IT crucial to councils in downturn, says survey

Budgets are getting tighter, according to the survey

IT schemes will be crucial to improving the performance of local authorities in 2010 as spending cuts take hold, according to a survey of council IT staff.

Nearly half of those interviewed (47 per cent) at the recent Civica annual conference are expecting spending cuts but nearly 60 per cent indicated that IT was “a key investment area” for 2010 in order to deliver critical service improvements.

Many are already having to make changes as budgets are constrained. The re-engineering of workflow processes (33 per cent) and greater use of mobile and flexible working (31 per cent) were identified as key strategies for driving efficiencies, while shared services were also seen as a key lever by a quarter of respondents.

The proportion of respondents placing importance on a shift in organisational attitude and approach rose to more than 40 per cent from last year. The response at the 2009 Civica annual conference to the same question was 33 per cent.

Respondents are closely watching new service innovations that they feel may help improve their situation.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents think the newly launched local information site data.gov.uk will influence community services in some way - one-third (33 per cent) believe that it will help councils identify demand for specific services and 29 per cent believe it will drive local authorities to improve service levels.

David Roots, managing director of Civica, which carried out the survey, said: “As the survey indicates, rationalising, re-engineering and automating processes is critical to delivering greater service effectiveness while reducing costs in all areas. There is still plenty of scope for local authorities and their partners to exploit technology in addressing the ‘more for less’ demands put upon them."