The onset of the coronavirus pandemic promoted a rapid acceleration in digital transformation as organisations pivoted to adopt new technologies and adapt to a remote world.

Throughout this period the strain of the pandemic placed enormous pressure on public services, and local government was already an area in which the pace of digital adoption has traditionally lagged.

However, in the case of Aberdeen City Council, the local authority was well prepared for the storm.

“You would think we knew the pandemic was coming,” says Andy MacDonald, Director of Customer Services at Aberdeen City Council.

“When I think back to when we officially went into lockdown, we were already using Teams effectively. We were already transitioning to the cloud and within about 48 hours of lockdown being introduced we had thousands of staff working from home with access to all the necessary systems and platforms.”

MacDonald says the council’s ability to rapidly pivot during this critical period was due to changes already implemented through its digital transformation programme.

This prior overhaul of its digital estate saw the introduction of technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence to streamline services, improve customer experience and enhance workforce productivity.

It meant that when some local authorities were “thrown into the abyss” with a substandard tech stack – or none at all – Aberdeen City Council could ensure seamless continuity of services.

“We didn’t feel an impact with that immediate lockdown. At least not in an operational sense. We didn’t have to rush around to get tools up and working, it was a great advantage. And we’ve really just grown from there,” he says.

Throughout the pandemic, technology underpinned the council’s ability to provide vital services for citizens. The AB1 chatbot, MacDonald notes, is a prime example.

The Azure-based AI system was introduced pre-pandemic and “learns as it goes”, he says – meaning answers were quickly modified to respond to the onslaught of Covid-related inquiries in those first few weeks.

Similarly, the introduction of RPA in education services helped deliver marked improvements to efficiency, enabling teachers to optimise planning and time management while continuing classes remotely.

“RPA in teaching actually released the equivalent of 14 teachers’ worth of work. So that’s effectively putting the effort of 14 teachers back into our schools,” MacDonald explains. “It was very effective in releasing pressure and improving capacity.”

The importance of culture

Digital transformation is about more than just the introduction of new technologies though. To achieve success, MacDonald says, you need organisational buy-in from the c-suite down.

To facilitate this, the council worked closely with a host of external partners to impress upon the workforce that these new technologies and processes could improve their day-to-day lives. A key element in promoting this programme was the council’s Digital Champions network, which liaised with multiple departments and functions to foster a positive outlook on prospective changes.

“We’ve got over 300 Digital Champions and they’re operating across all of our services areas and on the front line,” MacDonald explains.

“They’re absolutely excited about technology, and act as a source of contact and information for people within their service areas to more effectively use the toolset that we’ve now got.”

Notably, the champions network helped assuage fears over the adoption of new technologies.

Workforce hesitancy can be common when embarking on a digital transformation programme. And failing to address this can have a negative impact on long-term success and lead to lower adoption rates among the workforce.

“The basic adoption of technologies is actually a key hurdle in digital transformation,” MacDonald asserts. “You can deploy the tech, but if users don’t use it – or navigate around it – you’ve failed.”

Skills and Training

Generating excitement is critical, but so too is ensuring the workforce is trained, competent and confident with new tools and technologies, MacDonald adds.

Technologies are only as good as the workforce leveraging them. That’s why the council focussed heavily on re-skilling and training programmes.

“We’ve got approximately 8,000 people working across Aberdeen City Council services, so this was a key part of our transformation,” he says. “We had to make sure that people could adopt and efficiently use these new tools, platforms and processes.”

Focusing on workforce training has unlocked enormous benefits, MacDonald adds.

“By looking at equipping our workforce and really concentrating on improving their skills and knowledge, we’ve seen marked improvements in efficiency and capabilities.”

“Now, when we look at designing services for customers, I’d say our workforce always thinks of the technology. They look at areas, services and processes in a different light, considering how certain things can be automated, or whether we can use existing tech to make services more efficient,” MacDonald explains.

“Transformation doesn’t stop”

Looking ahead, MacDonald says the council looks to increasingly leverage data and unlock ever-greater value as it casts aside legacy IT systems.

“We’re looking to reduce and rationalise our application estate, which is significant. We’re also looking at how we can leverage analytics more efficiently to improve services across the board.”

While this is an exciting prospect for MacDonald and the team, there are notable challenges ahead with regard to data innovation and this next stage of the process.

Aberdeen City Council has over 300 separate computing systems spanning multiple departments and functions – and this represents an immense challenge moving forward.

“This is a massive amount of legacy infrastructure, with a lot of information. So when it’s fragmented, it’s difficult to manage effectively and create value from this,” he says.

Working closely with partners, the council is beginning to make headway in this sense, and has recently focussed efforts on transforming the use of technology and data in social care; a project which MacDonald is keen to highlight as a stand-out success.

“Our big focus has been in social care for the reason that it’s one of our more complex areas,” he explains. “Around 80% of practitioners’ work was actually held off-system. So they were sharing client information in shared drives and had multiple sources of information that they were drawing from.”

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“This vastly reduces efficiency and is a hindrance to staff, so they were navigating their way around the legacy technology a lot. A UK first, using Dynamics 365for end-to-end social care, we’ve now got a solution where we have one view, one single point of contact for a social care client,” MacDonald adds.

In this particular project, the council adopted a user-led approach, which MacDonald says was an exciting experience and one that has already delivered tangible benefits to the local authority.

While the digital and IT teams were involved in deployment and implementation, it’s the practitioners – the on-the-ground staff – that designed the system.

“They came in and told us what they wanted and outlined everything they needed to make their day-to-day activities easier,” he says. “They designed the solution.”

As a result of this, 100% of social care casework will now be held through Dynamics, MacDonald explains, meaning that data is stored in the cloud and is easily accessible.

Future Possibilities for Aberdeen City Council

The improvements delivered in this project highlight the broader future possibilities for the council.

“This means we can start fully leveraging analytics to predict and prevent future harms, for example. It also means we can predict future needs and future demand,” MacDonald explains.

“This will all be key to our long-term goals as we continue innovating,” he says. “Digital transformation doesn’t stop. So far, we’ve delivered a lot, but we’re now looking at our next phases and continuing to move forward.”