Public sector guide doing more with less

A PUBLIC SECTOR GUIDE

Doing more with less
8 key issues faced by public
sector managers and how
to solve them

A PUBLIC SECTOR GUIDE If it’s collaborative, it’s in Kahootz
1

Contents

Introduction 3

Is this guide for me? 4

Why managers need to ‘do more with less’ 5

8 ways to ‘do more with less’ in the public sector 7

1. Reducing the cost of procurement 8

2. Cutting staffing costs and increasing productivity 9

3. Developing shared services 11

4. Cutting IT and software costs 13

5. Partnership working and joined-up government 15

6. Designing effective public consultations 17

7. Improving stakeholder engagement 19

8. Public sector innovation 20

Find out more… 21

A PUBLIC SECTOR GUIDE 2

Introduction

Major funding cuts have put the UK public sector
under pressure to ‘do more with less’.
That means delivering the same, or better, services
with much smaller budgets.
It’s a demanding task, but there are proven online
solutions that will help you to cut costs, deliver
efficiencies and innovate.
This guide shows you how to apply them to 8 key
issues currently faced by the public sector — and
how others have used them to succeed.


Is this guide for me?

If you work in the public sector and They are:
are looking for ways to make shrinking
1) educing the cost of procurement
R
budgets stretch further,
this guide is for you. 2) Cutting staffing costs and
increasing productivity
It covers 8 key issues faced by
3) elivering shared services
D
your sector, and shows you how
other public sector organisations 4) Cutting IT and software costs
have solved them. 5) Joining up government
6) Delivering cost-effective consultation
7) Improving stakeholder engagement
8) Public sector innovation

But first, let’s take a quick look at the
current public sector landscape of budget

Quick fact cuts — and calls for innovation.

£1,032 Billion
Public sector net debt at
the end of July 2012 —
equivalent to 65.7% of
gross domestic product.
Source: ONS


Why managers need to
‘do more with less’
With few exceptions, the whole public Local authorities alone have been
sector is under greater pressure than told to cut their outgoings by 30%
it has been for many decades. over a four-year period.

The Government’s commitment to
reduce the UK’s budget deficit has seen
public sector spending slashed
by significant amounts.

49
Forecast
47

45

43
Percent of GDP

41

49

37

35

33
1978-79 1982-83 1986-87 1990-91 1994-95 1998-99 2002-03 2006-07 2010-11 2014-15

PSCR (March forecast) TME (March forecast)
PSCR (November forecast) TME (November forecast)

Source: ONS, OBR

Public sector spending and receipts
Revised total public sector spending (TME) and total public sector receipts (PSCR) forecasts from the March 2012
Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Source: http://budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk


The cut in public sector spending has In other words, public services have to
been accompanied by other pressures, deliver more with less, but we’re supposed
which are also putting the squeeze on to enjoy more freedom to decide on the way
already-tight budgets. we do deliver.

For example, the NHS and social care One thing’s for certain though —
departments are expected to deliver better organisations that embrace this opportunity
services, not only at a time of budget cuts are the ones that will best succeed.
— but also at a time when the population
is ageing, more people are out of work and The ideas in this publication are here to
economic pressures are having an adverse help you do just that.
knock-on effect on health, wellbeing,
employment and housing.

More positively, central Government wants
to foster a culture of innovation within the
public sector — although the drawback is
that there are few additional resources to
achieve this. For example the Localism Act
has been designed to give local authorities
greater freedom from central Government,
with the hope that a more entrepreneurial
approach will lead to public service
innovation, better partnerships and new
ways of working.


8 ways to ‘do more with less’
in the public sector
In over a decade of working with In recent years, the adoption of versatile
public sector organisations — from local online software has not only made public
authorities and NHS trusts to Government sector collaboration faster, cheaper and
departments and the Fire Service — we’ve much more far-reaching, but it has enabled
seen them use a common approach to organisations to deliver innovations that
cut costs, improve efficiencies and would formerly have been either impossible
deliver innovation. or prohibitively expensive.

That approach has been centred on Yet, despite current economic pressures,
strategic collaboration — with colleagues, much of the sector has yet to adopt
partners, stakeholders and the public. online collaboration as an integral
working practice.

If you haven’t yet done so, these are just
8 ways it can help you achieve a lot more
for a lot less.

“Through collaboration
and co-operation, this
innovative project harnesses
our collective buying power
to deliver significant cashable
savings and improve the way
we acquire and manage
our fleet.”
Will Tuckley, Chief Executive,
London Borough of Bexley


1) Reducing the cost
of procurement
In its report, Strategic Financial
Management in Councils: Delivering
Services with a Reduced Income,1 the Audit Fleetcol collaborative
Commission challenged local authorities to vehicle procurement
look at the way they procured services and
products, thereby delivering better value for
Thanks to a service called
money through good financial management.
Fleetcol, which has been built
on online collaboration software,
Traditionally, well-managed local
local authorities across London
authorities maximise their buying power
can share details of their
by co-ordinating buying across all their
intended vehicle buying.
departments. For example, they might co- This allows them to team up with
ordinate spending on vehicles to get the other authorities or professional
best prices for new additions to their fleet buying organisations (PBOs) to
— whether the vehicles were to be used by bulk buy identical commercial
Housing, Education, Environmental or other vehicles at the same time,
service departments. resulting in an additional
discount of up to 10%
However, it’s rarer to see collaboration from suppliers.
with other public sector organisations
Given a recent study that shows
to increase buying power further. That’s
London’s 33 local authorities
because encouraging two or more
spend over £100m per year on
procurement teams to work in tandem has
the acquisition and maintenance
normally been time consuming, bureaucratic
of around 6,000 commercial
and needing additional investment in
vehicles, the savings can they
personnel — all of which chip away at any
make are highly significant —
potential cost savings.
and allow each authority to
stretch their budget further.
Online collaboration now brings large-
scale, co-operative procurement within your
reach. Here is just one example of how local
authorities can do it.

1. Available at http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nationalstudies/
localgov/pages/strategic-financial-management.aspx


2) Cutting staffing costs
and increasing productivity
With the current pressure to cut jobs across It’s a good approach, but it creates
the public sector, many organisations are problems in its own turn — such as:
trying to cut the cost of employing staff
and find ways of creating conditions that • bstacles to teamwork
O
encourage them to be more productive. team members work from different
locations, making communication difficult
One solution is to give staff more
opportunities to work from home. This • roject management issues
P
not only cuts office overheads, but also when team members work apart,
increases motivation among employees with it makes it harder to track progress
young families or other commitments that and project milestones
require greater flexibility.
• ncreased travelling costs
I
for face-to-face meetings

• ecurity routinely sharing sensitive data
S
via email can be a security risk

These obstacles are not only created
by home working, but also when team
members work in different offices or
locations — or they travel regularly as
part of their role.


Good online collaboration software can help • entralised project management
C
solve these issues, keep productivity high — whether teams work remotely or
and ensure costs are kept to a minimum. within the same building, some online
In particular, cloud-based collaboration collaboration packages deliver adaptable
(software that’s accessible to anyone with a and easy-to-use project management
web browser and an internet connection) functions that can be accessed from
can deliver: anywhere, bringing the lifeblood of clear
communication and intuitive collaboration
• ssential project management tools
E to every project you work on (this can also
— such as calendars, task lists and help you save money by consolidating
reminders, all from a secure, shared software. See solution 4, page 13).
workspace
Used well, online collaboration delivers
• ess need to travel — team members
L lower staffing costs and higher productivity
can collaborate on documents and for all remote and office-based staff —
discuss progress within their workspace essential throughout the public sector.
from any location, reducing the need for
expensive face-to-face meetings

• ecure working — online collaboration
S
overcomes issues such as unsecure email
attachments and firewall blocking


3) Developing
shared services
Towards the end of summer 2012, the The three organisations have shared
Local Government Association reported budgets for learning disabilities,
that 219 councils across the country adaptations, mental health and continuing
were engaged in 143 shared service care — delivering savings in excess of £3
arrangements, resulting in £156.5 million million during 2011 / 2012 across their
of efficiency savings. Procurement, Finance, Payroll HR, ICT,
Estates and Transport, Internal Audit,
One of those local authorities is Legal Services and Communications
Herefordshire Council, which shares a joint departments. Savings for 2012 / 2013 are
chief executive and leadership team with forecast to be £4.4 million.2
the Herefordshire PCT and Wye Valley
NHS Trust. Online collaboration was essential to
developing and implementing the shared
services because it gave the partner
organisations the functionality to easily
project manage the amalgamation of
departments, infrastructure and posts.
Quick fact According to project manager
Dr Ashley Tucker:
£4.4 Million
“We needed a way of sharing
Forecast savings for 2012
/ 2013, thanks to shared information and the latest
services delivered by drafts of documents without
Herefordshire Council, duplication… independent of
Herefordshire PCT and Wye existing systems and externally
Valley NHS Trust. Online available to everyone we invite.”
collaboration was and is an
essential component of their
partnership working.

2. Source: Shared services map, www.local.gov.uk


The online collaboration software they Because key individuals from both
chose gave them just what they needed organisations could communicate and
— documents that can be co-authored by collaborate online, management of the
different individuals from different locations, restructuring project was efficient and
allowing each person to contribute to a because the online workspace kept staff
single, unduplicated file. At a stroke, they informed throughout the process, it helped
no longer had to worry about collating allay their fears and make the transition as
different contributions, or whether emailed painless as possible.
documents would make it through firewalls.
However, perhaps the most important
There were other benefits too: outcome of using online collaboration was
“We could have one individual the way the local authority and its partners
developed new, innovative services — from
moderating and running the
online communities for learning mentors to
online group, providing all invited a Europe-wide consortium. You can enjoy
ICT staff with access to the latest these benefits too, and we’ll explore these
structure diagrams, job vacancies in more detail on page 20.
and application forms wherever
they wanted to access them.
The alternative would have
been to duplicate information
across two intranets or develop
a bespoke website with
secure login protection. Both
approaches would have taken
a lot longer and demanded far
more overheads.”


4) Cutting IT and
software costs
If you start using online collaboration within For example, you can create
your organisation, it will encourage you to workspaces that allow you to do all of
take stock of your existing software use — the following things:
and almost certainly identify savings.
• anage projects — online collaboration
M
There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, tools such as calendars, task lists,
because cloud collaboration is hosted discussion forums and questionnaires give
externally and accessed via a web browser, you the flexibility your need to manage
it doesn’t require expensive additional projects in an agile way, while maintaining
hardware or server upgrades. issue and risk registers and keeping
team members engaged. Because a
Secondly, if you choose feature-rich collaborative environment encourages
collaboration software, you’ll find that it discussion, exploration, transparency and
consolidates the functions of other software problem solving, it adds a creative and
you might rely on. highly productive dimension that’s missing
from many complex project management
tools — leading many organisations to
favour it.

• onduct surveys and polls
C
— there’s no need to use separate survey
software if you need to consult with
colleagues or groups of stakeholders.
And by soliciting their opinions in a
collaborative workspace, you can provide
context for feedback not achievable via
specialist survey software. Surveys and
polls are also good ways to pre-consult
with key stakeholders when designing
content for full-scale public consultations
before publication via your online
consultation system.


• reate intranets and extranets — with
C • eeting and committee management
M
shared files, calendars, bulletin boards — many organisations find that specialist
and complementary functionality, you meeting management software has
can integrate intranets and extranets a major flaw: it doesn’t help you
within collaboration workspaces, manage the work that takes place
meaning you don’t need to run separate between meetings. That’s where online
software. More importantly, using online collaboration software comes into its own,
collaboration software ensures intranets leading many organisations to prefer it to
and extranets are available to out-of- the functionality offered by formal meeting
office users, and because users are and committee management packages.
informed when documents are changed
or added, it significantly increases levels You can also make further savings by
of engagement. choosing online collaboration software that
offers pay-as-you-go pricing, rather than
• ile sharing — you can share files
F lengthy contracts. That way you can create
securely with only the people you a flexible contract that caters only for the
choose, and can even create users who need the software, at the times
workspaces for departmental or team they need it.
file sharing that make basic file sharing
software redundant.


5) Partnership working
and joined-up government
It’s relatively simple for senior public sector • taff working in different locations
S
managers to embark on joined-up initiatives
— the problems come when staff from • ime and travel costs for regular
T
different organisations or departments have face-to-face meetings
to implement them.
• cheduling problems — the more
S
Traditionally, these have been just some of organisations and people involved, the
the obstacles to effective joined-up working. harder it is for project teams to meet or
work together in person

• ifficulties in tracking project progress
D
— especially when there are no
“As a result of the NHS
common project management
reforms, we needed to find a
techniques or resources
quick and cost effective way
to securely share information.
• haring and consolidating information
S
Unfortunately, there was no
— using email results in confusing
existing single IT infrastructure
multiple drafts and copies of files, while
that would allow us to do this.
organisations firewalls can prevent files
Realising that we only needed
from reaching team members in the
to support a few hundred key
first place.
personnel at first, we decided
to opt for a flexible pay-as-you-
go cloud-based collaboration
service that would enable us to
scale up, avoiding the typical
upfront capital expenditure
normally associated with IT
procurement projects.”
Andrew Fenton


You can solve these problems simply by “As a result of the NHS reforms,
using online collaboration. Individuals weHealth to find a quick and
needed Connect and
can log on from any location at any time,
cost effective way working
partnership to securely
allowing teams to work together in the
same online workspace. Inter-organisation share information. Unfortunately,
Health Connect is an online
working becomes simpler because of the there was no existing single support
collaboration portal created to
IT
software’s project management tools, infrastructure that would allow us
the development of Central Southern
calendars, shared files and other features. to CSSthis. Realising that weServices).
do (Commissioning Support only
And because all files are kept in the same needed to support a few hundred
secure space and users are immediately NHS reforms behind the Central
key personnel at first,necessary to find
Southern CSS made it we decided
notified of updates, there’s no need for
multiple versions of the same file. to a quick andflexible pay-as-you-go
opt for a cost-effective way for NHS
cloud-based collaborationOxfordshire,
groups in Buckinghamshire, service
Berkshire, Gloucestershire and Swindon
that would enable us to scale
to share information, manage projects
up, avoiding the typical upfront
and collaborate on documents —
capitalthe option of opening up some
with
expenditure normally
associated with IT the public at a
workspace areas with
procurement projects.”
future stage.
Andrew branded online collaboration
The Fenton
system that powers Health Connect
allows project managers and  team
leaders to co-ordinate group
communications and manage the
co-authoring of large documents
ensuring everyone is involved no matter
where they are located. Information is
stored securely within each workspace
and only permitted individuals are able
to access or modify it.


6) Designing effective
public consultations
Consultation is at the heart of public sector Ironically, public consultation software is
working, but it can be time consuming and particularly unsuited for this process. That’s
expensive to implement — particularly if because you not only need to ask your
you need to create effective, large-scale stakeholders and colleagues questions, but
public consultations. With projects of this you also need to gather ideas, reference
size, you simply can’t afford to ask the materials, document drafts, stakeholder lists
wrong questions. and their feedback in one place — where all
relevant people can access it.
The key to getting it right is by conducting
pre-consultations on a smaller scale, Online collaboration software is perfect
managed in a more collaborative way. By for this purpose. By creating a dedicated
consulting with colleagues, special interest workspace and inviting people to
groups, key stakeholders and others, you collaborate, you can not only trial
can shape the larger-scale consultation consultation questions but you can ask
much more effectively. users to share their ideas for improving,
changing or amending them.


As a way of making sure you create a public
consultation that asks the right questions,
Online consultation: it’s fast, efficient and highly cost effective —
The Health and and perfect for avoiding expensive mistakes
on a larger scale.
Safety Executive
The Health and Safety However, do be aware that not all online
Executive provides online collaboration software is suitable for this
collaboration and consultation kind of pre-consultation work — so be sure
for tens of thousands of to look for the following features:
stakeholders and has
• calable software — that allows you to
S
launched the online ‘Pledge
invite users as and when you need them.
Forum’ for business leaders
and others to discuss health • he right tools — decide whether you
T
and safety issues. need questionnaires, polls, documents
that allow multi-author collaboration,
See it in action: the option to comment on files and
documents section-by-section and
powerful reporting capabilities that
will allow you to analyse and chart
user feedback.

It’s also worth remembering that
you will engage with different stakeholders
in different ways. For example, you may
want to invite detailed feedback from
colleagues and special interest groups,
but only want to trial your consultation
questions with others. Choose software
that has the flexible access privileges and
tools to cater to all audiences and levels
of engagement.


7) Improving stakeholder
engagement
Most public sector organisations need Online collaboration makes it much
to improve the way they engage with easier to engage with stakeholders
stakeholders. for any reason you choose. By inviting
groups of stakeholders into a dedicated
Usually you are faced with two significant workspace you can invite feedback, gather
problems. First, you often have such a contributions and even work together
large variety of stakeholders that it can be towards a common goal.
impossible to engage with them all in any
meaningful way. Think of a local council The result is better motivated and highly
— stakeholders can include community engaged stakeholders — who develop
groups, churches, businesses, charities, stronger links and relationships with
service users, parish councils, schools, your organisation.
colleges, local press, co-operatives and
many hundreds of others.

Secondly, it can be difficult to draw on
the expertise of significant numbers of
stakeholders — whether you want them to Stakeholder engagement
help formulate policy, contribute to projects
or provide feedback on your work.
in the public sector
Land Registry has engaged 50
taskforce members and reached
out to 200,000 stakeholders to
collaborate on the introduction of
a new e-conveyancing system
for the UK.
Department for Communities
Local Government created a
collaborative national database
on unlawful advertising and fly
posting via The Planning Portal.


8) Public sector innovation

It’s all very well for political leaders to insist That was just the beginning. Once the
that the public sector becomes more three organisation began working closely
innovative — but it’s easier said than done. together, collaboration sparked many
different innovations.
However, that’s one of the great strengths
of incorporating collaboration into the way They included:
you work. It sparks ideas and leads to
innovation. 1) reating an online community for
C
learning mentors to share issues,
Do you remember Herefordshire Council resources and updates
using online collaboration to develop shared
services with Herefordshire PCT and Wye 2) planned community for
A
Valley NHS Trust? approximately 130 higher-level
teaching assistants

3) n upcoming community for deputy
A
head teachers
“Herefordshire Council and
NHS Herefordshire are running 4) virtual team supporting Community
A
more and more shared services Led Planning, involving the voluntary
and have an increasing need sector, parish councils and 134
to work together. Online community groups
collaboration has proven to be
easy to use, well liked and adds 5) orkspaces for the ‘Pedal Power’
W
no support burden on central consortium of 12 Europe-wide
ICT. I suspect that once we start partners, bidding for European Energy
advertising its availability more Efficiency Directorate funding.
widely across the county, usage
will go through the roof…” For more ideas on using online collaboration
to innovate, look out for our next guide
Dr Ashley Tucker, Web content Team
Leader, Herefordshire Council on public sector innovation. Or give us a
call! We’d be delighted to share the many
examples of innovation we’ve seen across
the sector during the last decade.


Find out more

The advice in this guide is based on the
real-world innovation of modern public
sector organisations.

It is brought to you by Kahootz, the UK
online collaboration software experts who
have been working closely with public
sector organisations since 2002.

Our clients include Government
departments, local authorities, the police,
health trusts and commissioning bodies —
it’s our mission to help many more public
sector organisations transform the way they
work, and to continue refining our software
in the light of the challenges they face.

Find out more about our work.
Visit kahootz.com today.


1 Weston Court, Newbury Road, Weston, Berkshire RG20 8JE
t. +44 (0)1488 648 478 e. info@kahootz.com
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A PUBLIC SECTOR GUIDE If it’s collaborative, it’s in Kahootz
22

Public sector guide doing more with less

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