20% of local government workers feel as though they’re not delivering on one of their highest priorities

According to a report published yesterday from BT, “Public services: delivering the next generation of change”, 43% of local government officials said that closer working with other organisations was a high priority for them. However, only 12% felt that the collaboration between their teams and teams at other organisations was very effective. Surveys like this can sometimes misrepresent the whole picture, but even if taken with a pinch of salt these figures would suggest that at least 20% of local government workers feel as though they’re not delivering on one of their highest priorities.

So what’s the problem?

Barriers to effective collaboration have always been present in various forms over the years, but what is it that’s really getting in the way right now? You can read the full report from BT by requesting it here, but I’ve picked out some of the brick walls that pam knocks down below:

• 80% said data sharing was a barrier

Sharing information securely is one of the most common issues we hear about in the public sector, and one of the biggest barriers not only to collaboration but also to delivering a high standard of services and keeping the public safe. That’s why we’re proud to be the solution to data sharing problems for our customers, using pam they know that they can confidently share sensitive information. You can learn more about security with pam here.

• 81% said lack of time and resource was a barrier

The amount of time and money spent on the bureaucracy that stems from old ways of working is quite simply out of date. To achieve the level of change and transformation required from local authorities today, the way they work needs to be adjusted. But how can they achieve that? We’ve seen many of our customers through transformation of working habits and behaviours and continue to do so, our work with Dorset PCC is a recent example. You can learn more about transformation and change with pam here.

• 85% said incompatibility of IT systems was a barrier

One of the biggest steps forward that our customers take when they adopt pam is centralizing their work. A great example of the IT systems barrier comes from Simon Cherry, Programme Manager at West Midlands ROCU, he said “Before, information was being stored in different shared drives and often just someone’s head, which was inefficient”. pam gives teams like Simon’s (a regional organised crime unit made up of several police forces located in different areas) the capability to hold all of their work in one place, removing the age old problem of information being stored inefficiently in multiple locations.

What now?

If some of the barriers represented in BT’s report ring true for you, why not get in touch with us to find out how pam can help you knock them down.

Want to learn more about what pam has done for local authority before you give us a call? Read about our work with Lewes District Council.