Archive for July 2nd, 2010
Local Government Association 2010
It will be one of the first major events since the general election and the emergency budget, both of which have had a profound and urgent affect on Local Authorities up and down the country.
In October 2009 the SOLACE conference was flagging warnings about the situation to come. I am going to be interested to see if Local Authorities heeded the SOLACE message and how much of a ‘shock’ the emergency budget is having.
It is a time for Local Authorities to think beyond the norm are realise that how they have delivered services in the past may well not be the way to deliver the services in the future.
ICT is going to play a huge part in the future of service delivery for local authorities, both as a tool to process information but also as a way to shape services into 2011 and beyond. The new government has already shown the way to engage with tools such as:
- Your Freedom – the chance of members of the public to challenge the laws of the UK
- The Spending Challenge – inviting Public Sector Workers to tell it how it is and how it should
Changes are happening and this Government is serious about ICT. The challenge for Local Authorities is how to use ICT so that it delivers cashable savings and not become a Money Pit.
To me it is all about attitude and vision. Too many local Authorities are thinking about the immediate future but forgetting the long term benefits that ICT can bring. We need Local Authorities to plan for the future and be prepared to invest now and save later.
In addition it is necessary, when looking at the savings, to realise that there may not be a single ostrich that will lay a golden egg, instead it may be made up of many hummingbirds laying a lot smaller golden eggs. Digital Inclusion is an example of little savings making a big pot.
I will be looking to update this blog and will be tweeting while I am in Bournemouth, and if you’re around get in touch.
Till next time
Paul
Business Analysed 