Glasgow’s latest digital strategy to focus on service delivery

Glasgow City Council has approved a new edition of its digital strategy for the next six years.

The Digital Glasgow Strategy considers the impact of digitalisation on the Scottish city’s economic and social life, how it affects the delivery of council services, and how best to reach those who find it difficult to use or access digital technology and services.

Speaking to Cities Today last year, the city’s Chief Digital Officer, Colin Birchenall, said: “The aim of this strategy is to think more about how to create a sustainable model to continuously drive digital transformation.”

The previous approach consisted of actions that represented specific planned and proposed digital transformation programmes such as the Connected Learning programme. It provided a comprehensive and cohesive narrative of the extent of planned digitalisation in the city, and within the council, over the 2018-23 period.

“In the last strategy we talked about what we were going to deliver and it’s always looked like a bit of a shopping list of projects,” he said. “We’ve delivered most of that, which is great, and that has had a massive impact.”

The new strategy for 2024-30 adopts a different plan of action, and while it does list the planned digital transformation programmes in coming years as “key priorities”, the focus is on the outcomes that digital is expected to underpin and sets out actions that can better equip and enable the council (and Glasgow).

Key “missions” in the new document include:

• Mission 1 – A Fair and Empowered Digital Society: to improve digital inclusion and equality; build confidence and quality; and increase involvement and participation.
• Mission 2 – An Inclusive Digital Economy: to enhance digital inclusion and equality; develop the pipeline of digital skills; and improve opportunities for Glasgow’s tech ecosystem.
• Mission 3 – Sustainable and Innovative Digital Public Services: to increase the efficiency, resilience, and agility of city operations; improve the customer experience; and increase involvement and participation.

“If you want to make those changes, it requires a complete shift in mindset within council, and how you engage with the public as well,” added Birchenall. “It’s not like traditional programmes where you’re just making processes more efficient; this is about re-imagining how you deliver services. That’s where you start, rather than with technology.”

Image: Viorel Dudau | Dreamstime.com