Navigating digital transformations – How Derbyshire County Council has revolutionised their services
Currently, 84% of digital transformation projects fail due to a lack of the right support and guidance. Digital transformation is more than just investing in digital technologies, it is adapting to a new working culture to not just use data, but understand the true value of it.
Derbyshire County Council has embarked on a digital transformation journey to improve its services across the care continuum by using a variety of local government software solutions.
Disjointed ways of working
Before working with The Access Group, Derbyshire County Council (DCC) used the same systems to run their multiple services, but in very different ways. This created a lot of inconsistencies in how their data and information were being used, making it harder to have a clear market oversight to implement their short-, medium--, and long-term strategies. Using the same system differently also created extra challenges for leaders in the council. Whenever colleagues were off sick or on annual leave it was difficult to provide efficient cover as everyone was using data, information, and processes inconsistently. This, in turn, led to processes taking longer and individuals left waiting to receive the care, support, and information they needed.
The digital solution
To streamline their services and overcome the data and information challenges they were experiencing, DCC needed a system that could effortlessly digitise its processes to improve the user experience for its staff and the individuals in their community.
They decided to update their Local Government Software as it gave them the flexibility they needed to centralise their services and create better bespoke packages to meet all the specific needs of the community to deliver better-personalised care and support.
Derbyshire’s Digital Transformation Journey
Since the beginning of their transformation journey, the outcomes have been successful All their services and teams are using the same approach and platform to achieve their strategic goals.
Being able to record their data and information more accurately highlights how they are following main principles and regulations, including Putting People at the Heart of Care and the Children’s Social Care Reform 2023. Not only do they have more streamlined services, but they have more enhanced reporting, increasing confidence and engagement across their teams and their end-users.
To achieve this, DCC uses a range of integrated solutions within Access’ digital ecosystem. Access CM enables them to improve their social care scheduling and recording of visits for their short-term services. Access Mosaic offers an end-to-end solution to access social care records, information, and data consistently. Access Synergy enables various Early Years and Education management services to be delivered digitally, and Access Core + effectively supports young offenders and young people to achieve positive education and employment within a single system.
Since using a suite of local government software solutions, DCC’s services have been able to keep all their data secure to encourage better outcomes-based commissioning, improve the quality of transitions between services, enhance their planning and reporting, and improve the continuity of the services they provide both now and in the future.
Gina Knowles, Digital and Partnership Lead, Derbyshire County Council states that:
“Our experience with The Access Group has been really positive. We’ve got access to numerous Access products and have great contact with account management to help support our short, medium, and long-term strategies.”
The importance of digital transformations in local government
Like Derbyshire, many local governments have been using the same systems to commission and deliver care and support across the community. As the needs of individuals become more complex and change, digital transformation helps to improve the way councils cater, accommodate, and deliver services to meet these complex needs in a more efficient and streamlined way.
Derbyshire County Council has found through investing in local government software they have been able to better understand the specific needs of the individuals within their community to deliver better personalised support. They’ve also seen an improvement in their communications and collaborations with external professionals, healthcare workers, service providers, and 3rd parties, to find more sustainable ways of working and allowing them to concentrate on the individual accessing their services.
Digital transformations in local governments help to mitigate risks, drive efficiencies, and encourage innovation to improve access to care, support, and the information needed to deliver high-quality services. Discover the local government software available today to revolutionise your local government services.
Heather Cover-Kus
Heather is Head of Central Government Programme at techUK, working to represent the supplier community of tech products and services to Central Government.
Ellie Huckle
Ellie joined techUK in March 2018 as a Programme Assistant to the Public Sector team and now works as a Programme Manager for the Central Government Programme.
Annie Collings
Annie joined techUK as the Programme Manager for Cyber Security and Central Government in September 2023.
Austin Earl
Austin joined techUK’s Central Government team in March 2024 to launch a workstream within education and edtech.
Ella Gago-Brookes
Ella joined techUK in November 2023 as a Markets Team Assistant, supporting the Justice and Emergency Services, Central Government and Financial Services Programmes.
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