Shining a Light on the Future
There’s no question that those we spoke to are facing some pretty big challenges. But there are positive priorities and goals they’re working towards, and it’s clear effective, intuitive and cost-effective tech platforms are key to helping them along that path.
Let’s look at the challenges. Our respondents definitely had some fundamental issues to deal with, with the main challenges being:
Their priorities were crucial. Our research revealed the local governments we spoke to had some clear and crucial priorities they were driven to achieve. Tackling climate change & environmental health, digital inclusion, modernising waste services and improving resident engagement were just a few of the issues those we spoke to were passionate about dealing with.
Digital support to navigate these is key. We wanted to find out how important technology was to tackling their challenges and implementing their goals. They told us the service areas most in need of digital support included: housing, planning & building control, social care and environmental health. Areas that are fundamental to the well-being of our society need the best digital support possible.
We were saddened to find out that there were some key areas where the councils we spoke had been let down by their current tech offerings. They felt they had some “unmet needs” which were holding them back. These included: a lack of integration capabilities, reluctance to continuously develop the technologies councils use and the limited number of suppliers in the market
This was disappointing, especially as technology was found to have at least 18 different service area uses within the councils, and our respondents could name 38 main technology providers they were using. Yet despite this, key needs of the councils were still being overlooked.
We were, however, encouraged to read that, when it came to the public sector respondents in our research, there was an openness and enthusiasm for symbiotic, forward-thinking relationships with tech providers. They told us that the value they received when engaging with external technology providers was increased efficiency & automation, decreased duplication, savings on resources and provision of a more secure and structured infrastructure. This is the stuff we like to hear. Digital support that actually supports you, and providers who know what you need.
It was also encouraging to understand the criteria councils evaluate external suppliers on. Of course it’s obvious to expect price and their track record with other councils to be key to the decision-making process, however we were impressed to see that carbon neutral policies and social values were key drivers in maintaining a dynamic relationship between the council and tech supplier. They also told us, the biggest indicator of a successful external partnership in their eyes was the willingness to engage and respond to the council’s growing needs. Understandably, having experience in or knowledge of how the public sector works is important to local authorities. In fact, most of the councils we spoke to had only worked with technology suppliers that already had experience in the public sector.
We were excited to find that the ground is fertile for the public sector to embrace more intuitive and improved tech solutions. Seventy percent of the authorities we spoke to already had cloud infrastructure. With budgets for prioritised services ranging from £150,000 to £2m/£3m (with a spending focus on housing) the post-Covid build back looks like the perfect time for the public sector to re-focus its attention on more ambitious and cost-effective CRM systems.