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On the first day of “Birmingham Tech Week” techUK hosted a panel discussion at Birmingham Council House, to explore the priorities and challenges faced by local government and what innovative solutions are necessary.

During the week of (24-28 October), techUK is running its Nations and Regions Week to coincide with the publication of our 2022 Local Digital Capital Index, a tool designed to aid discussions and decisions in strengthening local tech ecosystems across the UK. 

All week we'll be featuring guest blogs from members celebrating the contributions made by the tech sector to drive forward levelling up, digital adoption, develop digital skills, connect people, and harness R&D in the UK's nations and regions.

Read the latest blog below:

On the first day of "Birmingham Tech Week" techUK hosted a panel discussion at Birmingham Council House, to explore the priorities and challenges faced by local government and what innovative solutions are necessary.

There are certain challenges when trying to implement digital strategies especially as the landscape evolves constantly and ensuring that citizens services are digitised is an ongoing process. This also means that we need to create the architecture necessary to support these developments and provide equity of access to all, taking a user-centric and data driven approach to ensure smooth customer experiences. Peter Bishop, Director of Digital and Customer Services, Birmingham City Council talked about the valuable work done through the West Midlands Combined Authority Coalition for Digital Inclusion, in partnership with Good Things Foundation, tackling issues such as access to digital devices and skills development, which demonstrates how collaboration can lead to better solutions for residents.

Through digital adoption we can put citizens at the heart of decision-making, for instance, Rebecca Price, Customer Success at Orlo showed that when councils take a more fun and creative approach to communicating with their residents on social media, they receive more engagement. The citizens feel they are being listened to and it strengthens the relationship they have with the councils. However, this needs to be underpinned by a strong understanding of your audience on each communication channel which helps to create the appropriate strategy for engaging with the public and making them feel included.

Heather Clarke, Head of External Funding and Digital Projects at Wolverhampton Council, which has been championed as an area for levelling up, shared their experience with implementing digital projects in the city starting with less full fibre coverage than the Highlands and Islands and the progress they made, as well as with rolling out 5G to support digital innovation. The question now is how to effectively use technology to go to the next level and improve services for the citizens? Therefore, this calls for more collaboration between the council and the tech sector to find the appropriate solutions and innovate further.

CEO of Bookinglab, Chad Duggan, highlighted the need to build on the work done during the pandemic which created an urgency to deliver services quicker and using digital tools became a necessity rather than a "nice to have" as they embraced tech solutions. This improved the maturity of the digital journeys for councils as they needed to adapt, for instance by using booking systems to match the demand, manage resources and improve productivity. It's also important to understand the requirements of your customer, finding the right solution but not overengineer it, which also allows you to join up different solutions and connect them easily. By keeping the solutions simple, you can reuse them across different customers and standardise the tech solutions available for councils.

Ensuring diversity and inclusion is at the forefront of your practices when implementing digital strategies can also support the creation of appropriate tech solutions. The importance of supporting young people to start their career journey in tech was also discussed, alongside the development of digital skills needed for them in the workplace.

The panel discussion was concluded with a significant message: we have to bring together councils and tech suppliers on a regular basis to analyse the challenges, understand the problem from both perspectives and deliver the right solutions for the citizens.

You can learn more about how we can collaborate to improve citizens' lives through enhanced digital innovation adoption across the UK's local public services in techUK's report "Local Public Services Innovation: Creating a catalyst for change".

techUK – Building Stronger Local Economies

techUK champions the tech sector throughout the UK. We work with local authorities, devolved government, and local and national policy makers to advocate for the tech sector in strengthening economic growth and resilience. We provide opportunities for our members and local stakeholders to meet, build relationships, and collaborate to drive forward local projects. For more information or to get in touch, please visit our Nations and Regions Hub and click 'contact us'.