magazine
32
Opinion
The Government’s digital strategy
was set out in 2012 when Francis
Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office,
outlined the goal of redesigning public
services. The aim was to make them “so
straightforward and convenient that
all those who can use them will choose
to do so, while those who can’t are not
excluded”.
Various digital initiatives have followed,
including a revised Mandate between the
Government and the NHS Commissioning
Board published in late 2013. A core
objective of this is to ensure that, by 2015,
everyone will be able to book their GP
appointments, order a repeat prescription
and talk to their GP online.
Elsewhere in the public sector, paper-
based processes have been digitised at
Revenue & Customs, the Ministry of
Justice, the Department for Transport, the
DVLA and the Ministry of Defence, all
with the aim of creating more efficient
systems and processes. In July 2013, the
Government also introduced a £160m
plan to improve the speed and efficiency
of the criminal justice system, which aims
to make courtrooms in England andWales
fully digital by 2016, ending “an outdated
reliance on paper”.
Much of the justification for the
introduction of digital initiatives within
the public sector has been around
improving access, convenience and the
user experience for tax-payers. However,
from a commercial perspective, such
measures also have the potential to
unlock much sought-after cost savings.
Indeed, the more members of the
public go online to find the answer to a
question or make a benefit claim or council
tax payment, the more employee time
and budget is saved. According to recent
SOCITM research, the average cost to local
government of a face-to-face transaction
is £8.62, compared to £2.83 for a phone
transaction and just 15 pence for a web
transaction.
As many users base their attitudes
towards local government on the
experiences they have with customer
service representatives, whether online,
in person or over the phone, councils and
other public-facing bodies still face an
enormous amount of pressure to respond
quickly and satisfactorily to all types of
interaction.
Here, some of the biggest advantages
of data-driven digital initiatives, such as
automated document management, lie
not just in their potential to deliver savings
but also to support staff with faster access
to up-to-the-minute information. As with
insurance claim handlers in the private
sector, for example, having rapid access
to data helps significantly to improve the
speed and quality of individual interactions
with members of the public.
For incoming documentation, such
as forms, letters and invoices, digital
mailroom technology has been shown to
substantially improve business processes,
particularly within highly document-
intensive public sector organisations. Each
document is scanned and distributed
electronically as soon as it is received by
the receptionist, post room or outsourced
document management firm, in some
cases removing paper completely from the
process at an early stage.
Paperless
technologies
have much to
offer in the
continued
drive to
reduce costs
and improve
service, says
Anthony
Pearlgood
Striking the right balance:
Public Sector Digitisation
From an employee’s perspective,
this takes away the need to wait for
post to arrive on their desk and open it
before starting to process the content,
culminating in productivity benefits.Where
the system allows, the document may not
only be received by an individual much
faster than before, but also arrive in a
process-ready electronic format – scanned,
prepared, classified and, in some systems,
with the relevant data already extracted.
Collaboration across projects and
departments is simplified because
employees and authorised third-parties
can all access data from a centralised
source, resulting in better decision-
making. Meanwhile, when adding new
information and files, the use of document
classification enables measurable data to
be quickly identified and instantly passed
to the right business stream or workflow.
The delivery of mail electronically is an
important tool in creating a more flexible
workforce that is not tied to specific desks
or buildings and can work from home if
required. This is a significant consideration
in an era when local authorities are trying
to reduce their estates.
The fact that document management
systems capture data as soon as it enters
the business means that errors can be
instantly flagged through data cleansing,
rather than allowing them to become
more widespread. As such, any mistakes
can be identified and resolved as quickly
and cost effectively as possible.
Anthony Pearlgood is managing director
of PHS Data Solutions.
PHS provides a complete document and
data management service for public and
private sector organisations including
scanning, storage, shredding, workflow
management and IT recycling.
Anthony
Pearlgood,
Managing
Director
