Web sites key to council savings
Councils could typically save hundreds of thousands of pounds each thanks to improved efficiency if they encourage people to make more use of their web sites to access services, according to a report released by public-sector IT managers group Socitm last week.
The document, which summarises the findings of the Socitm Insight analysis of web site use, said Warwickshire County Council had made annual savings estimated at £708,000 because self-service facilities, such as job searches and bill payments online, saved valuable administration time.
“If even half [of those savings] could be replicated throughout local government, millions could be saved,” said Martin Greenwood, programme manager for Socitm Insight. “But there is still an untapped market for people who have internet access but don’t know what the council web sites can do, so more promotion is needed.”
According to Socitm’s research, more people find council sites via Google (29 percent) than as a result of councils’ promotional activity.