By switching to Google Workspace, the Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils implemented a communications solution that helps local authorities beat budget cuts by sharing resources.
Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils are local government authorities in southwest London that assist residents, local businesses, and visitors.
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United Kingdom
By switching to Google Workspace, the Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils implemented a communications solution that helps local authorities beat budget cuts by sharing resources.
Google Workspace Results
Optimising services with technology to beat budget cuts
• Simplifies audits with quick, self-populating surveys in Google Forms
• Improves productivity with meetings schedule using Google Calendar meetings for teams to write together using Google Docs
• Enables resource sharing across distances thanks to more mobile tools
London’s local authorities handle everything from social care, to libraries, to refuse collection for the residents of one of the largest, busiest, and most diverse cities in the world. Since 2010, maintaining excellent service to citizens has been complicated by cuts to local government budgets, which is why
“Like every UK local authority, we have to work with constantly reduced budgets,” explains Mark Lumley, Head of ICT at the Shared ICT Service for Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils. “That means we have far fewer resources and we have to be efficient, so that we can continue to deliver our services. Making constant efficiency gains enables us to keep the lights on, so we have to drive digital efficiency and change across the organisation to make us better able to provide the services people expect.”
“Like every U.K. local authority, we have to work with constantly reduced budgets. That means we have far fewer resources and we have to be efficient, so that we can continue to deliver our services. Making constant efficiency gains enables us to keep the lights on.” Mark Lumley, Head of ICT, Shared ICT Service, Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils
With 4,500 users at more than 104 locations, including social enterprises such as the award-winning
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Choosing the right culture for cloud
For large and geographically-dispersed organisations, switching to a cloud communications solution can be a complicated decision. Beyond the immediate and theoretical gains, there are wider considerations about changing work culture and retraining teams.
That’s why the team at the Shared ICT Service for Kingston and Sutton Councils compared Google Workspace with a leading cloud-based alternative and ran a series of benchmark tests. “At the time that we were doing the review,” says David, “the collaboration features in Google Workspace were so far ahead of the alternative that the decision was almost a no brainer. Google Workspace is still ahead in terms of innovation.”
“Google Workspace has enabled a number of shared service arrangements to take place across the two organisations and then wider. Without Google Workspace, these groups would not be able to provide those services so easily across multiple organisations. Google Workspace has made that collaboration possible.” David Grasty, Service Development Manager, Shared ICT Service, Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils
With the help of the Google Workspace experts at
For shared services such as ICT,
“The collaborative element within Google Workspace products as a whole is fantastic for us,” adds David. “The ease of collaboration in
“When you have multiple people in a document creating content, they work with each other, agree, disagree, follow up with each other, and correct mistakes,” says Mark. “When you’re trying to get content out quickly, that's hugely powerful.”
“Google Workspace has changed the way we work,” adds David. “Now we put meetings in Google Calendar to write documents together using Google Docs. Instead of an offline task, when everyone does their bit in isolation and someone would have to collate the documents, now they all put time aside to write at the same time, so there’s less time asking questions and less confusion. And at the end of it, you get a better document.”
Google Forms—the unsung hero
“Now we put meetings in Google Calendar to write documents together using Google Docs. Instead of an offline task, when everyone did their bit in isolation and someone would have to collate the documents, they all put time aside to write at the same time, so there’s less time asking questions and less confusion.” David Grasty, Service Development Manager, Shared ICT Service, Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils
Across the organisation, teams are developing their own innovations based on Google Workspace. “Rather than requiring IT to come up with solutions, they're coming up with their own,” says Mark. “
“We have a sustainable transport team in Kingston that used to be very heavily paper based when handling cycling training,” says David. “They've now moved that over into Google Forms, which isn’t just faster, it also means they can share the information with those who need it, such as schools. Getting rid of that paper chain is a major change that they've done for themselves, without investing in an external consultancy or needing more from us than our approval. They saw the opportunity and, with Google Workspace, they made it happen.”
Driving change throughout the area
Now Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils are rolling out fast, simple, and cost-effective
“We aim to make our ICT service more proactive than reactive,” says Mark. “The map of our sites is huge and it’s growing. We don't want to be doing mundane things, we want to be adding value and changing business processes within the organisation. Google Workspace is a big part of that fundamental change, and we want to be out there, driving that change in work culture and attitudes across both councils.”
*Google Workspace was formerly known as G Suite prior to Oct. 6, 2020.
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