January saw the UK Governments 'Civil Service Blog' outline its priorities for 2015 and, unsurprisingly, 'Digital' was again top of the 'to do's'.
Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Jeremy Heywood, authored a release mid January to Gov.uk - CS Blog, highlighting the UK's digital transformation as a leading cause behind a £14.3 billion saving seen since 2009/2010 - and an area where key investment would see big success in years to come.
Commending predecessor, Sir Bob Kerslake and Minister for Cabinet Office, Francis Maude for their work in overseeing digital transition, Heywood claimed the UK Government was now amongst "the most open, transparent and increasingly, most digital in the world".
The Secretary praised the 'Digital by Default' agenda for boosting communication with citizens, who were finding it simpler, clearer and faster to work with government. Pointing to a new survey released by Ipsos Mori, Heywood reinforced the impact of digital in building key bridges with the public, announcing 55% now trusted the Civil Service, an all time high since records began in 1983.
The results mark a big shift in public opinion, demonstrating a huge catching up with public expectation for modern lines of communication and task enabling.
Likewise the launch of Crown Commercial Service's G-Cloud 6 found praised and is widely expected to improve communication with suppliers, increasing the Government's commercial buying power and resulting in a better service for customers and stakeholders.
But, despite the progressive work undertaken by previous Cabinet Secretary's, Heywood outlined a need to accelerate transformation if the Service was to consistently capitalise on the billions in savings seen since the coalition government began its tenure.
Cross-departmental reforms, which aim to bring services together, have been targeted as a next step. It's hoped this effort will help to steer local departments away from purchasing single solutions to a common core infrastructure that meets common needs, where new efficiencies "can be achieved only by working together".
This isn't a new notion. In fact, suppliers have been developing solutions that work cross departments for a number of years. Zipporah's upcoming 'All in one' solution is one example. But, it's encouraging to hear that heads of government are on side with this approach - which will inevitably help to harness the full potential of Digital transformation.
Training and Talent Management also found their way into the Digital agenda for 2015, with the Cabinet Secretary suggesting both areas would need work if challenges were to be met successfully.
Collaboration was the final big talking point. Inevitably this will see government practices centred around working together in service delivery and development, and it will be a real encouragement if the Government's Digital Service can follow up on Heywood's mention of 'Government as a Platform'.
What's clear regardless is the UK is leading the line in a sustainable, cost effective and innovative approach to Civil Service delivery, and with leaders at the top pushing for increased momentum, 2015 might just be the biggest year yet.
Zipporah Ltd is an established and leading supplier of online solutions to both public and private sector organisations. Our products include E-Booking, E-Commerce, Leisure Management, Queuing, Scheduler, All in one and One Stop Shop Applications – working to streamline processes, reduce costs, improve profits and optimise service management, facilitating a faster, more effective and efficient approach to business operations.
