Boosting local council productivity through cloud technology
COVID-19 lit a fire under councils’ technology infrastructure, making them adapt to providing online services across all service areas at the same time as needing to enable their workforce to work effectively from home.
This has thrown into sharp relief the underlying need for councils to modernise their ways of working and adapt to a more digital world. In order to better engage with residents and to attract the best talent, councils need to rethink where they invest, how quickly they do it, and doing so for 20 years’ time, not for the technology needs of today. Adopting a digital mindset represents an opportunity to streamline business processes to drive enhanced productivity.
Productivity vs cost savings
In this blog I focus on productivity and how this links to technology. I have purposely used the word productivity rather than cost savings as you have a choice. For instance, if you automate a process which saves time, you can then choose what you do with that time; invest the time into another value adding activity or take it as a saving.
In order to get the benefits of technology, the mantra needs to be ‘adopt’ your business processes to the solution standard way of working rather than ‘adapt’ the solution to your current ways of working. This then sets you up for taking each system upgrade quickly and cost effectively.
The local government technology market is such that you may never satisfy 100% of your requirements from a single vendor or application - although you will get close. For the remaining gap, rather than customising said application, you can invest in flexible, dynamic and tactical solutions around its edge. For example, adopting standard processes creates the baseline to consider further automation opportunities through utilising robotic process automation (RPA) to automate high volume transactional processes - as this case study from North Lanarkshire shows. You should always standardise your process first before adopting RPA to avoid automating an inefficient way of working.
New technology has modern ways of working inherently built within it, for example ‘self-serve’ both for customers and for employees. Self-serve should now be seen as a standard way of working, not as a ‘nice to have’. Introducing such technology for even simple activities, for example chat bots and apps to book holiday, on legacy systems is very difficult, complex and expensive. This is how Generation Z expects to interact with organisations, it is their norm, using their phones on the go. The low representation of this age group in the wider local government workforce is both symptom and part-cause of the slow adoption of this approach.
Transforming your IT estate onto cloud technology also requires a different approach to financial decision-making. It may actually represent an increase in Opex and requires capital investment in the initial transformation. However, cloud technology benefits from constant upgrades (normally quarterly) which, when combined with a culture of continuous digital improvement from that initial transformation, allows you to reap the benefits as the digital market moves at pace. Contract this with legacy on-premise technology which can become out of date very quickly as upgrades are difficult and expensive to execute so many organisations choose not to upgrade.
In conclusion, transformational IT investment should be top of your investment priorities. This requires a different mindset but one that can deliver many different benefits to many different communities in your place.
Georgina Maratheftis
Georgina Maratheftis
Georgina is techUK’s Associate Director for Local Public Services
Georgina works with suppliers that are active or looking to break into the market as well as with local public services to create the conditions for meaningful transformation. techUK regularly bring together local public services and supplier community to horizon scan and explore how the technologies of today and tomorrow can help solve some of the most pressing problems our communities face and improve outcomes for our people and places.
Prior to techUK, Georgina worked for a public policy events company where she managed the policy briefing division and was responsible for generating new ideas for events that would add value to the public sector. Georgina worked across a number of portfolios from education, criminal justice, and health but had a particular interest in public sector transformation and technology. Georgina also led on developing relationships across central and local government.
If you’d like to learn more about techUK, or want to get involved, get in touch.
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Ileana Lupsa
Ileana Lupsa
Ileana Lupsa is the Programme Manager for Local Public Services and Nations and Regions, at techUK.
Ileana studied electronics, telecommunications and IT as an undergraduate, followed by an MSc in engineering and project management at Coventry University.
She refined her programme management expertise through her most recent roles working in the automotive industry.
Ileana is passionate about sustainability and creating a positive impact globally through innovation.
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Francesca Richiusa
Francesca Richiusa
Fran serves as the Programme Team Assistant within techUK’s Public Sector Market Programmes, where she is responsible for delivering comprehensive team support, managing administrative functions, and fostering strong relationships with members.
Prior to joining techUK in May 2025, Fran built a meaningful career in the charitable and local government sectors. She worked extensively with both victims and perpetrators of crime, and notably led the coordination of Domestic Homicide Reviews across Surrey—an initiative aimed at identifying lessons and preventing future incidents of domestic abuse.
Outside of work, Fran is an avid traveller and a proud cat mum who enjoys unwinding with her feline companions.
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Tracy Modha
Tracy Modha
Tracy supports the marketing of several areas at techUK, including Cyber Exchange, Central Government, Cyber Resilience, Defence, Education, Health and Social Care, Justice and Emergency Services, Local Public Services, Nations and Regions and National Security.
Tracy joined techUK in March 2022, having worked in the education sector for 19 years, covering administration, research project support, IT support and event/training support. My most outstanding achievement has been running three very successful international conferences and over 300 training courses booked all over the globe!
Tracy has a great interest in tech. Gaming and computing have been a big part of her life, and now electric cars are an exciting look at the future. She has warmed to Alexa, even though it can sometimes be sassy!
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