The State of the Digital Nation

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1 The State of the Digital Nation Addressing the greatest social challenge of our time A report from Agilisys in association with Digital by Default News

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3 The State of the Digital Nation 3 Contents Introduction 5 Access, skills and leadership: What s driving digital transformation? 6 A proactive approach: Steps to embed a digital culture 14 Creating a digitally empowered organisation: Four-point action plan 16

4 UK local authorities are well on their way to achieving a digital vision. Of the 463 organisations surveyed, 40% said they not only had a clear vision for digital, but had already started digital service provision. Just 3% said they hadn t yet started their digital journey. The majority (57%) said there has been good progress, but there are significant opportunities to do more.

5 The State of the Digital Nation 5 Introduction The UK Government s 2017 Digital Strategy is clear recognition of the importance of digital to the UK economy, both as a driver for growth and as a catalyst for increased productivity. It sets out a seven-point framework spanning network infrastructure, data, security, skills and digital inclusion, and connects existing ideas, initiatives and funding. The last decade has seen major advances in how we interact with technology and it is now easier than ever to carry out simple transactions online, such as banking or shopping. But as we approach the next digital frontier, how do we ensure we get the most from the latest wave of digital disruption? And how can government ensure that the services it delivers keep pace with our needs and expectations as 21st century citizens? Although the impact of increased citizen expectations and unprecedented funding cuts have been felt across government, arguably it is at local government level where the challenges have been experienced most keenly. Undoubtedly the move to digital offers the public sector the opportunity to make cost savings. But what of the myriad possibilities it presents to deliver better outcomes for citizens? From promoting digital literacy in communities, enabling individuals to self-serve and, through the use of predictive algorithms, it is now feasible to intervene with at-risk individuals before they hit a crisis. But how is local government, made of hundreds of disparate entities with their own working practices and levels of digital progress, working to realise the benefits that digital transformation promises? And how are authorities tackling gaps in digital literacy, leadership and skills within their own workforces as well as their populations? Digital by Default News, in association with Agilisys, conducted a survey among more than 400 organisations in the public and private sector to gauge the progress they are making on their digital transformation journeys. In this report, based on key findings from the survey, we consider the subject of digital transformation in public services across three themes: the drivers for change; digital access and literacy; digital skills and leadership. We also identify a four-point action plan for organisations seeking to develop and embed a digital culture.

6 6 The State of the Digital Nation What s driving digital transformation? The survey provided some interesting data on the motivation for digital transformation. It revealed how organisations view the shift to digital, the potential benefits to be gained, and the challenges they anticipate. Aims and intentions In our world of digitally connected consumers and citizens, it came as no surprise that 99% of survey respondents said they had a vision for digital service provision. Making digital a priority Organisations recognised that digital offers significant benefits, and are incorporating it into their overall strategies. More than half (65%) said they considered it among their top priorities and 13% named it their absolute top priority. How much priority do organisations place on a digital strategy to assist transformation? The majority (40%) said they not only had a clear vision for digital, but were already well on their way to realising the benefits. Another 22% said their vision for digital was fully defined and understood, and a further 27% said that it was defined, but not fully understood. It seems the need for adopting digital ways of working is clear but some organisations have yet to turn these needs into practical steps. 13% It s our top priority 52% It s one of our top priorities 27% Important, but not a top priority 8% Not currently a priority

7 The State of the Digital Nation 7 Who is leading digital strategy? In the public sector, who is responsible for driving the digital agenda? It s an allencompassing endeavour that calls upon different skill sets and capabilities, employing strategy, tech savvy, even marketing knowhow. So who is the best person for the job? Setting the digital agenda According to our survey, the chief executive officer is by far most likely to be the lead person responsible for driving digital in the private sector 54% of companies named their CEO as their digital lead. However, the picture is dramatically different in the public sector. Just 21% of those surveyed saw their CEO as their digital leader. In the public sector, the Head of ICT is more likely to lead on digital 31% of organisations in this case. Percentage of public vs private sector organisations who saw CEO as their digital leader Public Private Chief executive officer 21% 54% Head of ICT 31% 19% Head of customer services 11% 4% Finance director 3% 2% No one we have no plans 10% 9% Someone else 32% 13% Some respondents reported that their organisations had appointed a head of digital, digital director, or chief digital officer to oversee their digital transformation. Others have not assigned the task to one person, instead sharing the responsibility among the board or executive team. In some cases, the entire workforce has been given responsibility in order to secure buy-in at every level of the organisation. 21% 54% public sector private sector

8 8 The State of the Digital Nation Addressing digital inclusion and closing the digital skills gap Digital transformation is more than just shifting services online. A 2015 IPSO MORI report estimated that 23% of the UK adult population, some 12.6m people, do not have basic digital skills. For the public sector, ensuring citizens have the access and skills needed to take advantage of digital services is a key part of digital transformation. Across the organisations responding to our survey, 41% cited lack of citizen online access and 50% cited an unwillingness to use online services as barriers to government digital service take-up. Beyond the ability to access and use online government services, the digital skills gap represents a major missed opportunity for the UK. A Parliamentary Committee reported that the digital skills gap is costing the economy an estimated 63 billion a year in lost additional GDP. To help address these issues and realise the national opportunity, the Government s Digital Strategy includes increasing digital skills and inclusion as one of its seven major strands with a range of initiatives such as a newly created council for Digital Inclusion and government working alongside third sector organisations such as the Good Things Foundation. Definition of basic digital skills 1 Managing information Find, manage and store digital information and content. Communicating Communicate, interact, collaborate, share and connect with others. Transacting Purchase and sell goods and services, organise your finances and use digital Government services. Problem-solving Increase independence and confidence by solving problems and finding solutions using digital tools. Creating Create basic digital content in order to engage with digital communities and organisations. Digital participation helping everyone to get online and maximise the benefits of digital technology is arguably one of the great social challenges of our age. Douglas White, Head of Advocacy for the Carnegie Trust UK 1 Select Committee on Digital Skills - Report of Session , Appendix 7: Go ON UK s definition of basic digital skills. (

9 The State of the Digital Nation 9 Access to digital The Department for Culture, Media and Sport s Broadband Delivery UK programme confirmed in March this year that it is on track to deliver superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises by December Of course, this does not include the entire population, so the department has also invested 10m to find new ways to support the rural areas who will not have high speed access. The results appear to be positive. In 2016, the Office for National Statistics 2 (ONS) reported that 88% of adults in the UK (50 million) said they had used the internet recently (within the last three months), up from 86% in Whilst this demonstrates that a large proportion of the population have internet access, there are over five million people who have never used the internet. There is a correlation between digital exclusion and vulnerable, hard to reach and disadvantaged groups, such as older people, those in social housing, those with disabilities and the unemployed. The ONS found that a quarter of disabled adults in the UK had never used the internet, and a survey by the BBC found that over 69% of people who lack basic digital skills are over 55. The government represents every one of its citizens, so it must set itself the highest standards when it comes to digital inclusion. Its Digital Inclusion Strategy 3 acknowledges that although progress has been made, more needs to be done. The wide range of support services, skills programmes and initiatives have not managed to help everyone go online. Isolated and disjointed initiatives to combat digital exclusion have not made the most of our combined efforts and expertise. Survey respondent 2 Office for National Statistics, Statistical Bulletin, Internet Users in the UK: ( businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/bulletins/internetusers/2016). 3 Government Digital Inclusion Strategy, 4 December (

10 10 The State of the Digital Nation Promoting digital literacy Giving people the access to digital services is one thing but giving them the skills they need to maximise the potential of technology is another. According to the Basic Digital Skills UK Report 2015, 28% of the unemployed lack one of the five basic digital skills compared with 4% of those in employment and earning over 75,000 per year. We can see from this that digital literacy, at least in part, can be an inhibitor to finding work and financial stability. Recognising this, in March 2017 the House of Lords Communications Committee called for digital literacy to form the fourth pillar of education alongside reading, writing and arithmetic. The UK government is also addressing the challenge amongst those who have left education and in 2015 invested 85m in digital skills training to level two and over 9.5m was invested in supporting nearly 800,000 adults to gain basic digital skills through the Future Digital Inclusion and Widening Digital Participation programmes. It also created the Digital Training and Support Framework to procure the necessary support, such as basic digital skills training or assistance to use an online government service, for citizens who have insufficient digital skills and confidence. The continuation and extension of these programmes will be essential to ensure that individuals and organisations can make the most of the benefits technology can bring. In order to help people go online for the long-term...we have to change how we work and what we do to make it simpler and easier for people to get support. Survey respondent

11 The State of the Digital Nation 11 What s holding the public sector back? The need for digital literacy also extends to the UK workforce. A House of Commons report on the Digital Skills Crisis 4 highlights that the imperative for businesses to develop the digital skills of their employees is now a matter of survival. A recent Ofcom report looking at internet use among the top five European Countries ranked the UK second bottom when it came to interacting with public authorities online. While the drivers for digital transformation may be clear, a portion of the public sector appears to lack the skills needed to make it a reality. The National Audit Office conducted a survey, asking public sector employees where they felt there was a skills gap. Respondents cited strategy, change design, change delivery and technical skills all key skills required for digital transformation. For the most part, it appears organisations struggle to deliver their digital vision because of cost, complexity and a lack of skilled resources. When asked to select the three biggest barriers to the delivery of digital services, lack of resources was the most popular response, with 39% of organisations citing it as a barrier. Legacy systems, lack of budget and lack of in-house skills were all equally ranked (36%) as barriers to achieving successful transformation. These findings imply that organisations perceive migration to digital as both expensive and technically difficult. However, it isn t just technical difficulties that are holding organisations back there also appears to be a cultural element, with internal politics (24%), lack of strategy (23%) and lack of buy-in across the organisation (27%) cited often. 36% of public sector organisations cited lack of in-house skills as one of their three biggest barriers to digital service delivery. 4 House of Commons, Science & technology committee, Digital skills crisis ( cm201617/cmselect/cmsctech/270/270.pdf).

12 12 The State of the Digital Nation Skills and people Upskilling the workforce Taken as a whole, most of the organisations in our survey believed they already had at least some of the necessary skills in their organisation to deliver their digital strategy. 89% thought this was true either partially (30%) or to a large extent (59%). To what extent does your organisation have the right skills to deliver your digital strategy? Embedding a digital culture When talking about digital transformation, culture is often ignored when compared to concerns about budget and resource, but it is an essential part of the process 5. Almost a quarter of the organisations in our survey responded that they were largely prepared for the cultural and behavioural challenges required to develop an empowered, networked and flexible workforce. The majority (60%) described their organisations as partially prepared. To what extent is your organisation prepared for the cultural and behavioural changes associated with a shift to digital? 59% true to a large extent 30% partially true 7% not at all 3% fully true 1% other 60% partially 24% to a large extent 12% not at all Building the digital culture of an organisation across every role is vital to future-proof staff and to ensure an organisation can leverage the productivity and efficiency benefits that digital offers. 5 Digital by Default News, Correct skills, culture and mind-set vital to make digital transformation a reality, July ( digitalbydefaultnews.co.uk/2016/07/13/correct-skills-culture-and-mindset-vital-to-make-digital-transformation-a-reality/).

13 The State of the Digital Nation 13 Embedding digital in a public sector organisation Nearly half of the respondents believed that there was an unwillingness of their user base to access digital channels and over half (59%) believed that there was a reluctance amongst staff to embrace digital ways of working. Interestingly, a statutory requirement to have people involved in the process was believed to be a barrier by only 30% of respondents. If there is no statutory barrier to service access then the focus must shift to service design, ease of access and behavioural and attitudinal change. Well designed, easy to use services that reduce time and effort to access services and interact, will be adopted more readily by customers. Recognising this, 91% of respondents said that digital transformation to improve service delivery and customer service was important to their organisation and 13% said it was their top organisational priority. 88% of respondents believed that service delivery would be enhanced by pursuing a move to better digital delivery and 82% believed customer service would be enhanced Percent Access to digital Unwillingness to use digital/ self-serve Reluctance amongst staff to embrace digital ways of working Statutory requirements Other Biggest barriers to shifting to digital service delivery

14 14 The State of the Digital Nation Steps to embed a digital culture We have included here some of the comments that survey respondents offered, as they considered their own approaches and examples of best practice in developing a digital culture. Develop the workforce Our survey asked professionals in both the public and private sectors whether they felt their organisations were prepared for the cultural and behavioural changes required to develop an empowered, networked and flexible workforce. Whilst the technology solutions may come relatively easily, how engaged an organisation s workforce is on the transformation journey, will ultimately determine how successful the shift to digital is. It might be that a gap in digital skills is slowing the pace of change because people aren t equipped to make timely decisions. In order to drive a digital agenda and reach their digital goals, organisations need to develop the skills of their workforces and explore different ways of working. Encourage efficient practices Some respondents shared experiences of their organisations encouraging staff to work more efficiently by being more mindful, rethinking the organisational structure, or by instigating cultural changes. One respondent said their organisation had made efforts to strip out obsolete practices, share functions, map out skill sets, and recruit fantastic people. Involving all stakeholders was also seen as important; engaging service providers and frontline workers to assess current work, to innovate and improve processes. Many also cited an active approach as key too: The organisation is promoting quality improvement to a large scale and is encouraging every team to come up with at least one project that will improve service delivery. It is also supporting the teams to deliver as many projects that make a positive difference. The leadership team encourage staff to take up opportunities for training.

15 The State of the Digital Nation 15 Foster confidence and independence Reaching a goal as large and all-encompassing as going digital first requires all hands on deck. It calls upon a diverse set of capabilities, presenting great opportunities for workers in the public sector to develop their skills. This in turn fosters confidence and pride among teams, so that they feel empowered to make their own decisions. As one respondent put it: Digital projects are scoped, planned and delivered with the teams that provide the services, enabling them to learn first-hand the benefits and encouraging them to find more ways to improve service delivery. Another respondent said that encouraging faster decision making, introducing collaborative tools and new ways of working has enabled staff to see the possibilities of a digitally engaged organisation. Support was also reported as an important factor: [We] encourage staff to initiate projects for quality improvement and [give] them the support to deliver projects. Reward innovative behaviour Developing an understanding of how to nurture and foster innovative working ultimately comes down to leadership. Support and guidance from senior leadership on innovation strategy, and related priorities, can be one of the most important catalysts for driving innovation. Some respondents reported schemes whereby people are incentivised to share their ideas. At least one organisation surveyed offers cash rewards for innovative behaviour. Another respondent said that there is a growing culture of coaching and hiring people who show behaviours of being innovative. The creation of digital hubs are becoming increasingly common. These bespoke locations (virtual or physical) foster co-location and promote easy and constant interaction among different partners, industries and a wide variety of creative workers, from artists to scientists to engineers, whose paths would not ordinarily cross.

16 16 The State of the Digital Nation Creating a digitally empowered organisation Taking our three themes; the drivers for change; digital access and literacy; digital skills and leadership, we have set out a four-point action plan to help organisations seeking to develop and embed a digital culture. 1 2 Assess where you are and set a clear vision Educate and involve your workforce Digital is about more than technology and Everyone in your organisation will have their processes. It is a state of mind, a way of own perspective on what digital means. So doing things. establish a common language and frame of reference for the organisation. Illustrate great Many organisations look to digital to help them examples of digital transformation and ask change the way they work, seeking to become people to share their personal experiences of more collaborative and connected, adaptive good and bad digital services. and flexible, data driven and transparent, diverse and open. Ask people to imagine the crucial role digital has to play in managing both supply and Building an effective digital culture involves demand for their customers. Ask them to aligning your digital ambition to your identify places where services and budgets organisation s existing core values and mission. are under pressure and involve them in coming Illustrate how adopting digital ways of working up with ideas for how digital service provision will enable you to deliver better services, could help address this. achieve better outcomes and demonstrate better value for money. Build teams to design services from across the organisation and involve them in the change Start small. Transforming and delivering one and transformation. Creating ownership service brilliantly provides a great catalyst for through involvement will result in better design future digital adoption. and greater engagement.

17 The State of the Digital Nation Develop digital leaders To lead in the digital age requires digital literacy and competency. An understanding of what is possible through the use and deployment of digital technologies is a prerequisite and this can of course be acquired and developed by existing leaders. However, in the digital age change happens continually and rapidly, and so digital leaders require a number of other key attributes. These include adaptability and agility, the ability to work collaboratively and innovatively, a focus on customers and customer centric design. More importantly the ability to consider the new technologies and services available and make decisions about what to adopt and when to do it. Developing and refining these skills, working collaboratively with other leaders and continually investing in one s own growth have never been more important. Listen and learn Be inclusive and consider ideas from across your organisation as well as from external stakeholders. This will provide greater insight from the ecosystem in which your organisation operates. Use data to drive your decision making, rather than relying on hearsay and opinion. This will help to avoid biases and will also help ensure services are designed around the needs of the citizen. Be willing to respond to new information. Well-designed services, enabled by digital technology should make it far easier to respond to change in an agile fashion.

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19 If you would like to discuss what it takes to deliver a successful digital transformation, get in touch: info@agilisys.co.uk. The State of the Digital Nation 19

20 Transforming services that make a difference to millions of people across the Agilisys The enclosed material is copyright of Agilisys Limited. Agilisys 2017