England’s Local Governments are currently facing economic turmoil. It has recently been reported that there is a £3bn funding black hole caused by inflationary costs and soaring demand for services. This black hole puts pressure on Local governments to modernise and make their processes more efficient. During these times of economic hardship, citizens need direct access to local services, and council communications, both internally, and externally, need to be clearer and more streamlined.
Striving for Excellence
RingCentral, in collaboration with GovNewsDirect, recently conducted a wide-reaching survey to gain a deeper understanding of how public sector organisations are making use of the latest communications technology. The survey found that there is an overwhelming appetite for the adoption of modern communication solutions within local government.
At present, 54% of local government respondents rated their internal communication tools as ‘good’, while 48% also rated the communication tools they used with service users as ’good’. Less than 20% of respondents rated the communication tools as ‘Excellent’. This demonstrates that there is definitely room for improvement in how local governments currently use their communications channels. ‘Good’ is, unfortunately, not good enough in the face of the economic pressures local governments currently face.
Across the country, local authorities have been united in the desire to promote a digital first agenda. HM Government has launched strategies and roadmaps such as the landmark Organising for Digital Delivery and Transforming for a Digital Future. These aim to build strong foundations for digital transformation across the public sector, but in order to meet the objectives of these strategies, public sector organisations must continue to strive for excellence. How then do local governments progress and adopt digitally focused, forward-thinking communications processes?
Crystallising Council Communications
Our new whitepaper addresses the need for this modernisation in local government communications. It delves deeper into the survey’s key findings and maps out how solutions, such as cloud-telephony, can revolutionise local government services. The white paper explores:
- The economic hardships currently facing local governments
- How communication solutions are currently being used in local governments
- The need for a digital first approach to public services
- The use of the Local Government Digitalisation Almanac
- A breakdown of the progress of digitalisation in local government
- The benefits of using AI-based solutions, such as chat-bots
- The benefits of adopting cloud-based telephony
- Concrete learnings from a local authority case study
The exploration of these topics demonstrates how local governments could go from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ simply by moving away from more traditional forms of communication and adopting purpose-built cloud-telephony solutions. To truly work in step with HM Government’s plans for digital public services, local governments must learn from one another and continue to adapt in trying times.
Originally published Nov 03, 2023, updated Oct 29, 2024
