Digital Strategy
Foreword
We live in a Digital Age, in which a large percentage of the population interacts digitally with their banks, shop online and are familiar with self-service online, at a time when it's convenient to them.
We can already see that Digital solutions are empowering our staff and enabling our organisation to deliver positive outcomes for citizens of Highland, and our people. New Ways of Working have been adopted and continue to evolve with Services actively utilising digital platforms to collaborate daily.
To build on the successes achieved to date, digital needs to become an integral part of our approach to organisational development with strong leadership, sufficient funding, and resources.
Digital as an enabler
Serving the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities is of paramount importance, we appreciate the advantages, benefits, and specific requirements for face-to-face interaction, we also recognise the role of digital in achieving better outcomes for our citizens and our people through improving the effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of services.
Digital has an ever-increasing role to play in the delivery of Council operations; we encourage our people to develop their digital skills and understand that digital needs to be an integral part of how we approach the delivery of services.
As a leader I believe it is important to act as a role model for digital transformation and I am keen to develop my own digital skills.
Digital Inclusion
Covid has further highlighted digital exclusion that can result from different levels of access to digital devices, skills, and connectivity, both within our communities and the Council.
This Digital strategy will focus on reducing this divide and through the provision of the right solutions, will release resources for those circumstances where digital delivery does not meet the need.
The Highland Council recognises the importance of understanding the needs of its people and communities.
It is essential that they are involved in the design of products and services, a user-focused approach will be central to service design and improvement.
We recognise the key factors in achieving this: a dedicated team to support digital development throughout the Council, looking outwards and learning from others and the responsibility for digital being broadly adopted across the organisation.
The transformation of services will happen over time through incremental development, the Council must not be afraid to be innovative and try new things, accepting that not all will succeed, building a culture that is creative and encourage some qualified risk taking to deliver better outcomes.
A Collaborative Approach
The Digital Strategy does not stand alone, it is aligned with our ICT Strategy and approach to utilising data to drive insight and improvement.
These in turn are aligned with our corporate priorities and are adaptable as these priorities change over time.
In developing the Digital Strategy, we have worked closely with the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government, looked to identify best practice and sought the views of our staff, all of which has provided valuable insight in helping us to shape our approach and plans to implement our strategy.
I look forward to seeing us continue to develop as an organisation that thrives in the Digital Age, working smarter and making the Highland's a better place to live, work and grow.
Kate Lackie
Depute Chief Executive and Executive Chief Officer for Digital Transformation