As well as being an advantage in itself, in the current climate of austerity, it's now a well-rehearsed fact that digital transformation of local public services is a necessity for councils.
Using digital to open up our councils, redesign, and shift our services online offers the chance to make efficiencies, boost democratic engagement, and improve outcomes for our residents.
In some innovative councils these benefits are already being realised. Reading for example are developing an app for NEETs, with the support of the O2 Local Government Futures Fund, which is integrating advice services for young people.
And here in Birmingham, our mobile app, Digital Logbook, and council meeting webcasts have opened up and integrated services for residents, and are leading to significant savings for the city.
However we've still got a long way to go, and I think it's fair to say that in many other councils across the country, digital transformation of public services is considerably slower.
Difficulties securing up front funding and upgrading outdated systems are real barriers for councils. As are concerns about digital inclusion and the compliance requirements of the Public Sector Network.
However the biggest stumbling block is perhaps cultural resistance. This was a finding in a recently published UK authority survey and an issue that has gained attention during NLGN's ‘Shaping the Digital Agenda' inquiry, which is examining these issues in conjunction with O2's Local Government Digital Forum.
Cultural resistance often reflects gaps in basic knowledge and skills amongst councillors and senior officers, as well as staff throughout councils.
But it's also about attitudes to risk. Authentic and engaging use of social media can be quashed by those used to more controlled communication mediums and timeframes. Officers and councillors may also put up barriers for fear of negative consequences, and attachment to longstanding processes can often hamper innovation.
The challenge for councils is what to do about this. Most councils have scarce resources to spend on digital transformation, let alone on the organisational shifts needed to embed it. But it's clear that learning from each other and embracing both top down and bottom up initiatives are important.
Encouraging early adopters of digital in councils to take the lead and pull others up is a useful first step. In Birmingham for example we brought personal pioneers of social media from across the council together to form a working group, which led the way and fanned knowledge out across the organisation.
But without more strategic top-down impetus this organic transfer of skills can reach a ‘silicone ceiling' and our digital heroes can too easily become disillusioned.
Councils need to embed and encourage a digital awareness in everything we do: we need to consider digital competencies in all the roles we recruit and be more encouraging of social media use in both the office and council chamber.
We also need to be open and honest about what channel shift means for staff and what skills we expect of them, and apply the same concern for digital inclusion to our staff as we do to our citizens.
Where risk aversion is hampering innovation, officers and politicians need to be more open about what these risks are, and work collaboratively to support each other in the leaps of faith sometimes required to pursue a digital path.
Cultural and organisational resistance isn't the only barrier to digital transformation, but it has perhaps been an overlooked one. Whilst bringing about cultural engagement is no easy undertaking, learning from each other will enable us to lay out a roadmap to help councils make that change, wherever they are on their digital journey.
Raj Mack is head of Digital Birmingham and a member of the advisory group for NLGN's ‘Shaping the Digital Agenda' project which is supported by O2
