EXCLUSIVE: Total Place – now let's see those savings

Monday, January 25, 2010

Total Place may have identified that there are savings to be made in the public sector but for the theory to become reality savings will have to be locked in for years to come, writes Tony Maile

Total Place has shown, beyond any doubt, that there are cashable savings available in all areas of the public sector: Having looked at everything the public sector does in one area has been a hugely beneficial exercise.

But, as valuable as Total Place is, it cannot be seen as an end in itself – we must all remember that all the pilots will do is show what might be possible. With all the hope and expectation, it is easy to forget that all we have actually done is identify where the savings might be found. If the taxpayer is to see a penny of this, the public sector needs practical measures designed to lock in savings for years to come by focusing on outcomes rather than processes

Public services as a whole need significant investment in high quality decision making to consider issues central to the future of the cuts and efficiency agenda. How do we create the mechanisms for successful collaborative working that will really share resources, information and drive? How do we find existing ideas that have not been spread across an organisation, pick the good from the bad, and present a viable business case for their expansion? How do we lock in commitment to hard, difficult change – without creating a hostile workforce and dissatisfied constituents in the process?

When final submissions are made on 5th February, local authorities and public sector organisations should be thinking how to answer these questions. If the pilot areas, and others around the country, are to succeed in implementing and improving on the sensible solutions Total Place is likely to offer, they will need a better understanding of what outcomes are being delivered cost effectively. That means doing two things: implementing strategy-led resourcing and integrated, wide-ranging performance management against the outcomes citizens expect.

Zero based budgeting turns the entire budgeting process on its head, requiring spend to be justified in detail by each division manager starting from zero and based on the outcomes they need to deliver. The key driver is ensuring senior managers fully understand and review their business needs, and then design services, business processes, training, communications and technology to address them.

The business case for any new performance management programmes will benefit from this approach to budgeting, as any such system must be constructed on the basis of service delivery priorities, which officers and councillors will better understand if zero-based budgeting is adopted.

And managing performance will matter now more than ever, as public bodies will need to make a far stronger case for every penny they spend, both to the Treasury and the public at large.

Although only in its early stages (initial trials took place at the end of November last year, and its public launch is not until January), Birmingham City Council is in the process of implementing a solution that will not only provide high quality management information on service delivery, but also create a constituent experience that is more 'joined up' and efficient than ever before.

'Customer First' is the first of its kind in the UK. Using SAP CRM software, the programme aims to create a single, web-based personal account and point of contact for residents to interact with the Council on all the services it provides. The new system integrates a range of back office systems into one location with real-time updates, and then presents the information to the citizen in an accessible form on the internet.

Once operational, should the people of Birmingham need, say, the window on their council property repairing, they will be able to book and schedule the repair online. Then, if there are any changes, this will all be trackable online via the same system; so if a council tenant has waited longer than they should have for their new window, they can log on and find out what the holdup is about.

The new systems are also used by the council's contact centres and local neighbourhood offices, so any contact by citizens can be recorded giving a "single view of the customer" and their requirements to the council.

According to Glyn Evans, Corporate Director of Business Change at Birmingham City Council, the idea is based around 'taking the complexity away from the citizen'. New software for the constituent isn't going to make repairing the window any less complex, but it will mean that they don't have to navigate the complex relationships between different parts of the council that do different things. This will save money by reducing the number of times residents need to call the council, but, crucially, it will also provide senior management with high-quality information on how well they are delivering the services residents expect.

The idea of Total Place was to look at spend in a given area in order to drive transformation of the public services. Zero-based budgeting and an ongoing programme of managing performance are two ways public authorities can continue the good work that has already been done.

We already know, from both the public and private sectors, that these two things work in allowing organisations to do more for less and improve performance. It must be the time to see them rolled out en masse in the public sector in this country.

Tony Maile is Public Sector Director at HCL AXON