Smarter Government - London Councils share technology to achieve £11m in cashable savings

As a leader in public sector IT, London Borough of Newham wants to improve its service delivery and digital engagement with citizens, while reducing costs. By sharing services with the neighbouring local authority of Havering, Newham is pioneering a transformation in both councils with an online portal service, which is available to every resident, to encourage more people to conduct transactions online rather than at council offices. With reusable technology, the platform will contribute to Newham and Havering’s target of more than £11 million cashable savings between them, without cutting front-line services. Potential exists for other authorities—including the London Borough of Waltham Forest—to join them, further improving efficiency and providing high-quality customer service.

The Newham solution for citizen delivery and digital engagement is considered by many in government to be a good example of how to achieve lean government. It meets the challenge of delivering high-quality services with fewer resources.  The new customer access information and communications technology (ICT), which went live in Newham in the second quarter of 2011, is based on Microsoft Dynamics 2011. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner 2e2 assisted with customisation of the core Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 product to make it more suitable for local government.

The council is starting with its most used citizen services in initiating greater digital engagement with residents. These include service requests for waste bins and recycling, parking enforcement, and revenues and benefits. Encouraging more digital delivery of service also saves money for local authorities.  The cost to the council of managing a citizen service transaction is estimated at around £16 to £18 if a person comes to council offices. Over the telephone it’s around £4.60, but over the web or on email it drops to around £0.60.

You can read the full story of the London Boroughs of Newham and Havering success in sharing technology to improve public services and reduce costs here.