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Stephen's Blog: 23 September 2024

Getting prepared for the big Digital Flood

You'll be aware the council is grappling with increased public expectation and demand on our services and at the same time we are experiencing a decline in real term revenues.

There’s not a single answer to tackle these challenges, but one key enabler is how we use and improve our digital capabilities to deliver outcomes such as:

• streamlined back-office processes
• relieving time pressures on staff
• enhanced service and customer experience
• and delivering financial efficiencies.

One of the ways we have achieved this over recent months is through our use of Copilot in Business Support and Children’s Services where colleagues have been an early adopter of this AI tool and have already reported fantastic time savings and benefits.

Innovation is one of our corporate values, and I see the real potential for Microsoft Copilot to help us streamline, improve and sustain services as well as provide a more personalised service for our residents.

So I'm pleased to announce that a Microsoft case study on the Business Support team is now being shared worldwide, and highlights our work with them to explore how we can all benefit from generative AI and specifically, Copilot for Microsoft 365.

"It’s exciting. I’m enjoying this new way of working" - Bethan Parry, Business Support Administrator

It is a reflection on the team that Microsoft have chosen to promote Torfaen Council on their platforms as a flag bearer for their products use in public services. Click this link to watch the full story.

"The potential of Copilot could be far reaching. We look forward to exploring other use cases within the council." - Katie Rees, Team Leader

As part of our new Digital Flooding work programme, led by our Digital, Data and Technology team, we are exploring how we can use Copilot and other technologies we already possess to re-think and re-design how we deliver services, improve the customer experience and drive further efficiencies right across the council.

We will be sharing more Digital Flooding case studies from across the council over the coming weeks and holding show and tell workshops to raise awareness of how technology can help teams and services. More information will follow on this.

In the meantime, please complete this form if you have suggestions for how we can use digital flooding to improve services and drive efficiency across the borough.

To ensure that you have relevant digital tools and skills needed for the workplace, we would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on digital training. Please click on this link to share your feedback: digital skills survey. The survey will be available until 27 September 2024.

Kind regards

Stephen 

Stephen Vickers
Joint Chief Executive/ Cyd-Brif Weithredwr