Devonport City Council has been recognised for its ongoing focus on improving operational efficiencies and service delivery through its digital transformation program, winning a major award at yesterday’s Tasmanian Local Government Professionals Awards.
Deputy General Manager Jeffrey Griffith, who initiated the organisational transformation in 2018, accepted the Innovative Management Initiative Award saying few councils have progressed such large-scale organisational change and realised the benefits that Devonport City Council and the community have experienced.
Mr Griffith said Council has focused on innovation and continuous improvement to streamline processes and enable them with effective technology.
“This award recognises Council and particularly all our employees, right across the workforce, both office and field based for embracing change while continually focusing on how we can work smarter to deliver improved outcomes to the community,” Mr Griffith said.
“Organisations will continue to face disruption through new technologies and Council believed it was important to own and drive the disruption rather than to be forced into responding to the disruption.
“Devonport was well positioned to respond to the disruption of a pandemic and the need for remote work very effectively. This placed Council in the enviable position of maintaining employee productivity and delivering services to the community with very little disruption.”
Mr Griffith said Council’s strategy is simple; “cloud first, mobile first and simplify”.
He said Council has undertaken more than 40 discrete projects throughout the entire digital transformation journey to date, including cloud records migration, complete Microsoft 365 implementation, TechnologyOne cloud transition, asset management system implementation, Business Intelligence, 300+ robotic process automations, cloud parking infringement technology, Smartphone enabled carpark entry and exit technology, seven new Council websites, 90+ electronic forms for the community, 40+ internal electronic forms for employees, online service booking systems for planning, plumbing, environmental health, cloud-hosted telephony and much more.
“Devonport City Council believes that a digital business is not a choice, but a necessity to ensure that Local Government remains relevant and capable of high-quality service delivery while maintaining or reducing operational costs,” Mr Griffith said.
“Digital transformation is now embedded into Council as a way of operating and therefore it is not a project that has a conclusion, but a culture of innovation that will continually push for new and better ways to operate.”
Devonport Mayor Annette Rockliff congratulated Jeff and all Council staff involved in embracing the change, which has also seen Councillors taking part in the digital transformation journey and actively engaging in communication over Microsoft Teams and collaborating in SharePoint.
Cr Rockliff said Councillors also appreciate the video updates and budget workshops recorded in Teams and that Council meetings are now live streamed over YouTube.
“The change has been phenomenal, and the impact has been far reaching resulting in a modern, efficient and digitally enabled operation, which brings benefits to our community” Cr Rockliff said.
“The whole-of-Council digital transformation has transformed organisational processes and systems and has influenced a positive impact on organisational culture.
“It’s an exciting time to call Devonport home and Council is committed to making our city a great place to work, live and invest.”
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