The New Digital Future of Local Government:
Keith Youens - Digital Transformation Leader
Digital and Emerging Technologies Advisory | Strategy & Business Architecture | Transformation & Operational Optimisation Specialist
Post Covid-19 and the emerging New Normal
Keith D. Youens, MSc
Digital Transformation - Strategy and Leadership
The recent Innovation and Science Australia report, Australia 2030: Prosperity through Innovation, concluded that the Australian Public Service (APS) must transform to meet the challenges of a digitally enabled economy. The question is whether the culture, capabilities and operating model across local government are suited to the emerging New (Digital) Normal and the opportunities of a transformed Australian society???
“… adaptability and readiness to embrace change is absolutely imperative in our public institutions …”
The Hon Bob Hawke AC GCL, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia
Society is changing faster than ever, as are the expectations people have of their governments. Citizens, forced into a “digital” everything world, are now accustomed to engaging online with organisations to buy and use their products and services. As a result, they now have greater expectations of their local governments and how their services are engaged and delivered.
“…local government must think beyond simply delivering services more efficiently, and instead look towards helping their communities become more resilient in an uncertain and turbulent world.”
Kim Ryley, a local government expert from the United Kingdom
COVID-19, acting as a catalyst, has increased the appetite for and expedited digital transformation efforts. Councils across Australia are leveraging digital capabilities to ensure continued operations while accelerating the speed at which they adapt to the community's changing needs, in modern ways and with greater pressure on resources.
“Governments at the forefront of innovation are reinventing their operations to better meet expectations by providing services more attuned to the lives of their citizens, residents and other stakeholders, based on a deep understanding of their needs. It involves overcoming old structures and modes of thinking and embracing new technologies and ideas.”
Shaping Future Governments - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2017
This journey – not of recovery, but adaptation – will be a central purpose for local government over the coming years - are local governments ready to adapt?
Contents
The Current State of Play
The New Digital Future of Local Government
Why do councils need to change and transform?
A Modern Approach
Appendix A - Local Government Dynamics and Complexities
Appendix B - (pure) Digital Transformation
The Current ‘State’ of Play
Background
Local government pre-dates the Commonwealth of Australia, meaning the states and territories are the geneses of local governments in Australia. Commonly known as the third tier of government, currently, 537 local governments are operating in Australia, variously referred to as councils, boroughs, cities, districts, municipalities, regions, shires, towns, community governments, Aboriginal shires, and boards.
Councils are often referred to as 'creatures of state governments' as the legal basis for their incorporation, powers, and supervision are within state legislation rather than the Constitution of Australia. Established to provide property and town improvement services around the early colonial capitals, they have expanded to offer many other community services. As a result, local governments now offer increasingly diverse and complex economic, social, and environmental functions (Services).
Operations
Each council is a statutory corporation with democratically elected councillors forming the governing body to direct council affairs in line with the?local government Acts and Regulations. A council-appointed chief executive officer manages each council’s operations.
Council operating costs are approximately $39 billion annually (2018-19) and are funded primarily through local revenue such as rates (+ $19 billion annually 2018-19) and charges and government grants and contributions. While these rates account for about 40 per cent of total council revenue, they make up just 3 per cent of all tax revenue collected in Australia. Other significant sources of council revenue include fees and charges (such as parking fines) and rental income from properties (about 20 per cent) and grants from other levels of government (about 10 per cent). The revenues they collect and spend vary quite substantially between the different regions and councils.
?"In 2016–17, councils raised 89.2 per cent of their revenue, with grants and subsidies making up the remaining 10.8 per cent. The differences between urban, rural, and remote councils, including their population size, rating base, and ability to levy user charges, affect councils' ability to raise revenue."[1]
"Those councils that include the central business districts of capital cities, often referred to as 'billion-dollar councils have higher CBD land values which mean they collect substantially more revenue from property rates than other councils. They often provide larger and more complex services and infrastructure; for example, Brisbane City Council runs the largest bus network in Australia." [2]
?Australia’s councils hold around $A400 billion in assets, predominantly made up of property, infrastructure, plant, and equipment that councils need to deliver community services.
Together with her / his executive team and associated staff, the council-appointed chief executive officer manages the council's operations. The number of staff and size of operations can vary quite substantially between the different regions and councils. All councils have their own budgets and expenses for delivering these services and operating their own internal capabilities such as Procurement, HR, ICT, etc. The role of councils continues to expand, much in-line with the increasing expectations of their constituents and demands from State Governments.
"State Governments have increased the responsibilities of Local Governments without increases in resources or sufficient guidance on how they should perform these to ensure consistency with and the efficient meeting of, State goals." [3]
Although there is no set 'list' as to the mix or level of services expected from each council, the type of services and required business and support capabilities are generally the same across all councils. However, the same cannot be said for how these services are presented and delivered and how the back-office support capabilities are operated and managed. Appendix A summarizes some of the dynamics that contribute to the complexity that local governments now face.
The New (Digital) Future of Local Government
“…the APS must prepare for major change in the years ahead as technology redefines the jobs its people perform, the services they provide and the outcomes they deliver.” [4]
In a recent independent review of the Australian Public Service (APS) [5] , the report concludes that the APS needs to focus on the following strategic themes:
This business essay proposes that this sentiment and these same themes apply directly to local government and their staff.
By focusing on the following local government dynamics, together with the dynamics listed in Appendix A , this business essay will provide demonstrable evidence to show change and transformation are desperately needed.
“the Council of 2025 will become more involved in helping to develop the local economy, playing a strong role in the sharing of community ideas and driving new initiatives.” [6]
Why do councils need to change and transform?
Why is it that all councils, to a large extent, deliver the same services, using the same or similar products and technologies, all operate independently from each other? This behaviour may be justified within the Private sector, where perhaps operational efficiencies play a part in establishing a competitive advantage, but this is not the case in the Public Sector. Yet many of these same councils are struggling with operational complexity, maintaining financial sustainability, hiring, and retaining staff with the necessary skills and capabilities while attempting to deliver services to the levels expected by the community. Local governments can no longer afford to only think and operate in isolation.
“Councils understand that they are operating in a world of increased expectations, as their customers increasingly choose digital as their communication of choice. This means Local Government needs to make some significant, often daunting, changes to the way it is currently operating.” [7]
Local governments across Australia have operated much the same for over 100 years. Apart from reforms in the 80s and 90s and amalgamations, where private sector optimisation methodologies were applied to local government, operations have remained the same. Reforms aimed at improving service delivery have continued to receive considerable focus over the last decade. Most of which has involved merging councils to take advantage of the economies of scale in providing services, enhancing financial viability, and increasing capacity – the evidence of how successful this has been is mixed.[8]
The culture within local government is forged out of an environment that is hierarchical (command and control), policy-and-procedure-driven (rule-based), and risk-averse. A general policy of 'risk removal' instead of 'risk mitigation' presides, resulting in poor operational flexibility and obstruction to the flow of change. Multiple management layers and elevated risk management slow decision-making processes, reducing operational responsiveness. Concentrating delegation of authority at senior levels and risk aversion disempower frontline and middle-management employees, which impedes learning on the job. Over time, this weakens the capability of the future cohorts of leaders.
“The APS (Local Government) is currently structured around 20th century organisational structures, a hierarchical model of command and control that suits solving complicated technical problems, and not the adaptive problems we face today.” [9]
The rate of change, innovation, and other local government dynamics are outpacing councils’ ability to keep abreast of the latest developments and potential impacts. In the current model, local governments still take on the “paternal” role operating as long-term job providers – council employees can expect a "job for life." This creates an environment where efficiencies available through advancing technologies are disruptive to this model – efficiencies vs jobs.
We are moving into a new paradigm, one built on digital platforms: The Internet, the Cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), and the billions of devices connecting us to those platforms and each other. Like the railroads and electricity companies of the previous industrial revolutions, we need these platforms to be stable, reliable, secure, and globally accessible. There is no point in each local government replicating and operating the capabilities of these platforms locally. Just like there is usually no point in operating one's own railway line or private power plant. [10]
?In a recent review of the Australian Public Service, [11] modelling on the opportunities and challenges presented by automation found the following:
“The era of all councils ‘operating’ as independent and sometimes competing silos, while trying to manage, operate and secure their own operational backbone no longer justifies the risk, effort and expense.”
Additionally, increasing trade tensions and global instability dictate the need for an enhanced security posture with particular attention on those aspects of council operations considered critical to Australia’s infrastructure and operations.
“while the APS is not broken, it must make substantive changes to address current issues and prepare for the future opportunities and challenges that our nation will face. To become a high-performing institution, deep cultural change is required. It is now time for bolder action.” [12]
To meet the challenges of the emerging paradigm, councils need to overcome entrenched structures and modes of thought in favour of new technologies and ideas – and the associated leadership and management approaches. This will disrupt the way they function and lead to changes that require substantial reskilling, training, and changes to the organisational structure.
“… companies need to pay huge attention to?how they reskill their managers and employees?and motivate them during a time of such major disruption.”[13]
Financial feasibility
The ability for local government to generate its own revenue is near its maximum capacity, as reported by KPMG. [14] Recent reports from various sources conclude that many councils are struggling - “Over half of our councils are spending more on their operating activities than they are earning from rates, fees and grants.” [15] - which forces the question of whether the way councils run their organisations is aligned and ready for the emerging paradigm.
?“… the majority of councils face the dual challenges of not being able to contain the cost of services provided to the community, and of generating sufficient revenue to fund these services. Councils in general, and especially those that are unable to increase revenue, must consider the services and service levels they provide to their communities—specifically in terms of their importance to the community and the cost of delivery.” [16] ?
A financially sustainable local government depends on population size and employment opportunities. Many councils with smaller populations and smaller local economies rely on grants from both the state and federal governments to supplement their day-to-day operations. However, many of these same councils struggle with planning for financial sustainability because the current funding model provides grants to councils primarily on a year-by-year basis, with little certainty whether the funding will continue in subsequent years, making planning difficult.?Such uncertainty makes it difficult for councils, which are highly reliant on grants, to make medium to longer-term plans to create jobs in the community and attract residents.
“The KPMG/AEC report convincingly demonstrates that current grant program arrangements are not only fragmented and costly, they are failing to deliver best ‘value for money’ infrastructure and services to Queensland’s communities. The review also highlighted that grant funding arrangements are undermining the ability of councils to engage in long-term planning and are contributing to the difficulties councils have in managing their assets and achieving financial sustainability.” [17]
The future of local government requires a fundamental shift in how they operate. In many instances, their survival and financial feasibility depend on their ability to adapt to the "New Normal." Many local government agencies do not always act as a unified team and, in some instances,?compete against each other. Most of all, councils are not changing fast enough to meet government expectations and deliver for Australians in a changing world.
?“... we recommended that all councils consider whether the services they provide meet the current and future needs of their communities and whether these services are affordable.” [18]
It is time to challenge the way things have 'always been done,' transform operating models, drive best practice and process efficiency, and investigate alternative models for service operation, support, and delivery.
Procurement and Change
The estimated annual ICT (Digital) budget for local governments in Australia is approximately A$3.9Billion. [19]
“Over the last five years, on average, QLD councils spent approximately $7.7 billion on goods and services each year. Councils were unable to demonstrate they obtained value for money from their procurement process. [20]
A recent report by the NSW AGO concluded that “Procurement processes do not fully support transparent use of public money.” Procurement and change management are ongoing concerns for local government, and especially across regional, rural, and remote councils. Several scenarios contribute to these issues:
“What has become clear from our research series is that councils must consider not only the cost of the technology itself, but also the cost of change management and disruption.” [21]
Operational Redundancies and Complexity
Fragmentation and siloed behaviours negatively impact council operations - including reactive and redundant responses to business issues and opportunities, uncoordinated investment in and management of ICT / Digital and other capabilities, and poor project delivery.
“…the Productivity Commission (recognises) that local government must challenge the way things have ‘always been done’, transform operating models, drive best practice and process efficiency, and investigate alternative models for service delivery.” [22]
Despite periods of outsourcing and public-private partnerships, councils generally operate much as they did a century ago. Due to the complexities introduced over time, including poor processes, confusing role definitions, unclear accountabilities, and the build-up of legacy systems, many innate inefficiencies exist within councils’ operations. In addition, a lack of capacity, particularly within the Change Management and ICT capabilities, means many councils endure operationally imposed complexity and risk – both of which are amplified as change is executed in isolation within the silos across councils. These human-made complications are one reason councils struggle to transform and adapt as implementation and execution of change maintain the existing organisational structures and hierarchies, making delivering on any strategy practically impossible.
“More than one-third of councils do not have appropriate processes in place to identify and manage their strategic and operational risks. This exposes them to a higher risk of not being able to meet their objectives, or operational failures, fraud or error.” [23]
Many councils operate by introducing new proximate solutions or continuously plastering over their existing legacy environments. The management overhead, in-built bureaucratic complexity, and reliance on obscure, obsolete, and niche business systems and applications – often heavily customised – make these environments fragile, inflexible, expensive to maintain, and even more expensive to change.
“Rapidly deployed technology is often simple point solutions which don't align with a business' overarching strategy – which can lead to fragmentation and complexity over time.” [24]
This traditional “patch-and-go” approach to change runs into problems with these layers of legacy systems too big and too complex to use as a foundation for reliable and efficient operation. Instead, much like quicksand, it has created a level of operational complexity and technical debt that is overwhelming councils. Pressured to respond, many councils do what most pressured people do: instead of adapting and try something new, they continue along the well-trodden path of past (unsuccessful) endeavours. The unique component to the latest attempt at finding a solution is the funding, as they move from business system to business system, predominantly driven by vendors and led by suppliers. Without rethinking their core business model and fundamentally rewiring their entire operation, these new technologies do nothing but add even more layers of complexity to an already complex environment. [25]
Legacy Systems and the Rising Tide of Exponential Technologies
There is strong evidence of a technological deficit across local government with a number of legacy systems at or near the end of life. This is reflected in the large amounts spent on running and maintaining ICT systems, predominantly business systems and applications.
?“The propensity (for local government) to spend a greater percentage to ‘run’ rather than ‘grow’ or ‘transform’ may indicate high costs of running legacy systems, a technological deficit, and inefficient spending.” [26]
?The fragmented and incoherent approach to ICT investments has resulted in an eclectic mix of business systems and technologies that complicate managing and upgrading the total ICT portfolio. Further to this, underinvestment, confusion around support roles and the lack of skills have in many instances translated into minimal maintenance and upgrades of existing business systems and other ICT technologies resulting in ageing and difficult to maintain environments. This is complicating operations and contributing to the slow degradation of service delivery to the community.
The world is facing a deluge of exponential technologies changing the way we live, work, and play. The capacity to understand and adopt these technologies is constrained by the many dynamics facing councils, such as the lack of resources, the financial model, operational capacity, etc. The complexity of these latest technologies requires skill sets and experience that are in high demand across both the Public and Private Sectors. Even though these technologies may offer significant benefits to local government, they also introduce elevated risks ranging from simple system misconfigurations to malicious attacks from external 3rd parties.
?Talent, Skills, and Experience
Staff recruitment and retention can be difficult for councils in remote, rural, and regional areas, where on average, they may not have sufficient staff with the required skills and experience to support and manage any form of digital transformation. Generally having the smallest workforces, despite having more employees per citizen than urban councils, they still often struggle to provide and retain the breadth of skills and experience required to deliver functions, such as ICT, engineering, and health-related positions.
“100% of council representatives in research by KPMG and Public Sector Network identified that a lack of adequately skilled resources was the largest challenge in deploying their transformation programs.” [27]
The waves of exponential technologies and the associated rapid change have rendered skill cycles shorter than ever; key digital / technical competencies of even 24 months ago are outdated today. Moreover, the complexity of these latest technologies, such as AI, ML, RPA, Blockchain, IoT, etc., requires approaches that bring together different actors and skill sets, which, in most cases, are not available within a single council.
"No single council has every single capability in house. We're seeing mixed models and skills sharing to ensure adequate resourcing."
- Luke Heine Associate Director,?KPMG Enterprise
3rd parties and consultants are increasingly being used to deliver change, creating a transient labour market consisting of ephemeral relationships between vendors, contractors, and local governments. This whole-of-government issue forces organisations to rethink how to attract, retain, or amplify their talent. The latest waves of disruptive technologies are only going to aggravate this issue. The half-life of technical skills is also decreasing; without refreshers and updates, the relevance and value of the skills people already have rapidly evaporates.
“There is an urgent need to help develop the necessary skills, not just for new workers but for those who are already working.”[28]
A Modern Approach
Trends such as rising customer expectations, financial sustainability, and changing demographics are transforming the local government sector. This, in turn, requires transformation through the breaking down of traditional constraints to meet the criteria of this emerging paradigm. Fundamental to the demand for better community services are the heightened expectations of constituents – expectations that transcend economic status, geographies, and the different funding methods, managing and delivering these services.
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“…(Local governments) are driven by a need to “do more with less,” and by the political and regulatory climate in the country. An increased burden placed on governmental organisations and regulated markets has resulted in a greater appetite to deliver shared services with each other and suitable partner organisations.” [29]
Partnerships at local and state levels are fundamental to achieving better social and economic outcomes within these fiscally constrained environments. Collaboration between councils around digital investment, service profiling and standardisation, operational shared services, and innovative knowledge sharing is critical to ensuring local government sustainability. Investment benefits can be amplified through all of local government.
“(Councils) will need to coordinate with multiple agencies and third parties in order to continue to deliver a wide range of high-quality services. The study reflects support for such collaboration amongst senior local government professionals, with 44 per cent naming embracing new ways of working as a primary driver of change for councils in the next decade.” [30]
It is time for a new approach that mitigates these trends and constraints while efficiently and effectively serving the community's changing needs – “Ecosystems."?Partnerships based on shared digital platforms using emerging technologies to deliver personalised, proactive, and integrated services — designed around people rather than around operational efficiencies. The primary sources of benefits being increased service delivery capacity, greater purchasing power, the ability to employ staff with the requisite skills and capabilities, more efficient use of assets, and a more strategic approach to risk management and security.
“Some 32 per cent of local government leaders believed council mergers would be the primary operational response to the new drivers of change - most considered it unavoidable to some extent. Only 4 per cent of respondents thought that there would be no consolidation in the next ten years.” [31]
A fundamental shift to ecosystem thinking and a collaborative mindset is required to harness this potential?– council partnerships. This is not a new concept - in November 2017, the NSW Government amended the Local Government Act 1993 to enable councils in regional NSW to form partnerships called Joint Council Organisations (JCOs). The primary functions of these JCO’s include regional strategic planning and prioritisation, regional advocacy, and collaboration with State and Federal governments. Additionally, JCOs can collaborate with member councils to provide shared services while also building capacity. Many councils have already formed partnerships to provide some services, but radically extending this integrated approach will require new "Whole-of-Local-Government" thinking and leadership – a concept that is well underway across the Federal and State Governments.
?“Through the Shared Services Program, the APS has already commenced consolidation and standardisation of the delivery of HR and financial services through designated Provider Hubs and by introducing common enterprise resource planning systems across the APS. This provides a good platform for the APS to ambitiously develop and invest in contemporary whole-of-service enabling systems and tools.” [32]
Local governments need to reinvent the operating model to reduce the complexities and complications prevalent in today’s councils. Ideally, common local government services should be standardised, seamless, and personalised across all councils, ensuring an enhanced and consistent user experience. By adopting a new partnership approach, councils can recast themselves as integrated cogs in the broader Local Government Digital Ecosystem (LGDE). Embedding themselves into these ecosystems by using the digital platforms (City, Regional, or IoT platforms) gives them and other government agencies (State or Federal) access to advanced technologies such as AI, ML, Blockchain, IoT, etc. – underpinned by ubiquitous data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power – they become the genesis for the emerging ecosystems.
“We want to use digital technology to build vibrant and prosperous communities. This applies in regional, rural and remote communities just as much as our cities.” [33]
What are Local Government Ecosystems?
LGDEs are complex networks of stakeholders – councils, partners, suppliers, and other government agencies - committed to working in open, trust-based partnerships. Underpinned by shared digital platforms, they create highly efficient and secure environments for these parties to collaborate, learn and innovate.
“…senior leaders saw that the primary role of local councils in 2025 would be to respond to the changing citizen and the new policy issues through long-term partnerships with other jurisdictions and the private sector. Almost all participants believe that the local council of 2025 will have been through some form of consolidation, whether it be in a shared services model or an amalgamation.” [34]
Local government has seen significant upheaval in the way services are delivered and experienced and needs to ensure the resilience and agility of operations in the future. This means ensuring lessons learned/feedback loops are in place to enhance business continuity further and drive local government innovation. This may include adopting dual operating models – core capabilities delivered via a shared platform and those services and capabilities, unique to individual councils, delivered locally.?Operating these integrated ecosystems does not mean rigid centralisation or homogenisation but rather aligning stakeholders around shared priorities, supported by a common purpose and vision. It means encouraging learning, innovation, and healthy debate to determine the best collective shared solutions for local government.
“A place where information is readily available and is instantly up to date as it changes, this can be coming directly from the field or from an office and no reliance on traditional paper-based processes. It will be a place where we can have interactions with ratepayers 24 hours a day 7 days a week and open up a broader set of communications and empower ratepayers to be more interactive with the council.”
?
“A more user driven/self-service environment with 24/7 access, reduced human intervention at the service point and customer response being undertaken through back office support possibly remotely.”
?
“Collaborative environment where services can be more effectively delivered, whether that service is delivered to the public or to other business units within council. Communication and Information sharing next - level in terms of effectiveness.”
Quotes 1 - The dynamic digital landscape for public sector organisations in Australia and New Zealand is described in creative and insightful ways as reported in ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series – The challenges of building digital bridges
The primary sources of benefits are increased service delivery capacity, greater purchasing power, the ability to employ more specialised staff, more efficient use and management of assets, and a more strategic approach to risk management. A pool of skilled resources amplifies the access to talent for all councils. It enriches that capability for the entire local government. These modern digital environments will be considered a sort after place to work, attracting top talent. Specialised procurement teams will represent all of local government. These highly skilled resources will negotiate with and hold vendors to account for their products and services, ensuring councils' best interests are met.
Figure 2 - Local Government Digital Ecosystems
Figure 2 shows, at a high level, how these LGDEs might evolve into the current Public Services sector. It proposes that the State Governments continue to provide Policy and the overarching governance frameworks and methodologies, and any data requirements (see Queensland Government Customer and Digital Group ). In return, State Governments and other agencies will then have access to data and measurable performance metrics.
These ecosystems share three core characteristics:
Local government ecosystems are a network consisting of a diverse range, in size and scope, of councils, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders - that securely and seamlessly integrate and operate beyond the capabilities of any single party.
2.?????Dual purpose
These environments provide both of the following;
3.?????Mutual contributions
What bonds stakeholders together in an ecosystem is a combination of shared insights, skills, expertise, knowledge, purpose, and values. Ecosystem stakeholders are all motivated to collectively nurture, sustain and evolve the ecosystem as a shared ‘commons.'
Table 1 - Roles of Local Government Ecosystems
Councils need to look at these shared digital ecosystems not to replace human resources but as an enabler to manage traditional complexity and unleash the potential of individuals and councils.
Digital Platforms
These Digital Platforms are based on advanced technologies such as AI, ML, Blockchain, IoT, etc. – underpinned by ubiquitous data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power.?Digitization, automation, human-machine collaboration, and human augmentation replace legacy complexity with - resilience, sustainability, scalability, adaptability, and security - all critically important.
The IoT platforms will include an?autonomous learning capability and an integrated learning architecture?that incorporates all modes of technology relevant to learning—including sensors, platforms, algorithms, and data, etc. An environment that can rapidly find the patterns within vast amounts of data generated from various data sources and modes of delivery then support decision making at the local level and provide insights to the State and Federal governments. These learning capabilities should also be embedded in the core operating backbone to constantly evolve or tweak the environment for changes such as legislative or regulatory compliance changes.
By moving their core operating backbone to a shared digital platform for integration and standardisation of the enabling processes and functions (stability), collaborating councils can focus locally on improved delivery of community services and their unique value propositions. If done right, councils will come to function less like a set of independent silos and more like a coherent ecosystem that leverages a common digital platform across participating councils.
Figure 3 - Local Government Digital Platform
“we can expect councils to change significantly during the coming decade and many functions will be automated, remotely outsourced or shared.” [35]
Peter Tabulo, CEO, Cairns Regional Council
Typically, backbone elements include core support capabilities and processes – for example, HR, Payroll, ICT, etc. – process elements and technology components.?By combining these elements onto a digital platform, the backbone becomes a secure, shared resource – operated and maintained by highly skilled local government staff. Attracting and having local government talent operate and manage these centralised on-demand platforms ensures targeted investment in the latest evolving technologies that align with the whole-of-local-government offerings. This allows local government to procure and make the best use of the latest as-a-service offerings such as those offered by Amazon, Microsoft, or Google.
“It is clear that digital is the new normal. When embracing this reality, organisations (Local Governments) need to ascertain their priorities and take steps to bring about transformative change and that starts from within. This requires an existence of a digital culture and mindset across the organisation championed by strong leadership that can tackle the challenges of leading in a digital first environment.” [36]
The next article in this series is "Local Government Digital Transformation - the Journey and Challenges."
Appendix A – Local Government Dynamics and Complexities
?Table 2 - Local Government Complexity Dynamic
Appendix B - (pure) Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is Change and, depending on the organisation, it can mean very different things that make up the journey to becoming a digital enterprise.
?Digital Transformation = establishing a Digital Enterprise by enabling digital capabilities through the adoption of exponential technologies - such as:
All the above constitute Business Transformation which means changing “what” a business does and “how” – relates to the Business Model (capabilities) and Operating Model (people, processes, data, technology, etc.)
References
?[1] Local Government National Report 2016-17 ? Commonwealth of Australia 2020
[2] AUSTRALIA’S SYSTEM OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT 31 October 2018 | Posted In:?#134 Spring 2018, Local Government Authors: Roberta Ryan and Alex Laurie
[3] Source: Productivity Commission, Local Government, Shifting the Dial: 5-year Productivity Review, Supporting Paper No. 16.
[4] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
[5] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
[6] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series
[7] Local Government Transformation series 2019, KPMG and Public Sector Network,
[8] ‘Facts & figures: Australia – LGiU SGS Economics & Planning
[9] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
[11] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
[12] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
[13] The Bionic Company – Winning the 20s - Rich Hutchinson, Lionel Aré, Justin Rose, and Allison Bailey - 7 NOVEMBER 2019
[14] Local Government Transformation series 2020, KPMG and Public Sector Network,
[15] QAO - Delivering efficient and effective local government services - October 2019
[16] The State of Queensland (Queensland Audit Office) Report 17: 2020–21 Local government 2020
[17] Local Government National Report 2016-17 Department Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications ? Commonwealth of Australia 2020
[18] QAO - Managing the sustainability of local government services - Report 2: 2019–20
[19] Based on benchmark APS spending on ICT 10% of local government OPEX 2020-21 – Australian Bureau of Statistics?
[20] QAO - Delivering efficient and effective local government services - October 2019
[21] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series – Building stronger communities in an increasingly digital post-pandemic society
[22] Local Government Transformation series 2020, KPMG and Public Sector Network
[23] The State of Queensland (Queensland Audit Office) Report 17: 2020–21 Local government 2020
[24] Local Government Transformation series 2020, KPMG and Public Sector Network
[26] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
[27] Local Government Transformation series 2020, KPMG and Public Sector Network,
[28] The path to prosperity Why the future of work is human – Deloitte Insights
[29] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series – The challenges of building digital bridges
[30] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series
[31] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series
[32] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
[33] The State of Queensland (Queensland Government Chief Information Office) DIGITAL1ST 2017–2021.?
[34] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series
[35] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series
[36] Source: ? The Civica Changing Landscape for Local Government report series – The challenges of building digital bridges
[37] APSC, State of the Service Report 2017–18, 2018
[38] ?Commonwealth of Australia Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Our Public Service, Our Future. Independent Review of the Australian Public Services