Council Lag Cutting-edge Tech Projects

Only five per cent of councils have cutting-edge tech projects, such as artificial intelligence and automation underway, a new research has found.

17:16 15 May 2019

A year-long study of country-wide Freedom of Information Requests to all councils in England and Wales has found that only five per cent of councils are investing in cutting-edge tech projects, such as artificial intelligence and automation.

 

Conducted by The Transformation Network, an arm of business management consultant T-Impact, the study found that Newcastle-Under-Lyme District Council, North Norfolk District Council and Surrey County Council take the top spots.  

 

Former COO of Government and ex Sage CEO Stephen Kelly said: “The best way to protect the future of local council services and the communities they serve is through the smart use of technology, such as robotic process automation and AI.”

 

"There has never been a more exciting time to be leading an organisation, and I am sure that the CEO’s of these councils will step up to embrace the opportunities.”

 

The London Borough of Hackney is the highest ranked council from the capital.

 

“We've been able to show how a person doing a task that takes four minutes and 57 seconds, can be done by a robot in 27 seconds,” said Matthew Cain, Head of Digital and Data from the London Borough of Hackney.

 

“By running those videos alongside each other we have been able to build an incredibly compelling case for colleagues across our different services.”