As we step into a new municipal year, councils have a unique opportunity to leverage advanced technology to redesign public services, fostering greater trust and confidence among elected members and the public. With advances in technology becoming more human-centric, councils can ensure that their systems are not only efficient but also transparent, fair, and aligned with community values.
Here’s how councils can embrace this transformation.
Understanding the Shift: Human-Centric Technology
The latest trends show a significant shift towards technology that is “human by design.” This means technology is becoming more intuitive and adaptive, closely mirroring human behaviour and intelligence. For councils, this shift provides an opportunity to enhance public services in ways that are more aligned with the needs and expectations of the community.
1. Transparency and Communication
One of the fundamental aspects of building trust is ensuring that technology systems are transparent and their decisions are easily explainable. Councils can implement AI systems that provide clear, understandable reasons for their decisions. This is particularly important in areas such as corporate resources, HR, strategic commissioning, community safety, and adult and children’s social services, where decisions significantly impact individuals’ lives.
2. Fairness and Equity
Ensuring fairness in technology applications is crucial for maintaining public trust. Councils must regularly assess and mitigate biases in their algorithms to ensure equitable treatment of all community members. This is crucial and can be easily overlooked. This is so important when ensuring your technology can effectively target the hard-to-reach communities that the council seeks to engage with and better understand.
3. Enhancing Human Skills and Expertise
Technology should complement and enhance human capabilities, not replace them. By integrating AI and other advanced technologies, councils can empower their workforce to be more productive and innovative. We all know AI is revolutionary but that doesn’t mean it has to be scary. Councils should be thinking now about how they are going to bring staff along the journey to being an AI-led organisation, so that staff embrace it, rather than obstruct its implementation.
4. Building Robust and Secure Systems
Security and resilience are non-negotiable when it comes to public trust and garnering the support of elected members. Councils must ensure that their technology systems are robust against cyber threats and capable of maintaining operations under stress.
5. Data Privacy and Security
With increasing concerns around data privacy, councils must handle residents’ data with the utmost care, ensuring that privacy is protected while still leveraging data for service improvements.
6. Embedding Council Values into Technology
Technology should reflect the values of the councils that implement them. This involves embedding ethical principles and council-specific values into the design and deployment of technology systems. This also gives councils the opportunity to ensure the technology they are using is relevant to the specific needs, concerns and opportunities of their geopolitical location, demographic and partners.
The new municipal year presents an opportunity for councils to embrace technology in ways that enhance public services and build trust with the community. By focusing on transparency, fairness, human augmentation, security, and privacy, councils can redesign their services to be more efficient and aligned with the needs of their constituents.
As technology continues to evolve, councils that proactively integrate these principles into their systems will be better positioned to navigate future challenges and opportunities. By doing so, they can ensure that their technological advancements not only improve service delivery but also strengthen the trust and confidence of the public they serve.
For help and support with how to ensure your data journey brings your officers with you, get in touch.
