Socitm 2010 National Conference

Doing things differently and doing different things: sharing experience of radical change.

With major cuts in public sector budgets already a harsh reality, the positive thinkers are urging us not to 'waste a good crisis' but to use this time to push through radical change and innovation. In this spirit, the Socitm National Conference has been designed to bring you a range of experience from organisations pioneering new ways of approaching public service delivery.

Morning keynote sessions will encompass vision, challenge and leading practice. Speakers will focus on painful and fundamental choices that lie ahead and share ideas for dealing with them. In the afternoon there will be four facilitated workshops:

The Council of the Future: is there just one scenario for 'tomorrow's council' or a number of possibilities?  What kinds of organisations - public, private and third sectors - will be commissioning services? How will the local authority tap into the capacity of other organisations, communities, groups and individuals to deliver services? How, and which, technologies can enable real change?

Sleeping with the enemy: the third sector as a delivery agent: More collaborative working between local authorities and the third sector is inevitable, but differences in vision, mindset, governance and resources, and issues like network access, and the security of shared information, are challenging. How can it be made to work?

Clouds on the horizon - challenges for delivery managers: Cloud computing, specifically the G Cloud, features large in the Government ICT Strategy with much talk of its potential to drive down costs and improve services. But implementing the latest technological revolution is rarely that straightforward -  this workshop will take a look at the details.

IT Professionalism identifies the role of the Delivery Manager (often the Head of ICT) as responsible for the delivery of information based services that both meet and shape the changing demands of the business. This session will explore the challenges facing Delivery Managers in meeting these local demands from the cloud.

Better customer experience at lower cost: dealing with customer enquiries incoming through phone, email, personal visit or website is a major cost for local authorities, and yet few councils actively manage their customers to improve their experience and deliver savings. This workshop will look at opportunities to use customer insight to manage enquiries and channels more effectively, to get customers to shift to cheaper channels, and to reduce avoidable contact.

Delegates can choose to attend two of these workshops, and will be encouraged to exchange experiences, opinions, ideas, and solutions with fellow managers from local government and other public services.