Roger Finch
ICT Manager
Read the latest update on the Digital Stategy
Evolution – not a new idea
Evolving the way we work will inevitably affect what we do and how we do it. Over the next 3 years and beyond our workflows will change and develop to meet the needs of the organisation and we need to strategically plan for this change to ensure the best outcomes for the organisation, its customers, and its staff.
However, this is not new. We have already evolved the way we work and provide our digital services:
- We have moved from iGels to Laptops and enabled remote working.
- We have migrated around 2/3 of our applications to cloud solutions – like email, Concerto, Pentana etc and integrated their authentication with single sign on into Microsoft Azure – like iTrent and Molly.
- We have virtualised our on-premises servers to a solution in a custom-built datacentre in Crawley, with generators, power protection and 24/7 security. We moved them from Dorking to Crawley in March.
Supporting new ideas, technologies, or changes in the way of working will require new processes and workflows. The Digital Strategy will support these changes.
We have 4 key themes
Digital by choice– digital services which are so straightforward and convenient that all those who can use digital services will choose to do so, while those who can’t are not excluded.
The simplest and cheapest method of contact for most of the requests we receive should be 24/7 and digital.
Automation – taking the mundane work away from staff, freeing up their time to focus on quality work. Speeding up the process, reducing the failure rate and errors. Not double handling.
Integration – Plotting out our services – merging and integrating into a few key systems.
Data – making better use of it. Providing managers with the statistics they need to monitor their services and improve them.
Digital Transformation Timeline
We’ll focus our use of Microsoft Office 365 / Granicus (web forms) / Microsoft PowerBi (reporting) / FME (intelligent automation). We’ll migrate older systems into these where possible, or move to cloud for specific use applications, like Iken (Legal). We’ll automate work flows and stop double handling data. We’ll integrate systems.
We will expand the use of Self Account in Granicus – one place for our customers to see all your council data – where you could monitor your requests rather than calling us to find out what’s happening with it. We can then email / text notifications when stages change, updates are made.
We can provide opt in marketing for the Council, Mole Valley Life and Dorking Halls, potentially increasing income.
Digital Strategy Update July 2023
Service Transformation – baselining completed.
It has been a full-on month with all the Service Transformation meetings now completed. I have found it very useful to see what all the different business teams are up to – their pressures, challenges and financial spends. It is great to get a full picture of what our colleagues are engaged in, with my goal to provide them fixes for their pain points. I think they all found the meetings useful and cathartic.
As a result, there have been lots of additions to the Transformation Projects list – we really appreciate the thoughts and submissions made – exactly what we wanted – thank you all.
The Transformation Team are now busy compiling the data to present to SLT this week.
ICT Team changes
We have now completed the ICT Team restructure.
We have reduced the front-line support through natural attrition and promotions and focused the application team on providing cloud solutions.
I am pleased to announce Tim Buzwell has been appointed as the Digital Solutions Team Leader. We will be backfilling his post soon. Expanding this side of the team will directly impact the amount of work we can process with the continuous improvements pieces and supporting the larger projects.
We have always seen a lot of change within ICT, it never stays still for long – new systems, upgraded applications and operating systems, and the like. I am excited to help our business colleagues change too – develop and enhance their own processes and workflows in a digital way – helping with the shift of customer interactions where appropriate from in person to online and removing the mundane manual workload from our staff.
Members are engaged
Recently we had a helpful and engaging session with Cabinet to talk through Evolve 2026 aims and progress. They enjoyed hearing about our plans and how the 4 strategy pillars fit together.
One of the members was slightly concerned that digital by default sounded less inclusive for those who struggle with technology – i.e. that it may feel like a forced requirement rather than a supported enhancement. With that in mind, councillors agreed a preferred phrase would be digital by choice – which would signify that we are choosing to be digital because it improves and enhances customer experience and our ways of working. Also, that we want customers to use digital channels to interact with us by choice, because it is easier, quicker and accessible 24/7.
So, when you see the change on our Molly pages and our Digital Strategy posters, you will know why this has happened. The updated approach doesn’t change our digital principles, just the tone we want to adopt on why we are choosing this route.
