How to maintain the Digital transformation momentum in the Public Sector

Projects that, before COVID, took months or even years to deliver, landed in weeks. Procrastination and red tape overcome. The result is that, as of today, authorities have access to the latest technology. Technology that, in theory, allows them to solve the many challenges in the quality, timeliness, and relevance of service delivery. Again, in theory.

The Chief Executive of a London Borough council recently stated that “The capabilities of technology now far exceed our ability to get the most from it.” It’s ironic to think that the cure to the challenge of service delivery in constrained times is too advanced. Yet, this isn’t a blanket attitude.

Suffolk Council are using advanced data and analytics tools to find efficiencies in school bus routes. This alone saved millions from their annual budget. Perhaps then it is not the fault of technology that its potential is not always realised. There may be something else at play. The Director of Adult Social Services from one council suggests “Success is not landing the technology; it’s getting people using it.”

Rapid mobilisation is driving out old notions that technology projects are singular. With a given beginning and end. This isn’t the case. Digital transformation is a progressive approach built on constant improvement. You uncover how people use tech, what your teams want from it, how it can deliver value to people, and then adapt. The latest technology has made this easier.

As one authority representative stated, “If I standardise my applications, the skills I need to support them becomes less.” Legacy systems are expensive to run and need a glut of processes and people to keep them moving. On the flip side, newer technology is lighter to manage, easier to maintain, connected, and flexible. 

We want a post-pandemic future of connected data and communities, automated services, and where citizens can access and call upon services faster. With the right approach – and momentum - today’s technology will make delivering citizen services easier, removing the manual process of logging information and managing actions.