Fife Council has revealed that it is on target to realise efficiencies of £20m, after implementing a mobile working solution from TotalMobile.
Scotland’s third-largest local authority is three years into a five year programme intended to increase efficiency and improve service delivery. TotalMobile was purchased at an enterprise level and is being implemented on a department by department basis, which Fife Council decided would yield the best return.
It is currently deployed by the Building Services department within Fife Council, with a staged roll-out across the rest of the council to follow, including Housing and Neighbourhood and Streets, Parks and Open Spaces.
Linda Robertson, programme manager for mobile and flexible working at Fife Council, believes that implementing TotalMobile has led to the development of an entirely new working culture within Fife.
She said: "We are facing an enormous financial challenge and mobile flexible working is one of the key enablers in keeping us on target, but this has also entailed changing the way we all work.
"We have to give staff the tools to do their job in a new way, enabling them to work flexibly and remotely but at the same time delivering an improved service to the people of Fife. User adoption was key to all of this and our Building Services staff were fantastic advocates and early adopters of TotalMobile, demonstrating to the rest of the organisation the clear benefits it could bring."
After a procurement process that involved Vodafone, roll-out began in 2011 with the Building Services department. This realised an immediate return in efficiency, with an average of 22% increased productivity from each employee in scope, and a consequent increase in the number of jobs carried out each day. Back office information is automatically updated via an employee’s device, meaning there is also a huge saving on paperwork and administration.
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The TotalMobile implementation coincided with a restructuring at Fife Council, with some departments being realigned and others combined together. This meant the need was for a council-wide solution that could be scaled-up according to need and could sit above legacy applications. The early part of the implementation also involved a lot of infrastructure work to ensure the rest of the council could follow Building Services when required.
Jill Pritchard, business change manager, Fife Council, said: "We’ve been undergoing a massive programme of change within Fife, which included improved services and new channels of communication for citizens and work transformation and better work/life balance for Fife Council staff.
"TotalMobile has helped drive all of this change and knit it together, providing an easy-to-use mobile working solution that has transformed the way Fife Council operates. We are deploying TotalMobile in departments where it can make the most difference and deliver the biggest benefits and the improvements in service delivery have been a particular highlight."
TotalMobile is a software company that works with more than 50 local councils across England, Wales and Scotland, delivering its TotalMobile App Platform which allows council employees to mobile work more effectively and deliver better services. TotalMobile App Platform has one simple-to-use interface that simplifies the ways in which mobile workers can access and use information and means they can work on any device – a smartphone, tablet or laptop – and any operating system.
Colin Reid, chief executive, TotalMobile, said: "Local councils across the UK have been under huge financial pressure these past few years, but in deploying mobile working solutions they are able to not only alleviate those pressures but deliver better services at the same time.
"TotalMobile is helping facilitate great change within local government and progressive councils such as Fife are leading the way with new delivery and service methods."
