Introduction

IEG4’s Low Code eForms Designer (eDesigner) with Local Government as a Platform (LGaaP) enables business-users to build and deploy intelligent online forms rapidly, add custom-built rules and integration to existing systems, and connect online forms to payment systems without code (No Code). Access to a library of 250+ forms and membership of the eDesigner forms community (LGaaP) comes with the product and created forms can be shared between authorities.

Not only do all councils do the same things, more or less, but it is also true that all departments in all councils do those same things. In any one council, there may be dozens of departments, and there are hundreds of local authorities. And they may be all doing things slightly differently, all with their own systems and software – an approach which might, if we were being kind, be described as, at the very least, inefficient.

Back in 2015, the director of the London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI) Eddie Copeland, then working for the Policy Exchange, imagined a scenario where local authorities would no longer design and/or buy their own online services – because those software services were essentially doing the same ‘things’ (see above) as in every other local authority. Instead, software services would be available in an ‘app store’, having been created by different organisations, and would be used by ‘dozens or even hundreds’, of local authorities. This would, because of economies of scale, be more efficient (i.e. cost-effective, saving councils money). The ‘store’ Copeland described is available now from IEG4 as a part of subscription to the eDesigner service (LGaaP).

Our approach is that, whilst councils do like to do things their own way, which means there is, inevitably, some reinvention of the wheel going on – it is also true that more and more councils are happy to share. And through IEG4u, IEG4’s citizen portal, they are able to make forms they’ve built for ‘things’ (see above) available for other councils to see, and share.

This means that, from day one, users have access to a library of in excess of 250 forms. So, this really is a ‘Council in a box’ and represents an opportunity for local authorities to make a step change forward with their digital strategies, wherever they are in the journey. This may be to get started on a coherent digital strategy, or to pull a number of disparate departmental approaches together.

Because not only do councils get access to the forms, but also the forms share the same coherence, the same look and feel – making it easier for citizens accessing the council to recognise and navigate through a form. And if citizens find it easier to use online services, then channel shift, digital transformation, really does happen.