Our team has worked extensively with local government departments in Melbourne, helping to recover lost data, provide effective backup solutions, and – of course – to digitise their operations. Here are some of the most important benefits our local government clients receive thanks to our expertly guided digitisation process.
#1 – Convenience
Accessing local government services needs to be easy and convenient in this digital age. Not only does this better suit the majority constituents who are familiar with online shopping and online businesses, it also takes a lot of administrative work off the shoulders of the local government team. Constituents can apply for permits, renew licenses, and send in applications with ease.
#2 – Task automation
Automation is a huge bonus for local government teams and constituents alike. With document management automated, every project and task are streamlined for faster results. For example, in a project, a digital workflow will automatically notify and reassign tasks as each set milestone is reached, making communication easy and ensuring everyone is on the right page. Manual data entry is also eliminated, with forms and applications drawing directly from assigned databases, saving time, and reducing risk of human error.
#3 – Collaboration
Local government projects involve different teams both inside and outside the department, as well as external service providers. Centralised document management means everyone works from the same information, ensuring all parties are working off current and accurate data. This removes congestion and reduces human error risks, as well as driving faster times to delivery.
#4 – Security
Government departments are a significant target for ransomware, data hacking, and other cybercrimes. Usually, these attacks are aimed at either extracting money from the department or causing chaos – or both. Digitisation reduces these risks by using highly secured cloud services, onsite and offsite backup processes, and active network monitoring. And by using these services, onsite network maintenance and security costs are cut out of your budget.
#5 – Reduced operating costs
One of the main benefits of digitisation for businesses is cutting operational costs – and the same applies to local government. There’s no longer any need for costly (and waste producing) printing and mailing of documents, use of cloud servers is much more affordable than running and securing onsite servers, and the increased productivity achieved through automation and collaboration directly reduces costs while increasing the value of your staff.
#6 – Remote working, flexibility, and continuity
A significant amount of local government work can be completed remotely or needs to be completed from remote sites. This gives local government the opportunity to provide attractive flexible and remote working opportunities for staff, to hire outside of their geographic location, and ensure onsite work is completed timeously rather than having to wait for staff to be physically onsite. This also improves business continuity. For example, in the pandemic, office sites had to be closed – yet essential government services still had to run. Secure cloud services empowered staff to keep doing their essential work even when buildings were empty. The same applies if a building is flooded, experiences a fire, or needs to be renovated.
Digital transformation is an essential journey for all businesses and government bodies. But it needs to be planned, implemented, and maintained by a team who understand your budget, what you want to achieve, and how to train your staff. That’s were Otto is invaluable. With our extensive work with local government in Melbourne, we’re ready to help you reap the rewards of a digital future.