In recent years, digital technology has progressed at an ever-increasing rate. The COVID pandemic and resultant lockdowns were a real trigger for this. They forced organisations to develop effective cloud solutions – there was no alternative.
Although we’ve seen real strides, we’re still some way off effective digital progress. The issues mentioned in this post seem to be especially prevalent in the public sector. However, with an effective strategy, we’re sure that public sector organisations have the potential to catch up with the private sector.
An independent government review has identified five of the biggest barriers to digital progress in the public sector. Here they are.
1. Lack of budget or funding to afford solutions
The most obvious problems stem from the above. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about this at the moment. In the long term, though, pressure groups can influence the national government to provide more funding.
We know that budgets for councils, NHS trusts, and so on are already stretched thin. Our best suggestion is to start small, creating a digital system that can be gradually implemented over time. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you can do on a small budget. Over time, more money might be freed up for investment.
2. Lack of access to training
You might have installed a new, top-of-the-range cloud system for your organisation. That’s great. The groundwork has been laid. But without training, staff can’t make the most of this system. As a result, the expense is less likely to pay itself off.
Some staff – particularly those slightly older – are understandably nervous about using a new computer system. Developments can come thick and fast.
Finally, many organisations struggle to find the time to train staff. This, of course, links back to budget.
We suggest a simple course (or set of courses) to help staff familiarise themselves with the systems they’re using. These could be arranged in small, short sessions to help your employees learn at a paced rate. It’s best to use a training provider familiar with your specific setup.
Training a team of ‘digital champions’ and empowering them to take a lead in encouraging adoption and training other staff is also essential. In larger organisations this can be especially beneficial, as training 5,000 staff for an hour is a mammoth task, while training 100 ‘champions’ and tasking them with working with colleagues to pass on the knowledge is far more efficient and effective, and provides better ownership of new technology within the organisation.
3. Recruiting and retaining staff
It’s challenging to recruit and retain staff in the public sector. This is – broadly speaking – due to the better pay in the private sector. For other reasons, too, it’s hard to make council work and public service appealing.
Once again, this is intertwined with budget. Without more money from the powers that be, it’s difficult to offer competitive salaries. However, public sector organisations can often provide a better work environment, more willingness to be flexible, more holiday, better camaraderie and the fact that it’s all about public service, which means staff aren’t working to improve the margin achieved for some top executive. Employees can go home feeling satisfied you improved something for a member of the public.
So, you might consider appealing to the idea of development. That is, ‘come and help us implement an exciting new plan from the ground up’. It will always be tricky to keep staff on while there’s a pay disparity between the sectors. Creating a strong team bond and efficient working conditions might go a long way to help, though.
4. Difficulty gaining senior management buy-in to resolve digital or cyber challenges
The drive for change comes from the top. Ground-level staff and low-level managers can do their bit, but the overall push must come from the top. A lack of understanding from political figures also features here. Without understanding the urgency of streamlining your organisation, there’s little potential for change.
Aside from pressuring your senior managers and local MP, there isn’t much that can be done here. With time, it’s hoped that more and more people will understand the prospects (and risks) associated with cyber technology.
5. Domination of legacy systems
Legacy systems are outdated, inefficient and often also seriously vulnerable. Cyber Criminals love programs that aren’t updated or patched.
However, what makes legacy systems endure is how hard and expensive it is to upgrade or replace them. They tend to be deeply embedded in an organisation, integrate with many other systems, sit on old operating systems, and worst of all, they just work.
It takes a courageous ICT manager to tell the finance director that their SAP implementation is too outdated to retain in the organisation.
The answer to this is to understand the risks retaining such a system entails and present them in an appropriate and sensitive manner to the senior leaders in the organisation.
They need to be clear what is the financial and reputational risk they are putting the organisation in by refusing to spend money mitigating the risk by replacing them.
How AMDH Services Ltd can help you progress
At AMDH Services Ltd, we specialise in helping organisations design and put in place new cloud-based systems. The public sector is undoubtedly facing many issues at the time. Still, we know you’re more than capable of working through it.
We can help with everything we’ve mentioned in this article. From strategy to design, implementation to training, we’ve done it all. If your public sector organisation could use our assistance, we’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch with us through the form found below. Alternatively, you can reach us via email or phone. Our details are on the contact page.
Thanks for reading, and we look forward to learning about you and what we can do to help!
