OVERVIEW

The government has made clear its determination to deliver world-class public services that offer value for taxpayers' money. Better use of technology, as set out in the government's ICT Strategy, will result in reduced waste, avoidance of expensive project failures and the installation of smart technology systems to improve the delivery of public services, which, in turn, will contribute to substantial savings.

How can the public sector best utilise technology to transform services, adapting to the latest developments in areas such as social media, mobile technologies and cloud computing? More needs to be done to ensure the knowledge of how ICT can be used to improve public services is shared effectively, and the Transformation through Technology conference has been designed to provide delegates with the tools they need to drive change in their organisations, with technology the catalyst.

ICT plays a fundamental role in the provision of public services, and it can be used to change the way in which the sector operates and provides services, offering significant efficiency and environmental gains. However, it is still often 'retrofitted' to services, rather than being an intrinsic part of the design process. There are some excellent projects that are ahead of the curve, and the conference programme includes a range of practical case studies, offering maximum benefit for delegates.

Significant sums of money can be saved by using cloud services, and many suppliers to local public services are already making cloud-based products and services available. Through the G-Cloud programme, the government is aiming to deliver fundamental changes to how the public sector procures and operates ICT. The recently launched CloudStore is the first of its kind in the UK for public sector ICT procurement, making the purchasing of public sector ICT as simple and transparent as possible.

The amount of data held by the public sector is growing rapidly; this is both a challenge and an opportunity: managing, analysing and making use of data, and realising the benefits of doing so. Through better collection, integration, sharing and analysis of data, processes and services can be transformed. With a growing number of local authorities planning to make significant savings through the use of shared ICT services, the Public Service Network (PSN) promises a step-change in the way things are done, delivering far-reaching benefits across the sector. Bringing public services together over a shared information and communications infrastructure offers real opportunities for cost reduction and efficiency.

Technology is the main means of increasing productivity through mobile and flexible working, freeing up staff, buildings and revenue spend so that the public sector can deliver better, more agile and more responsive services for less. Smarter working – utilising devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones – is already raising workforce productivity in many public sector organisations. It is also an opportunity to change the relationship between citizen and government, developing policy formulation and service design in collaboration. The public sector is moving towards online service delivery by providing easy-to-use, trusted and flexible information and transactional services digitally by default. Online services and digital media are already transforming services in the commercial sector; it is now time for the public sector to meet the expectations of its 'customers' with access to services any time, any place.

At Public Service Events' inaugural Transformation through Technology conference, delegates will hear from an outstanding programme of high-profile speakers about the latest developments in technology, and how these are being used to transform public service delivery.