Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is sometimes viewed negatively within local government, often seen as being synonymous with staff reduction, budget cuts and increased work effort and hours. 

However, it's worth remembering that the core message of CSR is one of creating a better and more visible investment in communities while reducing the cost of doing so.  (At the heart of the community are its assets:  good street lighting, wonderful trees, clean paving and beautiful parks.)  In other words, we want more for less.

But all these things don't necessarily happen by themselves.

Here at PBS our Confirm portfolio is demonstrating tangible savings through software rationalisation and business process efficiency. It is also showing visible and interactive progress working with local government's main customer - the public.

We all know that software is merely a tool that helps us to perform a task, orientated around our core function.  It would be nice to think that wherever a core function is repeated within an organisation, the software works in the same manner, and therefore the learning and support curve is the same.  In addition, all business could be protected against failure by a single source, which is always up-to-date and has common reporting mechanisms both to the business and externally to customers. 

However, most of the time this isn't true and the reality consists of a series of vendors with differing service level agreements, multiple costs, varied software, and often redundant failover processes despite the millions of contract data being managed through it.  This increases administration, reduces performance and visibility, and therefore increases costs.

PBS's Confirm Asset Management software and professional services capability can change all of that.  Confirm is already managing multiple asset types across many business areas all over the UK and globally.  It allows credible business transformation and streamlining of process that can save hundreds of thousands of pounds within local government.

PBS provides the Confirm solution as a service (Confirm OnDemand), whereby PBS will fully manage and operate the solution on behalf of customers, reducing the need for IT infrastructure and skills, providing the ability to reduce system costs.

There are over 2,000 field-based workers using our multi-platform smartphone / tablet technology to allow them to perform their roles in the public eye. Confirm (in many authorities) is interfaced with external web pages and reporting options to allow an interactive approach communicating with the public, as well as internally routing to other business systems, reducing administration and providing services enablement and information across the business.

So if cost reduction, process efficiency enablement of data across business areas - which don't even sit within the core Asset Management remit - and the ability to visualise and interact with the public are key objectives, how do you achieve them?

PBS-Local Government solutions should be part of a council's discussions when considering how to achieve more for less.  One our unique capabilities is to provide multi-asset solutions, business process and related efficiency increase across multiple departments and business streams, and using high technology multi-platform mobile and desktop solutions pitched perfectly at the needs relevant user, all with the ability to integrate with best of breed back-office systems. 

We can achieve this – now.

For further information contact Steve Hanks
Business Solutions Manager, Local Government
steve.hanks@pb.com