Technology
Digital is now clearly front and centre for councils Georgina Maratheftis, of techUK, explains how tech innovation can help authorities with the most pressing problems that they and their communities face The Covid-19 crisis has been a catalyst of digital change for many local authorities. From increases in remote working to virtual committee meetings to how services are being delivered, councils are working digitally. Technology is the easy part. Transformation and innovation itself, however, is an ongoing process and in this piece we outline some of the steps councils can take to make it sustainable.
a council-wide organisational strategy. People and agencies need to feel confident and empowered to break down silos and innovate. While all councils’ adoption of digital has moved at pace during the crisis, those councils that already had strong leadership, strong existing digital infrastructure and agility were able to respond swiftly. This was highlighted in techUK’s communities and public Leadership services post-covid Culture and leadership webinar where Paul We exp are key to creating Brewer, Director how tru lored the environment to for Digital and enable successful Resources at council ly digital transformation. Adur and more c s will be o Councils must Worthing n n ected a integra understand the digital Councils, n t d e d and com , with citize components within described how ns munitie their organisation at they utilised t s he drive the executive level existing digital rs of th being so that the leadership platforms to o s e c hanges can recognise how understand public services can be demand and transformed. Digital is no design a service longer just the responsibility within 48 hours to of IT – it is everyone’s. The vision manage referrals across needs to come from the top and any voluntary organisations, ensuring digital strategy needs to sit alongside much needed community support.
Challenge-led innovation When embarking on any transformation, councils should start with the problem they are trying to solve and the outcome they want to achieve. This means focused on what the users need rather than what products/solutions are available. One of the essential ways to achieve this is by bringing local public services and the tech industry together early in the procurement system to interrogate what the challenge is, understand the art of the possible, and validate ideas. From the GovTech Catalyst Challenge to TechForce19, we are seeing the growth of challenge innovation funds which is encouraging and provides a useful vehicle for SMEs and new entrants to also access the market. Place-based innovation Transformation and innovation done well targets specific problems in specific localities and improve the lives of people and their communities. Local government must empower people and take a placebased approach to digital projects. The current crisis has illustrated the importance of collaboration at the local level and marked a firm shift to place-based E Issue 27.3 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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