By Microsoft

07 Dec 2016

Microsoft looks at how intelligent business applications can help the public sector improve service delivery


One of the challenges facing public sector organisations today is the need to balance serving citizens en masse as a community or population, while catering to the needs of the individual. Organisations must ensure that all of their services are scalable and delivered in a timely, cost-effective and appropriate manner to thousands and thousands of citizens at a time, without ignoring the fact that each of the individuals will have their own subtly different requirements and expectations from the services provided.

Unless a citizen is particularly vulnerable, they often won’t interact with a public sector body until a fundamental checkpoint – therefore it’s important to strike a balance in interaction with the citizen so that they are informed and aware, without interrupting their daily lives too significantly. at the same time, changing demographics are impacting the expectations of citizens – today’s population demands greater multi-channel, multi-lingual interactions.

To deliver such services, public sector workers perform a variety of functions as they engage with and serve the public. In order to provide the best value and quality of service for their local or national communities, however, they need a system that supports them whether it be greater access to tools for a social or care worker making home visits or local police using social media to inform the public about sudden road closures.

As technology transforms the world around us, new opportunities are changing the way public services are delivered, and the way individuals interact with different public sector organisations. This ‘Digital Transformation’ promises to enable organisations to engage their citizens, empower employees, optimise operations and transform their services in new and powerful ways. At Microsoft, we believe the best way to keep pace with this transformational change is to use transformational technology.

Perhaps the most fundamental area of transformation for public sector organisations is empowering employees – and therefore ensuring the flow and availability of information when and where it is needed, so that they can deliver better quality and more targeted services to their citizens.

With many government employees operating in the field, access to data is a key component of empowering them to better serve the public while moving between locations and communicating with other workers, departments or organisations. Ensuring that they have appropriate devices addresses one side of this challenge, but the availability of suitable platforms and tools to empower overall organisational efficiency, increase team collaboration and productivity, are essential in delivering services more effectively.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the next generation of intelligent business applications that enable organisations to grow, evolve and transform. These applications unify CRM and ERP capabilities by delivering new purpose-built applications that work seamlessly together to help manage specific business functions across Customer Service, Operations, Financials, Field Service, Project Service Automation, Marketing, and Customer/Citizen Insights.

Combining everyday productivity tools found within Office 365, with advanced analytics and BI, IoT, and the strength and security of Azure, public sector organisations can harness the full power of Microsoft through Dynamics 365 to better collaborate with each other and offer an improved service to their citizens. Bring into the equation add-ons like Bots and Citizen Portals integrated with Dynamics 365 and a public sector organisation has the tools to deliver relevant services to the modern citizen.

However, each organisation has its own subtle differences and nuances and getting started with Dynamics 365 can mean significant shifts in processes and ways of working. Therefore, there needs to be a considered approach taken to the new technology is adopted and used – Adoption and Change Management. Being clear on what is possible, what you are looking to achieve, and how individuals within your organisation can be empowered to use these tools are crucial factors in the success of any investment.

To help you get the most out of Dynamics 365, join our webinar run by Microsoft Services, all about Appreciating the Role of Change Management in Dynamics 365. Here we’ll give you insights into how you can ensure employee adoption of the new ways of working and embed continuous improvement into business as usual.
 
Register now for Appreciating the Role of Change Management in Dynamics 365
Click here to download our e-book on Digital Transformation Skills for Government

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