At the moment, a lot of our work and processes are still paper-based. Not everyone trusts or understands modern technology, and we default to existing manual ways of working. 

More than that, our current internal technology prevents us from unlocking the potential for mobile working. Given the COVID-19 crisis, we want people to be able to work easily from wherever they are, embracing what technology can offer, and making life easy for those serving our users.  

Our intended outcomes for this workstream are that: 

• all council staff have access to work devices that as well as being modern, fit for purpose and help them do their jobs, are also easy and enjoyable to use 

• council staff can work from anywhere (not including jobs which need to be done in a specific location, such as parks and open spaces), with an equally good experience. This includes reliable systems access, sufficient bandwidth and telephony, with the right assistive technology for those who need it 

• all corporately-held collaboration tools are held in the cloud, meaning people can work together, share and store data efficiently no matter where they are 

• council technology provides demonstrable value for money, with the right tool for the right job and integration points between services which allow them to easily speak to each other 

• our people feel confident using modern technology, are aware of its risks and opportunities, and are able to fully participate in agile delivery and service design 

• staff can find the information they need about the council quickly and easily on the intranet 

• our senior leadership exemplifies digital thinking, empowering their teams to get closer to resident experience and use technology to experiment. 

To do this we will: 

• equip all staff who need it with a mobile device 

• move to the cloud for all productivity tools and documents 

• redesign our desktop estate and office layout to take account of the increased use of mobile devices 

• bring in new service desk software and processes to create a modern support function and a better self-service experience for staff 

• modernise our mobile device handling and software deployment so staff are properly supported 

• consolidate and totally redesign our two current intranets, from content to design to underlying infrastructure, making them the heart of internal information and services 

• consolidate our various internal record systems so it’s easy to understand who works for us, where they are, what systems they have access to and what tech they need at any given time  

• enable videoconferencing across our estate 

• redesign our internal processes and governance structures, freeing up officer time for high-value tasks and frontline services 

• review current processes for providing assistive technology for staff with disabilities, ensuring we make the best use of available technology to support all our people.