Final Settlement!
A few years ago (maybe 10?!) i decided to splash out on a nice new car. I couldn't afford it really, but i was still free from mortgage responsibilities and didn't have any children to pay for, so i was probably in a better financial position than i'll ever be again. It had leather seats and went real fast. However there was one thing that i should have been mindful of, and that was the 'Final Settlement' i was going to have to pay at the end of the agreement, at some point in the future. I didn't bother to save a penny towards it, didn't do any planning, and didn't ask for financial advice or guidance. Instead i spent my money on going out, going on holidays, and on my girlfriend. The rest i guess i just wasted. When the final settlement request came in the post it was bigger than id remembered and i had to act fast, which i chose to do all on my own. I borrowed some on credit card, i took out a loan, i sold some old junk on an online auction site and with no real planning, intelligence, or foresight, i bumbled through it on my own and completely stressed. I was poorly prepared. I should have acted sooner. I should have asked for guidance.
Why is this relevant to me now? Well fast forward 10 years and 'Final Settlement' now means something completely different to me. This time BIG is good. SMALL is not, and UNEXPECTED is a disaster. It now relates to the core spending power of Local Authorities for 2016 /17. In other words its a lump of money issued to Local Authorities every year by Central Government, but this year its smaller than its ever been and for many its unexpectedly so.
I now think of the immense challenge that my clients have to overcome in the face of such unprecedented austerity measures. Lets be clear, these are not 20 something year old boy racers, these are high quality, highly skilled and seasoned professionals addressing this issue. These are not fools, these are organisations who spend every minute of every day doing their very best to service the citizens of their communities in the most effective AND efficient way. Yet it has still hit hard, and addressing it properly requires complete transformation of approach. I'll use the phrase again - Unprecedented austerity measures.
So what to do? Well i'll do what i enjoy doing most, and that's connecting clever people with other clever people who can help. Providing invaluable insight which helps Local Authorities solve this massive problem using technology is rewarding. Enabling them to be even better at saving money, time, and even better at planning effectively is massively enjoyable.
There's always a way to use IT to lessen that final settlement headache, and it starts with obtaining the right knowledge and information from the right people at the right time. For most Local Government Authorities that time is RIGHT NOW.