Three quarters of councils say a lack of investment in IT is undermining current service delivery

A lack of strategic focus and investment in IT capability is undermining the ability of local government to deliver online services, according to new research from Eduserv, the not-for-profit provider of technology services to local government organisations.

In a survey conducted among senior decision makers in local government, three quarters of respondents (76%) said a lack of IT investment was currently undermining service delivery.


A further one in four (24%) said their organisation had no strategic plan for bringing services online.


The research found overwhelming support for the use of IT to improve and deliver council services (79%). Over three quarters (77%) of those responsible for delivering services said that a shortfall in investment is making it hard to do their job effectively.

Andrew Hawkins, Local Government Director at Eduserv said:

“Councils appear to be playing catch-up in delivering services that meet the expectations of digital users. Whilst it is disappointing that so many council’s feel their current services are being undermined by a lack of investment in IT, it’s encouraging that they recognise this and want to use IT to improve future service delivery.

It’s also encouraging that less than half the councils surveyed (48%) felt the focus of IT should be on cutting costs. While in many cases moving services online or to the cloud can have financial benefits for the organisation its important this isn’t the key driver – the main priority should be on improving services for residents. Most councils seem to recognise this and now is the time for council leaders to deploy greater resources for an effective strategy to deliver the changes needed.”
 

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