Devonport City Council has been recognised for improving operational efficiencies and service delivery through its digital transformation program, winning a major award at the Tasmanian Local Government Professionals Awards in June.
Deputy General Manager, Jeffrey Griffith, who initiated the organisational transformation in 2018, accepted the Innovative Management Initiative Award saying few councils had progressed such large-scale organisational change and realised the benefits that Devonport City Council and the community had experienced.
“This award recognises Council and particularly all our employees, right across the workforce, both office and field based, for embracing change while continually focusing on how we can work smarter to deliver improved outcomes to the community.
Griffith said at the onset of the pandemic, Council was in the enviable position of being able to maintain employee productivity and continue to deliver services to the community with very little disruption
He said Council’s strategy was simple: ‘cloud first, mobile first and simplify’.
Council has undertaken more than 40 discrete projects throughout the entire digital transformation journey to date, including cloud records migration, complete Microsoft 365 implementation, TechnologyOne cloud transition, asset management system implementation, Business Intelligence, 300+ robotic process automations, cloud parking infringement technology, Smartphone enabled carpark entry and exit technology, online service booking systems for planning, plumbing, environmental health, cloud-hosted telephony and much more.
“Devonport City Council believes that a digital business is not a choice, but a necessity to ensure that local government remains relevant and capable of high-quality service delivery while maintaining or reducing operational costs.
“Digital transformation is now embedded into Council as a way of operating and therefore it is not a project that has a conclusion, but a culture of innovation that will continually push for new and better ways to operate.”
Devonport Mayor Annette Rockliff, said “The change has been phenomenal, and the impact has been far reaching resulting in a modern, efficient and digitally enabled operation, which brings benefits to our community.
“It’s an exciting time to call Devonport home and Council is committed to making our city a great place to work, live and invest.”
