Digital Transformation

I think it is fair to say that most councils have got to a point where they have exhausted their ability to make any further significant steps forward in generating efficiencies and delivering service improvement with the legacy systems they have. They now need to do something more transformational to make the step-change required. Arcus… Read more »

Low Code sounds great: you (anyone) can use this magic tool, to create a full business application or part thereof, without having to use expensive techies, instead using a cheaper and less specialist resource. It is (mostly) completely visual, and can be achieved using a number of tools out there on the market. Sometimes it manifests as a toolkit on top of a platform like Salesforce or Dynamics.

Over the last 5 years, there has been a shift in the consulting / advisory landscape in Public Sector and Local Government. It feels like many of the more traditional approaches are rebranding or disappearing altogether to be replaced by a fancy ‘Digital’ title, perhaps using a technical term or concept here and there, or quoting some newly created model for doing roughly the same thing.

It goes without saying that the past year has thrown up challenges that most of us never thought we would face, and the public sector is no exception.

There’s a huge amount of social value in getting grant money to where it needs to be as quickly as possible. Supporting people, families and businesses is a key COVID recovery thread. The flipside to this for most Local Authorities is ensuring that the right people get the right amount for the right things. Prudence with the public purse. Operating prudently with a sense of urgency in a dynamic environment is incredibly difficult.

The UK has a hugely complex system of public services. When I started Arcus Global at the backend of 2009, the UK was considered a world leader in digital government. Over that time we’ve seen a dramatic digital shift, with much innovation and achievement taking place between 2010 and 2015.

The current extraordinary situation we find ourselves in has overtly demonstrated the need for those in procurement to rethink the questions that get asked about business continuity. It’s normally a dry and dull subject tucked away at the back of the tender documents, which is replied to with a stock answer detailing data centre availability and the like. Until now, no-one has ever asked: “How will your solution assist our business continuity in the case of an emergency?”

“When it comes to local government, it seems that open data and open standards will take more prominence. A few authorities across the UK have already put this in motion, such as the Greater London Authority (GLA), where the ambition is to create a ‘live hub’ of planning and development information, accessible to all Londoners.

I was asked recently about what I think 2020 will bring for planning tech. My response to that question might not paint a futuristic picture of digitally rendered buildings but what we’re likely to see is just as interesting. The key to all this is recognising that there is a difference between what we’d like to see in planning, and what we will actually see come to market.

The potential threat posed by large platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Salesforce to SME suppliers in the public sector has raised concerns about an ‘oligopoly’ of larger companies taking over the market with SMEs struggling for breathing space. How real is the threat, and should SMEs be concerned? Is the playing field really as unequal as some people think?

Clearly, I am a bit biased here, but I do think that it is possible to get a good partner for digital transformation, as long as one understands what this means for their organisation.

When you have the vision and plan in place for digital transformation, it is time to consider who inside the local authority can do this. There are already a lot of blogs about leadership, and they all share one message: without strong leadership, transformation programmes are not possible.

What does real transformation look like? Digital, shiny and beautiful. Of course, the big T is not, and should not be, a one-off traumatic event, never to be repeated. Like a revolution, it may have a beginning, but it will not have an end.

In my view, there are several distinct types of ‘fake transformation’ in the public sector. I want to list them here, because understanding them is very helpful in deciding how to proceed and how to avoid project issues or failures.

With digitisation of services becoming a priority for many local authorities, I often see them push ahead with a ‘transformation’ project in one shape or another. It could be digital (in fact, it almost always is), or perhaps focused more on people or services. Some observers prefer to call it ‘change’, or an ‘improvement programme’. Whichever way you word it, some version of this exists in almost every single department.

Recently, New Statesman Tech reported on plans from the Government Digital Service (GDS) to review its ‘Cloud-first’ policy in 2020. Although it’s now clear that there are no plans to revise or rename the policy, we do understand why GDS might want to give the ‘Cloud-first’ policy a new perspective and perhaps contemplate the meaning behind phrases “cloud smart” or “cloud first”. We really welcome this clarification and fully support it. After all, realism is key for the success of a digital transformation project.

There have been recent articles in the press about the potential threat posed by large platforms like AWS, MSFT Azure or Salesforce to SME suppliers working in the government space.

Cloud-first strategies have been the driving force behind digital transformation projects in the public sector. Moving beyond on-premise legacy IT estates is seen as a key step in helping organisations become more agile and effective. Cloud solutions are therefore implemented to serve a real business purpose. But, we do need to remember that a cloud-first strategy has to be about the end result – and that’s putting the user first.

Modernising processes to improve services is a key priority for councils today. A big part of that is moving to the cloud and making the flow of data a key process. This allows the front-end to be linked to back-end systems to gain valuable insight into citizen interaction and in turn improve the customer experience and services provided. 

In 2018, the Local Digital Declaration was launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. It set out an ambition to digitise local government and improve services in response to the changing digital needs and expectations of the demographics they serve. From planning and building to recycling and waste, transformation is needed to bring the services into the digital age. 

Local government is changing. The Local Digital Declaration announced last year has laid the foundations for digital transformation across councils. One of its five guiding principles, ‘fixing the plumbing’, has now become a common catchphrase which is often used out of context.

In this digital age, it’s more important than ever to ensure public services meet the needs of its citizens. Technology is no doubt transforming the way we deliver these services, but there is still opportunity to do more.

With digital transformation sweeping across the public sector, it is important to understand what makes projects a success. Here are our top five tips on introducing a digital transformation project: