Local government is facing a perfect storm. Funding pressures and demographic challenges are getting worse, councils are having to pursue modernisation amid economic volatility, and they are still recovering from the disruption caused by COVID-19.

With soaring energy costs, demands from workers for pay increases to match rising prices and the constant need to deliver services for an ageing and more financially stressed population, councils are stretched to say the least. At the start of the 2023/24 process just one in five (22%) authorities were confident they’d be able to set the legally required balanced budget.

And while local government wants to (and knows it has to) innovate, the prospect of spending large amounts on IT systems can be overwhelming. But councils cannot continue operating as is. Many are run on ageing, unfit systems, information is siloed, which brings about huge inefficiencies and local governments are seen as easy hacking targets that lack the resources to defend themselves against cyberattacks. For a local council, the reputational and financial risk is untenable.

Some are trying to save money through a ‘keep the lights on approach’, sticking with their old technology systems, or opting for an assortment of disparate software and integrations to solve the problem of the moment. This actually creates complexity, inefficiency, and further waste throughout an organisation.

Many of the leaders we speak with at TechnologyOne – whether they head up a unitary, county, district council or combined authorities – recognise the need to address these issues, but in this inflationary climate, some might feel there are more pressing demands for limited budgets than spending on new IT systems. But digital transformation isn’t something that can be put off, it is in fact the key to the conundrum.

In its digital strategy, the Government estimates that an impressive £1 billion in annual savings could be achieved by replacing outdated IT systems, and by switching to digitally transformative cloud-based services, within central government.

Beyond the cost savings, more effective flows of data, which joined-up Software-as-a-Service enterprise resource planning systems enable, can help councils drive intelligent digital services and improved decisions on investment. The greater protection against cyberattacks that modern IT systems gives is a welcome additional benefit for local authorities, who can’t afford to see their system brought down by hackers.

At TechnologyOne, our new Solution-as-a-Service offering (also known as SaaS+), sees us charge a flat, single yearly fee to implement, run and support the software. This means local government can avoid the high initial outlay that usually comes with an ERP implementation. SaaS+ also dramatically decreases the implementation time of the core solution, which helps improve time to value.

As councils are feeling the pressure from every angle, digital transformation needs to be in their arsenal to help them cope with inflation, population shifts and support residents through the cost of living crisis all the while heightening protection for cybersecurity risks.

The transition to SaaS is one of the topics that will be explored with local government leaders in London on Thursday 27 April 2023, at Showcase, an industry-lead conference hosted by local government software provider TechnologyOne. The event will explore emerging trends and challenges in local government with international experts and some of the UK’s preeminent thought leaders, including including Professor Tony Travers, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

TechnologyOne is a global Software as a Service (SaaS) company. Founded in Australia, we have offices across six countries. Our enterprise SaaS solution transforms business and makes life simple for our customers by providing powerful, deeply integrated enterprise software that is incredibly easy to use. Over 1,200 leading corporations, government departments and statutory authorities are powered by our software. We take complete responsibility to market, sell, implement, support and run our solutions for our customers, which reduce time, cost and risk.

To register for the event, visit TechnologyOne Showcase.

This article was sponsored by TechnologyOne.