Budget concerns and Central Government focus on Brexit threaten to derail public sector digitisation in Scotland

18 July – The Central Government focus on Brexit has already slowed down public sector digitisation in Scotland, according to new research out today, with 58% of Scottish public sector workers believing that to be the case.

The whole process of digitisation is already facing challenges, according to further findings in the study conducted by online board portal provider eShare with delegates at the recent Holyrood Connect Conference in Edinburgh. Only half of the Scottish public sector workers survey are confident they have the infrastructure in place to see their organisation through digital transformation, while just 46% feel their organisation has sufficient budget to deliver digital transformation.

“The pressure on Scottish public sector managers and departments to digitise public services and back-end processes has already been immense, but it would appear that Central Government focus elsewhere is hampering confidence that digitisation can happen,” said Mark Wilson, Head of Scotland and Ireland, eShare. “When you factor in existing concerns about the budget and infrastructure required for digitisation then it shows the scale of the challenge facing the public sector in Scotland to bring digitisation to fruition.”

The research did show that digitisation was having a positive impact in driving efficiencies in the public sector in Scotland. Around two-thirds of respondents said that digitisation was delivering substantial efficiencies in their organisation, further highlighting the importance of keeping digitisation on track.

However, with public sector departments in Scotland - and indeed across the rest of the UK – facing a number of difficult decisions to make about the best way to continue making progress with digitisation, 42% of Scottish public sector workers felt there is insufficient transparency into their board-level decision-making.

“Showing why a decision was made and who contributed to the making of that decision is more important than ever, and demonstrating such board level transparency must go hand-in-hand with delivering digitisation,” continued Mark Wilson. “Technology can play a key role in this, and just as the public sector drives efficiencies in delivering services so it can in deploying the right digital solutions to improve back-end processes across the organisation.”

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About the research

A survey of Scottish public sector workers was undertaken on 27 June 2018, at the Holyrood Connect Conference in Edinburgh.

For further information visit www.eshare.net

PR Contact:
Paul Allen – Rise PR
07515 199 487 / paul@risepr.co.uk