WIREDGOV

Guest blog: Jamie Gillan, Customer Experience Applications Director – UK Public Sector, Oracle.

What a year it has been for all of us but especially the public sector rising to the occasion month after month to keep us all safe and informed. In particular the tasks of Local Authorities and Councils are many but we have all benefited across the UK from their timely communication throughout the journey of this Pandemic and beyond.

The public sector is faced with increasing pressure to evolve and to offer more “citizen-centric” services but constraints on the public sector can slow this transformation. As governments strive to balance priorities and the allocation of scarce resources and lower budgets, new approaches are needed. The public sector needs to be increasingly innovative to effectively respond to the complex challenges facing society.

All of us have witnessed change across most industries especially with the sudden and forced shift to digital channels with some organisations reporting a 500% increase in the use of such communications necessitating rapid change and acceleration of digital programs and agendas to continue to supply and serve the population

Specifically across local government there is an impetus to adapt to the changing behaviour of residents and populations to deliver improvements on how citizens interact with their councils and to humanize the experience.  Those that are having success in doing so are the authorities that know their citizens, understands and sees every touch point a resident has with them, can automate the correct personalised information at the right time to the right person. 

Besides a happier informed resident the benefits are threefold, prevention of the council taking costly phone enquires, reducing visits to council offices and breaking down internal silos as all employees are working off the same data which also leads to a consolidation and reduction of costly overlapping internal systems.

We can all do our part, a good starting point is sometimes looking to other sectors to see what we can learn and apply to our precious and all important public sector. Join us on May 12th where we will share an innovation update to learn how you can strengthen your relationship with your citizens and customers in the digital age – register here.