It’s no secret that councils are under increasing pressure amid government cuts and budgetary demands. Having sufficient funding to hire trained professionals and equip departments with the necessary software can be a real struggle.
The LGiU recently published findings from their Local Government Finance Survey 2018 which highlighted that “80% of councils fear for their financial sustainability” and that they face “continued uncertainty about the source and level of funding post-2020” due to political turmoil.
It’s something we hear a lot from our customers – that their departments are short-staffed, and the pressure is on to be more efficient with fewer resources. We understand. And we want to help where we can.
A service to ease pressure and boost resources
We designed the Agile 360 offering in response to common departmental obstacles faced by our Built Environment and Waste customers. The service acts as a support and resource which can be used when councils need it most and ensures our customers can get the most from their Agile software.
Graham Hopkins, Project Manager at Agile Applications, said: “Our customers often find their teams are stretched, overloaded, or simply do not have the experience to run testing of a product upgrade, so we help out and run that testing process for them.”
He added: “Sometimes our customers don’t have the in-house skills to carry out certain tasks such as creating reports, templates or print layouts. In those cases, again we can step in and assign the most appropriate member of our team to those jobs, meaning there is no delay for the customer in getting that new management report generated for their next board meeting”
Agile 360, which was launched in December 2017, combines expertise from our technical support teams, the product consultants, our project managers, and the marketing team to offer a completely holistic solution.
A number of our customers have signed up to the Agile 360 solution and are already feeling the benefits.
Jared Crane, Assistant Director, commented: “Agile 360 has already been well received by a number of our customers who found they just didn’t have the time to carry out certain tasks. The service costs a fraction of what a new hire would, allowing local authorities to increase resources without dramatically impacting their overheads.”
He continued: “We’re really pleased to see that Agile 360 is making a difference to our customers in the real world and we hope to help more local authorities relieve pressures in the face of further council budget cuts.”
Find out more about Agile 360
To find out more about what’s included in our Agile 360 offering, just request a copy of the brochure.
If you’d like to discuss the support requirements of your department further, then just get in touch.