At our recent panel discussion ‘Navigating the Digital Frontier to Deliver Maximum Impact’ at LGPN North, Ade Bamigboye, Rehana Ramesh, and Stephen Lugg offered a candid look at what transformation really requires in local government.

Here are the key takeaways…

Getting real about digital priorities

While digital transformation often conjures images of cutting-edge digital tools and emerging technologies, according to our speakers, real transformation starts with people, processes, and purpose – not technology.

For Ade Bamigboye, Chief Technology Officer at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, his top priorities are focused on understanding the details of the services they provide.

‘Process modelling is one of the things we’ve been working on for the last 12 months… every single service, for all of the workflows and all of the work we do within those services and really trying to understand them.’

By reviewing their current services, they’re able to really understand what the stress points are, how they work, and how they’re impacting the organisation.

According to Rehana Ramesh, Director of ICT, Digital and Customer Services at the London Borough of Hackney, her team are focused on improving their residents’ experience.

‘We’re focusing a lot on digital inclusion, not just for the wider borough and our citizens, but also for our workforce, looking at upskilling, reskilling and giving them the right tools and technology so that they can carry out their service delivery models effectively.’

By looking at these journeys in more detail, they can identify where the gaps are and focus on making these journeys seamless.

When talking about his biggest priorities, Stephen Lugg, Chief Information Officer at Swindon Borough Council, reflected on the challenge of balancing ambition and legacy, highlighting the difficulties of modernising while still being constrained by outdated infrastructure.

‘The biggest one right now is trying to square organisational ambition and our desire to become much more of a preventative organisation to our citizens.’

Early intervention and prevention from being quite a reactive organisation and being that reactive organisation means that within the technology and the digital sphere, certain decisions have been made that do not enable us to change quickly… Big monolith legacy systems, embedded ways of working and the dreaded, ‘we’ve always done it that way’ mentality but just really slows everything.’

Internal and external pressures shaping digital direction

Digital technologies play an important role in transformation, but it’s often financial, social, and political pressures that shape decision-making in local government.

There’s a huge pressure on senior leaders to drive change within their organisations but rising costs in statutory services means that there’s very little budget left for innovation. As Ade explained:

‘We’ve got what we’ve got to build better services, but they’re trying to do that without serious investment… So that’s where the pressure’s coming from.’

While Rehana agreed that financial pressure from senior leadership plays a huge role, she also acknowledged that expectations from residents are also on the rise.

‘I think residents don’t want us to give those traditional services. They wanted to be intuitive. They want us to make better decisions on their behalf. They want us to be transparent, and they don’t want to rely on us. It’s a myth when we say residents just want to come to a face-to-face service. They want online offers as well.’

Since the change in administration, and an election scheduled for next May, political leaders are also applying the pressure on local authorities.

As Stephen mentioned, ‘We’ve got our first ever all out elections next May… and they want to be seen to have made a significant impact.’

Smart prioritisation: aligning projects with purpose

With increased pressure, limited resources and the need for innovation, prioritisation is key.

Rehana offered a powerful cautionary tale about her experience with a CRM system:

“I was invited to this board meeting… and they said, ‘Rehana, we need to bring in a CRM.’ So, I was like, ‘Yeah good, we’ll bring in a CRM, no problem. Who is going to use it?’ Pin drop, silence. ‘How are they going to use it?’ Pin drop, silence. ‘What will we get out of it?’ Pin drop, silence.”

Despite the enthusiasm for the system, there was no clear user base, no defined purpose and no plan for outcomes. She elaborated:

‘I think that’s what the whole thing about prioritisation is. You’ve got to really understand is, does it deliver your strategic goals? If it doesn’t park it, no matter how fancy it looks, no matter how great it looks, no matter you know how you feel about it, park it. Leave it. If it meets a strategic goal, do it.’

Join our future discussions

A big thank you to our speakers Ade, Rehana and Stephen for sharing their insights. If you found this conversation valuable, we’d love to see you at our next LGPN event, where we’ll continue exploring the big questions shaping the future of local government. Register your interest to join us at LGPN South on 18-19 ‘November 2025!