Mark Gannon, Director of Client Solutions, and John Clarke, Head of Healthcare Solutions at Netcall, discuss legacy tech issues in the public sector and the practical steps organisations can take to improve digital services
The recently published State of Digital Government Review revealed some stark yet unsurprising truths about the hurdles facing public sector technology today. The report highlights several issues that are all too familiar, including the fragmentation of current technology, the underuse of data, and the continued reliance on legacy systems. The reality is that critical public services, including those provided by local government and the NHS, are still dependent on decades-old technology and outdated infrastructure. This doesn’t just pose technical challenges for organisations trying to transform and adopt advanced technologies such as AI but also introduces serious risks to security, effectiveness, and efficiency.
A similar sentiment has been shared within healthcare specifically, with the Government’s ten-year health plan focused on moving from analogue to digital as part of its three-pillar approach. This followed Lord Darzi’s independent review of the NHS, which highlighted underuse and lack of investment in new technologies as missed opportunities for getting the NHS back on track.
With public services facing more demand than ever and economic factors increasingly forcing these organisations to do more with less (both money and staff) – closing the digitisation gap has never been more critical.
The true cost of legacy technology
According to techUK, an alarming 50% of local government IT budgets are still spent on maintaining legacy technology. These outdated systems are often not integrated effectively with newer technologies and processes and often come with no or very expensive APIs, meaning that critical data can be trapped in silos. As a result, public sector organisations cannot fully harness the power of data to improve their services for patients or citizens.
Furthermore, legacy systems are often not up to the security standards required in today’s digital age, leaving public sector organisations vulnerable to cyber threats and data loss. Together with the maintenance costs, these systems are becoming increasingly unsustainable. Unfortunately, many public sector organisations find themselves locked into agreements with legacy vendors, making it difficult to modernise their infrastructure and digitise services as desired.
However, solutions are available for organisations looking to break free from the stranglehold of legacy tech. Newcastle City Council, for example, has taken a proactive approach to tackling this issue by embracing a platform-based low-code solution to rationalise its application estate. By using this flexible technology to integrate and bridge existing systems and workflows, the council has revolutionised its digital services and customer satisfaction while saving substantially on license fees. These savings can be reinvested into improving digital services, creating a continuous improvement cycle.
The beauty of low-code solutions is that they can work without disrupting existing IT infrastructures. Rather than completely replacing, they can work alongside core solutions to provide agility and scalability as the organisation’s needs evolve. Within healthcare, The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust took a similar approach as it reassessed its broader digital, data and technology strategy. Recognising the importance of automation, the Trust adopted a health-specific low-code platform, which enabled it to move quickly to implement solutions that would streamline administrative tasks, increase efficiency and empower patients to book and manage their appointments digitally.
Since implementation, the Trust has achieved an instant reduction of outpatient waiting lists of 8.3%, call wait times cut by 70%, and booking centre productivity boosted by 30-40%.
Inefficiency introduced through fragmentation
Whilst overcoming legacy tech challenges remains crucial, another key issue raised in the State of Digital Government Review is the fragmentation and duplicative nature of public sector approaches to technology. Across different public sector organisations – local authorities or NHS trusts – there is often a tendency to reinvent the wheel regarding digital transformation efforts. Rather than sharing solutions, too many organisations spend valuable time and resources creating bespoke systems that could easily be standardised or adapted from solutions already used elsewhere. Local government and health services are particularly prone to this problem, with many departments developing their own applications for the same tasks. A striking example of this is the number of ways people can apply for a Blue Badge across the country – something that should be a standard process.
This disjointed approach creates unnecessary inefficiency, duplicating efforts and increasing costs. The State of Digital Government Review shows that this fragmentation is pervasive in many parts of the public sector. For example, NHS England alone uses around 50 different Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms, and a 2021 review found 190 different authorisation services and 44 different accounts across government.
Breaking the cycle
Reducing duplication and introducing standardisation are sure ways to boost productivity and efficiency within the public sector and improve services. Fortunately, today, app-sharing communities are available that provide common applications and processes that can be shared and reused across organisations – enabling them to save time and money by not reinventing the wheel.
In the same way, public sector organisations can reuse software components; they can also learn from each other’s experiences. For example, if one council has successfully implemented a solution to streamline a particular service, other councils can adopt it without developing their own. The ability to reuse these solutions and components has the power to significantly reduce duplication, boost efficiency, and speed up digital transformation; and it is considerably less expensive.
Overcoming legacy tech issues in the public sector is a complex but not insurmountable challenge. Public sector organisations can make significant strides toward improving the services they offer by recognising the scale of the problem and taking practical steps towards modernisation – whether through breaking legacy vendor lock-in, reducing duplication, or looking to more flexible platform-based solutions. Whilst the State of Digital Government Review didn’t necessarily shock those operating in the sector, it undoubtedly serves as a crucial reminder of the importance of addressing these issues. With the right approach, there is a clear path to a more efficient, secure, and productive public sector when needed most.
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
