Internet Business Solutions Group Borough of – excellence in e-government

“GREAT WEB SITES AND GREAT USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAVE BECOME ABSOLUTE PREREQUISITES IF YOU WANT TO CLIMB TOWARDS ‘EXCELLENT’ IN THE GOVERNMENT’S LEAGUE TABLE OF LOCAL BOROUGHS. HILLINGDON HAS BOTH. TODAY, YOU JUST CAN’T GET TO THE TOP RUNG OF THE LADDER WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY.”

Dorian Leatham, Chief Executive, London Borough of Hillingdon

Unique cross section fair share of social problems and Hillingdon is London’s second largest E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y deprivation, meaning that the council has borough – covering 42 square miles of Background to maintain a particularly broad focus. west London – from in the The London Borough of Hillingdon, on the western Forward looking north to in the south. It shares fringe of the city, has a virtually unique mix of big business and a broad ethnic and residential spectrum. Against that background, the Local its boundaries with adjacent London It includes Heathrow, the world’s busiest international Government Act of 2000 was the most boroughs and the counties of airport. Pressure from an increasingly demanding, and fundamental change in local government Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Internet-aware, public is changing users’ expectations for over 100 years. The ending of the old Surrey. to universal, high quality, round-the-clock access to public services. committee system and the start of the

Located on the edge of London, 14 miles Challenge modern cabinet form of government for from the centre, Hillingdon has excellent The Local Government Act of 2000, together with the UK local authorities were designed to introduce road links to the national motorway government’s dictate that all council services should be a more efficient structure for council available online by 2005, have injected a new-found network and to . It also decision-making. dynamism into local government in Britain. Those includes within its borders Heathrow, the changes go hand-in-hand with greater focus on However, simply changing the way world’s busiest international airport. accountability and value for money. Under a new chief councillors make decisions would not, These factors make it an attractive executive, Hillingdon needed to grasp the opportunities presented. in itself, make the total difference. location for business, and many UK and A top-to-bottom review of the day-to-day international companies have their UK Solution Working in partnership with Cisco, Hillingdon created an operations of councils was also needed – and European headquarters there. e-services board. Apart from the act of putting its changing outdated structures and working services online, the borough has launched key projects The borough is home to 250,000 people practices to enable value-for-money citizen including a new web site, an IP telephony enabled citizen from diverse backgrounds. Black, Asian contact centre, online procurement, and new ways of services. In parallel, the UK government has and minority ethnic communities working for its Housing Services department. set a high-wire target that 100 per cent of currently comprise 19 per cent of the Results local government services must be available population but that figure is expected to Customer satisfaction with service access has rocketed to citizens through electronic channels by rise to 25 per cent by 2011. Because of its from 30 per cent to 90 per cent in one year, and an 2005. influential report, produced in collaboration with Cisco, proximity to Heathrow, the borough has is earning the borough excellent PR value. In hard cash, The point was not lost on the forward- a growing population of refugees and IP telephony will save $160,000 per annum. In the looking Hillingdon borough. The above asylum seekers. e-procurement arena, savings of $830,000 are expected on eliminating manual invoice processing alone. For a factors have conspired to make the The above factors give the borough a one-off $1.7 million investment Housing Services will borough a role model for both the adoption unique cross section of people, commerce save an immediate $3.7 million. Recurring savings will be of web technology for its service portfolio $333,500 per annum, and this saving could be as high as and infrastructure. Relatively prosperous $1.25 million from year four onwards. and the introduction of new, more efficient overall, Hillingdon nevertheless has its working practices. up the story: “We needed to find ways to divert resources to front KEY FACTS line service delivery. Face-to-face interaction is obviously the most Hillingdon is London’s second largest borough. Key facts are: costly and if we can get people to serve themselves – while at the • the borough’s annual budget is $269 million and it directly employs 3,000 people same time we improve back office efficiency – that frees up • the Housing Services department has stewardship of 11,469 council properties valuable resource. Over the past 12 months we’ve seen a definite and a staff of 520 people and growing shift to the web.” • Hillingdon is home to 250,000 people from diverse backgrounds • black, Asian and minority ethnic communities currently comprise 19 per cent of the Customer satisfaction rockets population but that figure is expected to rise to 25 per cent by 2011 • there are 7,423 businesses in Hillingdon, including British Airways, Nestlé, Penguin The most obvious manifestation of Hillingdon’s move to the Books and Rank Xerox Internet is its web site. Launched in 1998, until 12 months ago it • the borough has 91 schools and 17 libraries, and is home to Brunel University. had experienced around 2,500 unique users per month. Steve Palmer led a team under whose stewardship the web site was re-launched in October 2002 – and usage has rocketed, with Achieving excellence around 16,000 unique users per month, which translates into Dorian Leatham, Chief Executive of the London Borough of some 60,000 individual sessions. A large number of those sessions Hillingdon, explains: “Web technology has a critical role to play are replacing telephone or face-to-face interactions and those in widening access to local government information, as well as figures are continuing to grow at around 20 per cent per annum. serving as a channel for both access to and delivery of local Further services are being added and, as an example, planning government services. More than that it is also essential in applications are now online. modernising the organisation to make optimal use of resources. A web enabled contact centre was set up in April 2002, largely to “Great web sites and great use of information technology have deal with environmental issues – anything from abandoned become absolute prerequisites if you want to climb towards vehicles to broken pavements. Integrating telephony, e-mail and ‘excellent’ in the government’s league table of local boroughs. web access at the agents’ desks, the call centre has seen rapid Hillingdon has both. Today, you just can’t get to the top rung of growth in traffic. Agents now handle many hundreds of calls per the ladder without technology.” day, a proportion of which represent suppressed demand. But when Dorian Leatham joined the organisation in April 1998, Steve Palmer says: “The contact centre is aimed at reducing cost the use of information and communications technology (ICT) was and improving service. The agents are multi-skilled and can not high on the agenda, and there was no senior post in the handle complex queries. At present, growing traffic means that borough with overall responsibility for ICT strategy and we are victims of our own success, but there is hard proof of the deployment. In February 2000, Dorian recruited Steve Palmer as rightness of our strategy. Customer satisfaction with the service Head of ICT for the London Borough of Hillingdon: a role has grown astonishingly, from 30 per cent one year ago to around created to drive forward the borough’s e-transformation. 90 per cent today.”

A shift to the web September 2004 will see the replacement of the council’s The drivers behind Steve Palmer’s role were several: telephone systems with a Cisco IP telephony infrastructure, a • the above-mentioned government dictate that all services project already well under way. That move will save over should be online by 2005 $160,000 per annum, which will be taken out of the ICT budget • a growing confidence among the general public in using the – in accordance with the business case – and will drop straight to web, often as a result of using the Internet and e-commerce at Hillingdon’s bottom line. But there are other, less quantifiable home and at work benefits such as the fact that in adopting IP technology the call • rapidly increasing Internet connectivity (a recent Hillingdon centre will, for instance, offer queuing messages highlighting the study has shown that 52 per cent of its residents have Internet availability of online services, helping to drive the required access) behavioural changes. • changing citizen expectations towards round-the-clock information access and service delivery. Influential report In 2002, Hillingdon engaged in a study entitled ‘Building the In surveys, some 80 per cent of citizens have expressed preference modernisation business case’ during which Cisco provided for the telephone as their prime means of contact with the considerable support in terms of the overall methodology – council. More than 70 per cent also favour face-to-face contact facilitating discussions and developing ROI models for use in the particularly when discussing sensitive matters. Steve Palmer takes The report has been published as a PDF on the Hillingdon web CISCO AS A STRATEGIC PARTNER site and recognised by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Steve Palmer – an ICT professional with a highly successful track record in the use of (ODPM), which includes the office of the UK Government’s web technology in the local government arena – explains the genesis of the Cisco eEnvoy. The ODPM has published a paper on eGovernment best relationship with Hillingdon: “We needed a strong partner, a company that understood practice called e-gov@local: Towards a national strategy for local the power of the web to transform the way we work. I had experience of Cisco Systems e-government (available at www.odpm.gov.uk) and the from previous senior roles and I understood the strengths of the company’s Internet Hillingdon report has helped to inform that work and is quoted Business Solutions Group.” within it. During the early stages of the relationship, Cisco conducted a Net Readiness survey and Hillingdon also participated in a local government e-compliant network analysis, “That report has gone a long way to establish our credibility as which incorporated a number of other local authorities. experts and exponents of e-government,” says Dorian Leatham. “Both central government and our own council members can see Those activities led on to one-to-one coaching sessions for council members in the that we have a refreshingly business-like approach to the topic.” possibilities offered by web enablement of local services and processes. Peer-to-peer linkages were also established between council managers and their counterparts in Putting theory into practice the Cisco organisation – Finance, IT and HR for example – to enable informal talks to take place. Work has now started on web enabling the Housing Services department. For a one-off $1.7 million investment Hillingdon will Cisco also hosted sessions with the borough, aimed at helping them to define and immediately save nearly $3.7 million and then realise an annual prioritise Internet-based projects. The public sector ROI model that has been developed saving of over $333,500 per annum. According to the report, the between Cisco and Hillingdon helps the borough to analyse the relative attractiveness of Internet projects based upon investment required, speed and value of the cash net recurring annual savings could amount to up to $1.25 million return, and softer benefits such as customer satisfaction. from year four onwards.

Steve Palmer says: “There is a strong partnership between our organisations, in that The investment is largely in wireless and other access technologies we share vision and we share risk and reward. A memorandum of understanding exists necessary for location independent and remote working between Hillingdon and Cisco, with Cisco as a trusted Internet advisor to the borough. operational models. The savings come from closing unnecessary We’ve gained organisational learning from Cisco and in return we’ve taught them a lot buildings, reducing maintenance and utility overheads, and more too about the public sector. Cisco does not sell product directly to us. Rather it sells a efficient working practices. vision of the future. To achieve that vision and deliver web services quickly, flexibly and reliably you need the right network. We understand that. That’s the other side of the Housing Services employees can utilise libraries and leisure bargain.” centres to gain access to the Hillingdon network, obviating the

Dorian Leatham adds: “As a partner to the borough, Cisco has been truly excellent. need to frequently return to the office. Council tenants can log I literally cannot believe how good the relationship is, and I have nothing but praise for their requests for (e.g.) maintenance work via the Hillingdon Cisco’s people. It is a very open and honest affair where objectives are shared. They ‘Repairs Direct’ portal for online booking and progressing of don’t try to push product. They help us to get from A to B in a practical manner, and work on council properties, using exploded diagrams to pinpoint they generate great ideas and concepts along the way. The Cisco IBSG consultant sits the source of the symptoms. Likewise Housing Services people in as a member of the borough’s corporate e-services board and contributes to all can pick up their jobs remotely too, using PDAs. Apart from the elements of what we are trying to develop in e-services. Best of all, Cisco does not hard savings, Hillingdon is anticipating greatly increased charge for that consultancy.” customer satisfaction.

Hillingdon is also one of five lead local authorities involved in the national pilot for using interactive TV in local government. public sector. The 45-page report concentrated upon Hillingdon’s The council’s ability to build and substantiate business cases as Housing Services department as a test case. It concluded (for evidenced by the ‘Building the modernisation business case’ report instance) that: was a key criterion in its selection for the trial. The Hillingdon • 70 per cent of the department’s 520 direct employees could be part of the experiment is to use the ‘free to air’ channel, with mobile for up to four days per week (rather than occupying a some 300 properties having access to the Housing Services fixed desk location) significantly reducing the council’s need for department via a council-provided set top box on their TV sets. office space • the department would be able to free up people resources to As an indication of the effect of such initiatives, three years ago provide additional services to the community the Civic Centre played home to 1,100 local government • 65 per cent of service transactions were generic and lent employees. Today that figure is 1,500 through making more themselves to standard and consolidated citizen contact efficient use of the space. Desk to employee ratios vary from 1:1 management up to 1:4 dependent upon job function. • there were many opportunities to e-enable service delivery. Self-service and e-procurement Hillingdon is part of the London Connects initiative, created to In creating a self-service environment for its employees, share experience and learning between local authorities and to Hillingdon has centralised its HR functions – saving over standardise approaches to assist interconnection and $230,000 in the process – and created a borough-wide online interworking. London Connects has recognised language as a directory. It has put policy and procedure manuals online significant barrier, not just in the use of the web but also even in ensuring consistency and saving money on print and production. taking advantage of contact centres and face-to-face interactions. More than that, in today’s local government environment the Hillingdon alone has 140 different languages and dialects being need to meet regulations, observe proper purchasing procedures, spoken within its boundaries. ensure appropriate levels of decision making, and so on, means That is a close-to-intractable problem and Hillingdon is dealing that paper-based systems would leave the council exposed to risk. with community leaders to find ways to overcome language In 2003, Hillingdon is to put its procurement online with Oracle barriers. However, the answer may lie elsewhere and as part of Financials. Cisco organised and ran an e-procurement workshop the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) initiative all Hillingdon to show how it used the web for purchasing, and Hillingdon is schools are now online. Every pupil has an email account and – adopting very similar processes to Cisco – right the way from both on his or her own account, and in helping their families – identifying the need to making payment. Not only will it stop the problem will gradually reduce. people all over the organisation from buying supplies in an Looking to the future, the boundaries of the Hillingdon borough uncontrolled manner but also the borough will be able to realise are co-terminous with, for example, health service and police huge economies of scale. The borough currently processes great boundaries. That opens the possibility for jointly sharing numbers of paper invoices and savings of over $830,000 are premises, systems and (subject to Data Protection) information. expected in the first year alone. Already, discussions are taking place with the police about having a front counter in the Civic Centre. Overcoming barriers, going beyond boundaries Of course, the fact that 52 per cent of Hillingdon’s citizens have Dorian Leatham concludes: “I don’t believe that the local access to the Internet also means that nearly half of them don’t. authority, the health authority, the police authority and other In tackling that problem there are 173 public access terminals partners should deliver services in isolation. Their consumers are (PACs) in Hillingdon’s 17 libraries, of which six are UK online our consumers. There is so much synergy there. Web centres from which citizens can use online services. All librarians enablement has a tremendous role to play in releasing that are being trained to ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) energy.” standard and some beyond that in terms of training skills, in order to offer immediate assistance to PAC users.

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