Overcoming hurdles to digital transformation in the public sector

11th March, 2019

The Cabinet Office: Digital Transformation Strategy

Six years on and the public sector is still struggling to transform. It’s hard. And things such as complex IT estates, cost pressures, lack of digital skills and culture are holding them back.

When the strategy was first published, 25 departments were picked for digital improvement. But these on-going barriers are slowing down progress. This has led to the realisation that a top-down approach to transformation isn’t right.

The customer experience disconnect

The updated strategy singles out customer-facing services as a focus. As councils are struggling to meet people’s expectations for service. This comes as no surprise to us. We know how important customer experience is. And how bad or manual processes are killing the customer experience.

There’s currently a gap between people’s expectations and their organisations’ ability to meet them. Which is largely down to the disconnect between the front and back office. In many cases, this is down to:

Lack of integration – digital services aren’t integrated with established IT systems

Lack of IT resources — both skills and budget

Departmental silos — a lack of communication between IT and front-office teams

Different priorities — customer-facing teams are passionate about experience; while IT is focused on strategic issues and acute problems

Lack of integration – digital services aren’t integrated with established IT systems

Seven principles for success

1. Transformation first. Focus on the outcomes you need, not the technology.

2. People problems not technology problems. Solve the most pressing customer or user requirements first.

3. System design. Design with the end in mind of both the work to be done and the user context. And be flexible, ready for the future.

4. Invest in analytics. Make sure you can use the data you collect to make decisions.

5. Multiple iterations and continuous learning. Embrace an agile approach to deliver more effective results.

6. Support interoperability. Ensure APIs are low/no cost and easy to connect.

7. Sound information governance. Data sharing requires strong information governance and security.

Low-code helps you deliver

Low-code helps you deliver projects in line with these principles. It accelerates digital delivery and reduce IT overheads. Which is why SOCITM picked low-code as a likely trend in public sector IT in 2019.

Liberty Create, our low-code solution allows you to create apps fast. Without the need for coding.  So the people who understand experience problems can solve it themselves. With easy-to-use tools, instead of always turning to IT. Closing the gap between the front and the back office.

Learn more about Liberty Create and how we help local government.