Ahead in the cloud with Hounslow

When London Borough of Hounslow reviewed its ICT it looked at cloud-based platform environment possibilities. As a result, Hounslow is becoming a thoroughly transformed organisation with new customer-centric capabilities, says Director of Corporate Resources Anthony Kemp.  

In June 2013 Hounslow became the first council in the UK to go enterprise wide on a cloud-based platform. It might seem paradoxical but this move has allowed technology to fade into the background, meaning we are genuinely: “Not about technology. About customers.” 

Like many local authorities Hounslow is under pressure to do things better with fewer funds, while exceeding customer expectation. The cloud lets us have our cake and eat it: Delivering the best possible services more efficiently.  By challenging traditional thinking and supply chains Hounslow aims to deliver sustainable transformation now and by re-imagining our business model aims to be prepared for the evolution of the market towards platforms and open standards (as described by  Dr. Mark Thompson in his academic paper ‘Digital government, open architecture, and innovation: why public sector IT will never be the same again’ in the Journal of Public Administration, Research and Theory 2012.

Many people claim to use cloud computing, but some of these claims are emperor’s new clothes. Hounslow’s definition reflects what it believes to be the true cloud experience. Software, hardware and a common operating platform provided as a service, hosted in the public cloud, and available to many simultaneously.  What it’s not is a hosted data centre where applications run on dedicated hardware and services. True cloud approach relieves the worries of long expensive implementation projects (which often fail or over run) and all that other IT stuff which always seems to take ages to do. 

For too long local government systems have been costly and authorities have bought the same components over again. In the platform environment you only have one of everything. By not repeatedly buying and supporting the same components we can say goodbye to data centres and create significant savings over the next three to five years. Analysts suggest the ability to create up to a 50% reduction in costs, as not only do the applications costs reduce but also the support costs. As with all good things there is a challenge. The flexibility you get through a “pay as you go services model” means cash flow planning is critical.  

If that’s an example of improvements to the back end, what about the front line?

Local authorities have the skills to deliver effective, efficient services to customers but sometimes the technology we depend on fails.  Moving to true cloud means flexibility and using diverse suppliers like Methods, Salesforce.com, Box, Arcus Global and Amazon. In combination with continuous improvement techniques (like lean systems thinking and agile project management) means improving services to residents without long projects (for example we deployed CRM in six weeks). At last the customer’s needs can lead the development of services.

Customers of the future won’t want to complete e-forms but use social media instead. To connect to these customers through these new channels we need to design our services around them. This means connecting with customers anywhere, anytime, on any device, to allow easier access to more responsive services. 

For instance, if someone tweeted about fly tipping, Hounslow could join the conversation, assign the clean-up job, and tweet back to the resident that the is being sorted. If the resident’s tweet comes through out of hours, a CRM connection will raise a request with Hounslow’s suppliers and generate a response to our customer. This virtual agent model moves us to 24/7 services at no additional cost.

At the same time our new approach also allows staff to work anywhere, anytime on any device, accessing apps (council and their own) on one device speeding up the time it takes to get things done. 

Hounslow wants its residents to be part of its revolution. That’s why residents will be able to get involved in app development. Hounslow’s pilot app will be tested with residents, allowing them to report an issue, like graffiti, by taking a photo and logging it with us. Hounslow’s CRM will then pick up the photo, map the location, create a job – and let the resident know we are sorting it. 

It’s not so much of a technology evolution, but a customer revolution underway – and the results are great news for everyone. The council can deliver better, seamless customer service and reduce the costs of legacy systems as it migrates its way of working to the cloud, whilst maintaining security levels needed to protect the information people trust Hounslow with. Hounslow’s staff are developing app skills and residents are getting involved in app development. Most importantly we are delivering a better service for our customers and substantial year on year savings namely £600,000 in the first year.

The cloud over Hounslow is looming large – but it’s good news for residents and council staff alike. 

If you want to find out more about cloud working why not attend RIBA in London on November 21 at 6:15pm. Please contact Carol.Pearce@hounslow.gov.uk for details.