Freedom to Focus | Chapter 1: Challenges on the horizon for public sector organizations

How to do more with less - that’s the name of the game for public sector leaders this year. According to reports, local authorities face a funding gap of around £7.3bn to £9bn by 2025-26. With increasingly tight budgets, public sector leaders remain under pressure to deliver quality services to their local communities.

We see more and more councils turning to technology to transform service delivery. Central government programs such as Future Councils are designed to address barriers to change by bringing together digital services and cybersecurity reform to multiple areas within a local authority. Indeed, according to our latest research, 53% of IT leaders believe that more use of smart technologies is key in progressive risk management. 

However, powering digital transformation to address challenges across public sector agencies and departments is no simple feat. While technological change presents opportunities to connect administrations and their communities, it also presents barriers concerning accessibility, security, and legislative requirements, including: 

• Restricted resources
• Digital inclusion
• Interoperability of technology across siloed teams
• Data protection and legislative compliance

So, technology is the solution to improved service delivery but the roadmap remains unclear. Our report, Freedom to Focus: Tackling public sector digital transformation investigates how public sector bodies can achieve effective digital transformation in light of these challenges.

From interoperability to digital inclusion, we tackle the big issues facing public sector organisations in our latest report.

Read chapter 2: Digital inclusion and accessibility

Or download the latest research and articles from expert contributors.