GPSJ WINTER 2023 2024 LATEST - Flipbook - Page 15
IT & IT SECURITY
GPSJ
Building on the digital foundations of local
and central government
It’s just over a year since the UK Government launched its Digital Strategy in June 2022, with
ministers heralding the policy as a “vision for harnessing digital transformation and building a more
inclusive, competitive and innovative digital economy”.
Confidence is high: More than
a quarter (27%) say the process
of digitisation (converting physical
formats to digital) is at a very
advanced stage, and nearly all
(99%) are certain they can fully
digitise workflows.
Paperless productivity: Almost
a third (31%) strongly believe
relying on paper documents
lowers workforce productivity, so
it’s not surprising to find that 98%
use digital documents at their
organisation and say they can be
quickly searched or accessed by
the workforce.
Beneath the bold statement, the
government’s policy document
states the importance of Digital
Foundations being laid as the
bedrock of its strategy. This ranges
from critical infrastructure, such as
high-speed broadband, to futurefacing technology, including Artificial
Intelligence.
Yet how are government
organisations themselves aligning
with their own digital strategy?
Research commissioned by
Epson with 150 IT decision makers
in central and local government
organisations show as many as
98% say they are now familiar
with the policy. Despite this high
awareness, however, only a third
(33%) state their organisation
has fully transitioned to digital
processes.
Many departments are already
moving away from paper-based
operations, instead converting
documents and data to the cloud.
Progress is being made. But with
two thirds of IT government still on
their digitalisation journey, there
remains much to do.
Positive about the
opportunities ahead
Our snapshot of views among the
government’s IT leaders — the
beating heart of government service
digitalisation — reveals a largely
confident and positive outlook on
the journey ahead:
Green dreams: 97% agree that
digitising documents, rather than
retaining paper-based processes,
can help their organisation
achieve its environmental impact
goals — another key target for
governments globally.
These are the demonstrable
benefits of digitisation, but IT
leaders say there are other
factors to consider in transitioning
to a fully digital estate.
Hybrid working brings
security into focus
Nicola Williams, Epson
Chief among those is information
sharing, particularly as increasing
numbers of workers blend
home and office working. And it’s
a particularly pertinent issue within
government as, according to the
Office for National Statistics, civil
servants and other public sector
employees are today more likely
to have hybrid working patterns
(35%) than their private sector
counterparts (26%).
To bring some control over
data and information, four in 10
(42%) government IT decision
makers have instigated additional
protections around document
sharing outside of government
buildings. The concerns primarily lie
with paper documents, with almost
a third (31%) of those surveyed
believing that sharing and storing
paper files is not secure, compared
to only 9% for cloud-based files.
Digitising processes is evidently
a driver of confidence in the
secure sharing and storage of
documents and data, particularly
as only 8% of IT decision makers
think digitalisation presents more
of a security risk than paper-based
operations.
This presents clear opportunities
for IT leaders across central and
local government organisations to
take advantage of new technologies
that not only bring efficiency, but
also peace of mind.
A focus on the future
Most IT decision makers agree
that the benefits of using digital
documents eclipse those of sticking
with paper-based processes. And
a majority (72%) believe it’s possible
for their organisation to digitise
100% of their documents in the
future.
There’s a clear opportunity to
make great strides across local
and central government — and
it’s an opportunity that extends to
any business on their digitalisation
journey.
Paper won’t disappear from
workplaces in the near future, but
it’s becoming increasingly important
to enable those documents to be
scanned, uploaded, and digitally
shared — securely.
Understanding how digital
workflows are used in your
organisation is a good start to
understand how you can lay firm
digital foundations.
Find out more in our new
report, Digital Foundations:
The Role of Document
Scanning Technology in
Digitalising Government.
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2023/2024
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