.
Employees can be given the power of using personal skill, knowledge and judgement in combination with technology to act faster, deliver better service at a lower unit cost. And today's digital platforms make it easier to provide this technology on a unit cost basis helping councils manage reducing budgets
As local government across the UK responds to the 40% real terms cut in funding over the course of this parliament, how are individual councils reacting? According to policy think tank NLGN, many councils believe the cuts represent an opportunity to innovate. In a recent survey of 65 councils, respondents appeared confident about the potential of innovation for solving the Public Sector-wide challenge of doing more with less. This confidence can largely be attributed to a growing awareness of the need for innovation in the sector. For example, of the respondents surveyed by NLGN, one third said they expected coming up with new ideas and ways of doing things will help them meet 50% or more of their cuts targets.
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