Council trio drive transformation agenda

Eastbourne Borough Council, London Tri-borough and Camden Council gain awards; cost reduction imperative and need to help staff work more efficiently drives change Three local authorities have emerged as winners in the inaugural Government Computing Transformation Awards. Eastbourne Borough Council, The London Borough of Camden, and the London Tri-borough, comprising Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, were recognised for their work in transforming their services, in a regional context in Eastbourne's case, and in terms of large-scale London borough transformation for both Camden and the London Tri-borough. Eastbourne's adoption of a council-wide transformation project called Drive and a customer-centric delivery model to transform how it manages citizen enquiries set out to reinvent the relationship between traditional services within the council. Its aim was to move towards a fully digital foundation for core processes and interactions to underpin a re-structured organisation, whilst delivering real innovation and value for money. Working with Civica and change management consultancy Ignite, Eastbourne made savings of 350,000 in the first year, as well as gaining operating efficiencies from new ways of working. In Phase Two, the council has made cost savings of up to 20% compared with the original cost baselines, while increasing staff response time and capabilities. Councillor David Tutt, leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, said, "We're thrilled to be recognised for the hard work that everyone across the council has done over the past few years. The pressure to do more with less, without letting service levels drop is a recurring conundrum for most organisations like our one. Through really thinking outside the box, we have been able to make substantial financial savings, and have also been able to improve the services for our citizens, which is at the heart of everything we do." Bill Loughrey, managing director, Local Government, Housing & Regulated Markets, Civica said, "Eastbourne is an excellent best-practice example of an organisation that has had to act differently to meet the changing demand that local government's face. We've worked with the council in helping it achieve the goals set out through this transformation programme, through moving to a more immediate, agile and connected way of working. As a result, services across the council have improved considerably, and significant cost savings have been made." This article first appeared on Government Computing here. http://cio.governmentcomputing.com/news/council-trio-drive-transformation-agenda-4204251