We want to use the best of modern digital, technology and data to transform our services to residents, visitors, businesses, and staff.

We will improve the experience and outcomes of our residents, enabling them to thrive whatever their circumstances. We will use technology to rethink how we operate as a council so that we continuously improve our service to residents while enabling a modern, efficient and satisfied workforce. 

We will achieve this through 6 workstreams: 

Workstream 1: build new resident services offered online by default, with support on other channels for those who need it   

Workstream 2: give our people the tools they need to do the job 

Workstream 3: get better with data 

Workstream 4: make our infrastructure and systems modern, secure and interoperable 

Workstream 5: build digital capability 

Workstream 6: support innovation across the borough

Our approach

We will follow six principles to guide all of our digital, technology and data transformation work. These are:

1. A relentless focus on resident needs 

Our services transformation will focus on meeting the needs of our residents, particularly those who are most vulnerable. We will use research and data to better understand need in our borough, and will use this to build and develop products and services to meet those needs. 

We will make our services accessible to all, working to improve our digital inclusion and not leave anyone behind. We will test all services to make sure they are simple and intuitive, and support those who are unable or unwilling to go online. 

2. Being data-led in our decision-making 

The data we collect about our users’ needs will support every aspect of our digital strategy. We will be in close contact with our residents and staff, developing analytics and a body of research which will guide what we do and when. We will invest in meeting common need, ensuring we use our time and money wisely and making sure we can measure success and continuously improve every aspect of our services. 

3. Treating our staff as valued users 

Our staff’s time is precious, and we will take the same rigorous approach to internal service development as external. We will be data-led, working with our staff to understand what they need to do their jobs. We will use the best of modern services to take the drudgery out of processes, leaving them to focus on external users.  

4. We will continuously develop our services and products 

We will leave the era of ‘big bang IT’ and large outsourced contracts behind. We will work to bring our core services and platforms in-house, where we can better control and iterate them to meet user need. We will not leave technology to stagnate where it gathers risk, but continuously improve each service to make sure it keeps pace and allows us to iterate what we can offer. 

5. One council, one team 

Our aim to become a digital council needs true team work - with shared goals and shared teams. We will build cross-functional teams for everything we do, empowering these teams to build and realise their own goals. We will give people the space they need to deliver, sharing knowledge and working in the open across the council and with the wider borough. 

6. Agile and iterative delivery 

We will embrace new ways of delivering on our intentions, moving from large, static and opaque programmes, to small, iterative work packages backed up with research and data. We will invest in reducing bureaucracy and paperwork, allowing our people to get on with their core work and encouraging them to be open in their processes. We will document what we do proportionately, stripping away abstract process in favour of quick, data-driven decision making.