Lichfield and Staffordshire Moorlands District Councils
Serco helped the councils build an improved IT infrastructure making their internal systems more efficient and improving access to services for the citizens of both local authorities.
Following their groundbreaking alliance in which they pooled resources to buy IT services, Lichfield and Staffordshire Moorlands District Councils are now exploring mobile and remote working possibilities in a bid to further improve services offered to their citizens. Both councils' IT processes for support services - including infrastructure, desktop management, new projects, disaster recovery, database management and helpdesk support - are managed by a single team made up of IT staff from each council. The collaborative approach has already resulted in savings of more than £700,000 over the period of the £3m contract.
The innovative strategy has been recognised with a collection of awards. These include a grant from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, an accolade for outstanding achievement from the Society of Procurement Officers, being highly commended in the SOCITM/SOLACE/ Intellect Excellent in IT Awards 2004 and the first National Outsourcing Association (NOA) award for 'Best IT Outsourcing Deal' 2004.
Serco was chosen not only on price but also because it was a good cultural match. Rita Wilson, Corporate Director at Lichfield, explains, "Serco had the ability to meet the strict criteria set out and a genuine enthusiasm to work with both councils within the framework of this unique partnership model."
Two years on from the signing of the contract, both councils are realising the benefits of working together with Serco. Rita Wilson reports, "Our core ICT systems are far more reliable, we have assured business continuity through better risk management and contingency planning and, above all, our systems to support customer service are now operating to an acceptable standard so we have the information we need to respond quickly to our citizens' queries." She adds, "This vindicates our unique approach. By outsourcing the delivery of IT services to Serco we knew we would be able to access a greater bank of resources, rely on 24/7/365 service and be able to tap into all of the skills we required. This was the only way to fully exploit technological opportunities for the benefit of our customers and achieve our e-government targets."
Emphasising the focus on quality of service, the contract with Serco includes a commitment to achieve upper quartile performance against key industry standard SOCITM (Society of Information Technology Managers) benchmarks. These include measures of customer satisfaction, the percentage of calls resolved within an agreed timescale and the proportion of successful projects undertaken.
The IT improvements have contributed to the 'Good' rating achieved by Lichfield and Staffordshire Moorlands in their 2003/04 Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPA). This represents a considerable turnaround for both councils, particularly Lichfield whose IT services were rated as "fair with uncertain prospects for improvement" just three years ago.
According to Chris Elliott, Head of ICT Services and Procurement at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, Serco must share the credit for the improvements. "By working with Serco we have maximised our skills pool, resources and capabilities and eliminated some of the risk factors associated with many tasks that are undertaken in-house."
He notes that the project has benefited council employees too. "We've had excellent feedback from users who are already experiencing far greater desktop service levels than ever before."
Now that the councils are looking ahead towards the development of shared services, Chris adds, "As and when we undertake any technical project or major upgrade, both the Lichfield and Staffordshire Moorlands teams know they can rely on the experience and expertise of a trusted partner."
Serco provides a wide range of services that help local authorities transform their operations to make efficiency gains and achieve strategic goals. Numerous councils throughout the UK rely on Serco's expertise and breadth of experience to help them deliver higher quality services to the citizen at lower cost.