In this guest blog post, Dorset Council shares their transformation journey over the past couple of years to become a digital council. Find out about their participation in Local Digital’s Future Councils pilot and what they did next. 

Digital foundations

Since their formation in 2019, Dorset Council has made significant strides in digitalising their operations. They have implemented digital enablers such as skills programmes, customer platforms, and accounts. Their service design approach helps them to use data in decision making, especially regarding the cost-of-living crisis, delivering on their commitment to become a digital council.

Despite advancements improving customer experience, including a 24/7 contact centre and transforming many services online, the team has faced some challenges. These include application and data complexities, impacting the progression of their digital maturity.

Identifying key problems

To begin, Dorset Council independently identified key digital and cyber challenges it faced, which included governance, funding, and security. They then began undertaking programmes of improvement. By taking a more structured approach, they aimed to better manage their application portfolio, ensure technologies are secure, maximise value, and transform their customer service. 

The council also recognised a need to scale their digital approach and gain commitment to new ways of working across the organisation.

Participating in Local Digital’s Future Councils pilot

To help them overcome the challenges they had identified, Dorset Council applied to participate in Local Digital’s Future Councils pilot. Between March and October 2023, the Local Digital team worked with 8 pilot councils, including Dorset Council, to identify common challenges that block councils from becoming modern and resilient. 

The council utilised the support from the Future Councils pilot to assess their application portfolio management practices and ability to view the portfolio as a strategic asset. They worked with SOCITM Advisory to develop a roadmap that allowed them to mature their strategic understanding of the application portfolio. This helped the team can make informed decisions to better align with the council’s needs, improve customer experience, reduce complexity, increase agility, and maximise value.

The council has stated that participating in the Future Councils pilot has given the organisation a voice by supporting them to take part in valuable engagements, and has also provided assurance to the team regarding their future improvement plans.

You can read more about the Future Councils pilot in this blog post.

Taking forward learnings to drive organisational change

In addition to participating in the Future Councils pilot, Dorset Council engaged with Local Partnerships to help secure an investment case for a long-term digital transformation. The collaboration with Local Partnerships has been beneficial for the council, allowing them to utilise research and access additional funding to support work on design principles, governance, and an operating model for the digitalisation of their customer services. 

Following the Local Partnerships venture, Dorset Council launched an ambitious programme called ‘Our Future Council’. The aim of this programme was to create sustainable change and produce a streamlined and digital customer experience, resulting in better outcomes at a lower cost. The council wanted to go further than simply merging services by comprehensively reviewing how it is organised. Central to this transformation is an emphasis on their priorities, customers, and communities, with a commitment to placing people and outcomes above their internal administration. The programme will enable Dorset to improve the experience for individuals who use their services.

Implementing the Microsoft Centre of Excellence to better manage power automations and the UiPath platform has complemented their customer platform. This has increased efficiency and freed up staff capacity to help those who face barriers to the services. In addition to enabling cost savings, the changes Dorset has made will allow them to structure preventative approaches to manage increasing demand.

Building cyber resilience

As part of Local Digital’s Future Councils pilot, Dorset also piloted the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) for local government. Taking part in the pilot helped Dorset to consider how they can strengthen their cyber resilience. It also gave them the opportunity to strengthen their collective position (working with LGA, Local.Gov, Cabinet Office etc), providing assurance to their community regarding cyber posture and future improvement plans. This work demonstrated how important the preparation was to the council. 

Read more about Local Digital’s work on the CAF for local government and sign up for our Get CAF Ready support offer.

What’s next for Dorset Council

Dorset Council is making great strides in taking ownership of systematic problems to address. They have found that actively engaging senior leaders is critical for developing collective approaches to address challenges as a whole organisation.

The council continues to progress their transformational work and are now focusing on their future operations, in line with their next 5-year strategic plan. Dorset are placing the customer experience, insights and needs at the heart of their plans with a focus on accessibility.

To keep up to date with the activity of Dorset Council, visit the Digital Dorset website  or follow them on Linkedin.

Share your successes and access key resources

Would you like to celebrate your digital achievements in a future issue of Local Digital’s Council Spotlight blog series? Find out more and apply to take part. 

Using key insights gathered during the Future Councils pilot, we are developing tools and content to support councils in their digital transformation journey. These will be added to our resources section on the Local Digital website later this year. To receive the latest updates from Local Digital, subscribe to our newsletter.