What are the Three Big Opportunities within Local Government today?
The past few years saw local government catapulted into a modern way of providing citizen services. Councils across Australia and New Zealand saw unprecedented change as the pandemic disrupted operations and the communities served across the state.
The unexpected and urgent circumstances forced councils to adapt quickly, shining a light on the value of accessibility and digitised processes. The pandemic has provided local government with a unique opportunity, offering a driving factor like no other to break down old constraints, moving beyond doing things the way they have “always been done."
Workforce
While talent and skills shortages are hot on every company’s agenda, greater restrictions when it comes to budget (particularly in remote areas) creates a unique challenge for councils to attract and support the right staff. There is a huge opportunity here when it comes to workforce, talent management and upskilling as well as creative ways to engage new staff. Without workforce there can be no culture, and therefore no successful council community initiatives. Employee engagement and buy-in is crucial for new and exciting initiatives to be implemented successfully.
Customer Experience
At the heart of every council is its commitment to serving its citizens – therefore enhancing the customer experience is crucial. Local government is the closest tier to the community, and therefore needs to be the most connected. While there is a big push to go digital, being digitally enabled is a challenge. Unique user factors to consider include digital literacy, servicing a diverse community as well as one physically spread out in some cases. The customer experience conversation also needs to look beyond the external citizen, and within at each employee.
Digital and Data
It’s no secret almost every government organisation is digitising in one way or another. Arguably, councils have had to bend and shift the most in recent years as they grapple with fast-paced changes spurred on by the likes of COVID-19 and a fresh and next gen workforce. They have had the most “catching up” to do, being traditionally slower moving with digital transformation initiatives.
Now, with digitisation well and truly underway, how have councils utilised the technology to improve their services? And what have they done with all that data that has been accumulated? These are exciting times of change and opportunity for local government.
Most Popular
