How will local authorities and Government benefit from updating operating system and technology?

ProjectGov

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I'm currently working on a project and interested to hear from current members who work in government and local authorities. Research has shown that systems such as scanners are not being updated and therefore causing serious issues with indexing and productive work flow. Another interesting finding is that Windows XP/Vista are currently the operating systems used. With the technology available today, would the workflow be more efficient and improve various services?

I welcome your thoughts
 
I'm currently working on a project and interested to hear from current members who work in government and local authorities. Research has shown that systems such as scanners are not being updated and therefore causing serious issues with indexing and productive work flow. Another interesting finding is that Windows XP/Vista are currently the operating systems used. With the technology available today, would the workflow be more efficient and improve various services?

I welcome your thoughts

It depends what country your talking about.. UK Gov have now rolled out windows 7 but I think some "arms length" organisations haven't.

with scanners, it does varies on budgets/needs. The scanners in my office were updated and used ALOT! as it was in are budget and very much needed.

We had issues with the software(database) not being efficient but it was hard to improve it because it all came down to budgets and who will be charged but also implementing the database had compatibility issues with other organisations within or in partnership with the Gov or at "arms length".

With the new tech it would greatly increase workflow for example; using ipads for document viewing/editing instead of large amounts of paper (we spend over £100k on paper a year currently), and using video conferencing more to minimise travel expenses and delays because of travel disruption.
 
Not sure about scanners specifically but I worked for a city for a while and found the biggest problem was that you could only use software loaded on their server and were forbidden to load software on your local machine. The software they had was limited. I was responsible for their publications, media content, graphics work and various web updates and they simply didn't have the tools. They had utilitarian (and outdated) windows (only) office suite. I had to bring in my own laptop to handle images, edit videos, do drawings etc. It was very frustrating and specifically disallowed in their policies. The city council developed and approved budget which specified how IT dollars would be spent. So if you wanted to try to get something funded there was about a 15 month lag time as budgets were annual. Horrible.
 
The city council developed and approved budget which specified how IT dollars would be spent. So if you wanted to try to get something funded there was about a 15 month lag time as budgets were annual. Horrible.

I can vouch for this. I worked at a school and getting new equipment was a tedious and long process...

At my new job, if we want something.. Anything between like $10k and $25k has to be approved by upper management. Anything lower was pretty much free game :tongue:

And anything above $25k goes directly to the CEO / President. It worked nicely
 
J2d and Janet H, many thanks for your input, with the latest technology and access to computer tablets it is very shocking to hear that 100k is spent on paper per year. Tablets have recently become more available to organisations and individuals at a more affordable cost. Both android and apple offer a variety of application to create a more efficient work, are they being used as a source? J2D, do you think 100k per year is spent on paper in uk councils?, Janet H, do you feel that investing in technology will enable inhouse efficiency? and will it save a huge cost in sub contracting?

- What drivers and barriers do you currently face (Digital participation)
- How has GOV.UK transformed government ICT?
- Thoughts on Technology and innovation: Investing for growth
- How to achieve savings with digital public services
 
J2d and Janet H, many thanks for your input, with the latest technology and access to computer tablets it is very shocking to hear that 100k is spent on paper per year. Tablets have recently become more available to organisations and individuals at a more affordable cost. Both android and apple offer a variety of application to create a more efficient work, are they being used as a source? J2D, do you think 100k per year is spent on paper in uk councils?, Janet H, do you feel that investing in technology will enable inhouse efficiency? and will it save a huge cost in sub contracting?

- What drivers and barriers do you currently face (Digital participation)
- How has GOV.UK transformed government ICT?
- Thoughts on Technology and innovation: Investing for growth
- How to achieve savings with digital public services

I can not say on councils, but we work heavily on paperwork and given "all" of it was confidential we also had weekly collections with confidential shredding company so the figure goes up. like Fargle said to get new tech implemented takes alot of paper work and approvals, and with budget cuts has never materialized.
 
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