ICT-enabled change - the key to achieving savings
ICT-enabled change is much talked about yet there is limited evidence that it is actually happening. Of itself, there is no particular merit in promoting ICT-enabled change over any other apart from one thing. The main opportunities for dramatic savings in expenditure come from introducing new ways of working that rely on effective ICT to support them.
Just look at where the main savings come from:
- reducing the cost of service delivery by encouraging people to serve themselves on the web
- enabling more productive use of staff time (and reducing the demand for staff numbers) through mobile working, supported by electronic access to files, documents and applications
- reducing the office footprint through smart working, more efficient use of staff time, and outcome-based payment (property costs are often the second highest cost after people costs)
- enabling collaborative working, both when people are physically together and remotely.
In every service within a public or third sector body, there is scope for significant savings.
In adult social care, many social workers still rely on paper case files, and are tied to the office for access to them. The savings from fully electronic case files are significant, as are the savings and benefits derived from telecare and self-directed support facilitated by electronic means of access.
The savings and improvements in patient care arising from joint working between health and social care are well established, yet there is still a long way to go to exploit them fully.
On the other hand, revenues and benefits has been an area of council work that has been an early adopter of ICT to achieve real savings, yet the lessons learned have not been transferred to other services.
Yet many organisations have major programmes of transformational change, which are big and unwieldy to deliver, and which often miss the key areas where savings could be achieved. Many councils are focusing on strategic commissioning and alternative operational models as a means of controlling costs, despite the very limited evidence that they actually work.
In comparison, mobile working, reduction of the office footprint, electronic access to information supporting smart working, and channel shift all deliver significant savings, yet are not being given the priority they merit.
Socitm Consulting published its “Council of the Future” two years ago. The message of that document was exactly the same as the message today
- be clear about the vision for the organisation
- set a strategy for achieving it
- tackle the programme of change in a series of small manageable steps
- focus on those that deliver greatest benefit and saving first.
We have much experience of working with public bodies to achieve real savings and benefits. We may be able to help you.
Printer-friendly version | Login or register to post comments | Tags: Benefits realisation, Business process improvement, Change management, Home and smart working strategy, Mobile working technologies, Strategy to implement vision, Vision for the future, Change management/culture change, Mobile and flexible working, Partnership development/joint working, Web & intranet improvement
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