Ask any council leadership team what keeps them up at night and one of the things you will hear often is being on the receiving end of a high-profile data security breach.
They are right to be concerned. UK councils were hit by 10,000 cyber attacks every day in 2022 – a 14% rise from the previous year. According to the latest figures from the Information Commissioner's Office, cyber attacks on local authorities increased 24% between 2022 and 2023, with personal data breaches rising 58% in the same period.
Against this concerning backdrop, research carried out by a national newspaper found almost two-thirds (59%) of senior leaders at UK councils admit their approach to cyber security is outdated and they cannot afford the cost of a security breach.
If you ask many councils whether they would prefer to invest in frontline IT experts or frontline community support, again the answer is clear. But the reality – as we have seen time and again – is that the cost of an incident can be catastrophic, not to mention the lasting financial impact on a local community.
The investment local government is making in digital transformation programmes are rightly focused on enhancing and improving the experience for council staff and the broader community. However, these transformations are also providing game-changing opportunities in relation to cyber and security management.
Legacy software is a key target for cyber criminals. There are many instances when attacks on these systems resulted in sensitive personal data of residents being exposed and critical council operations being disrupted – in some cases with services not returning to normal for months or years.
For councils, any disruption to services or loss of confidence in their capability can have a critical impact on their ability to serve residents, businesses and visitors.
It was with North Tyneside's 210,000 residents and six million yearly visitors in mind that the council took the decision to further secure community services with a future-proofed cloud-based solution in partnership with global software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, TechnologyOne.
The new SaaS Plus-enabled solution will replace the council's legacy on-premise financial productwhich covers supply chain, corporate performance and contract management.
Moving to SaaS provides the foundation for continuous and automatic security enhancements, meaning the council is protected against new threats as they emerge.
The implementation will significantly reduce risk for the council, while also enabling it to redirect staff away from troubleshooting IT issues and towards delivering on the priorities of its residents. This will not only improve service levels for council customers, but also deliver financial efficiencies.
While the new solution is predominantly an internally- facing system, it forms part of North Tyneside Council's ambition to digitise its services and drive benefits for residents as it maximises the value of its resources.
It will also enable the council to drive forward a key element of its digital and financial strategy which looks at what approach and process works best for customers, rather than what is easiest for the teams processing the data.
This is the beginning of an important partnership for North Tyneside Council, one that will ensure it is in the best position to proactively respond to emerging challenges, whether ever more sophisticated cyber threats or the continuing need to enhance the services residents depend on with limited resources.
Jon Ritchie is North Tyneside Council's director of resources and Ben Malpass is TechnologyOne's public sector expert
