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Celebrate Your Council Clerk: Nominate for NALC Star Council Awards Clerk of the Year

by with No Comment CouncilUncategorised

Celebrate Your Council Clerk: Nominate for NALC Star Council Awards Clerk of the Year 

CloudyIT is thrilled to sponsor the “Clerk of the Year” category at the NALC Star Council Awards for the second year running. Our sponsorship highlights our deep commitment to the local government sector and the pivotal role clerks play in our communities. 

Recognising the Unsung Heroes: Council Clerks 

Council clerks are the unsung heroes of our local governance. They are the backbone of town and parish councils, ensuring the smooth delivery of essential services. Despite their crucial role, the contributions of clerks often go unnoticed. At CloudyIT, we believe it’s time to celebrate these dedicated professionals who work tirelessly behind the scenes. 

Clerks handle a wide range of responsibilities, from administrative duties to complex regulatory compliance. Their work is vital for the efficient operation of councils, making them indispensable to our communities. By sponsoring the “Clerk of the Year” award, we aim to honour their dedication, resilience, and outstanding service. 

Celebrating Excellence: Last Year’s Winner 

Last year, it was a pleasure to present Andrea Mann from Odiham Parish Council in Hampshire with the “Clerk of the Year” award. Andrea’s exceptional dedication and hard work stood out, making her a deserving recipient of this prestigious honour. We are excited to once again celebrate the outstanding achievements of another remarkable clerk at this year’s awards ceremony. 

Our Commitment to Digital Transformation 

CloudyIT supports over 250 councils, including NALC, SLCC, and SAAA, with a wide range of digital services. We aim to enhance digital skills and improve the digital workplace for clerks, from small parishes to large super councils. 

Our GovSuite solution encompasses essential services such as Finance, CRM, and the latest in Council AI technology. Whether providing .gov.uk email domains, cloud storage, or more complex IT services, CloudyIT is dedicated to supporting councils on their digital transformation journey. 

Empowering Councils with Digital Champions 

We have assembled a team of sector digital champions, comprised of councillors and clerks from across the sector. These digital champions support councils with complex or specialist needs and represent CloudyIT at events nationwide, sharing their expertise and advocating for the benefits of digital transformation. 

A Digital Roadmap for Modern Councils 

Using Microsoft 365, we modernise IT systems across councils. Our specialist services support councils on their digital journey through free and discounted training, an eLearning Hub, and our comprehensive GovSuite solutions, which include: 

  • GovFinance: Streamlining financial management. 
  • GovMarketing: Enhancing communications with residents. 
  • GovAssist: Supporting daily operations with efficiency. 
  • Specialist Applications: Managing allotments, inspections, bookings, cemeteries, and more. 

Nominate Your Clerk for Clerk of the Year 

We are honoured to support the sector and recognise the essential role that clerks play. The NALC Star Council Awards provide an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of council clerks who exemplify excellence in local governance. 

Nominate your clerk for the “Clerk of the Year” award and give them the recognition they deserve. Entries close on 6th September. Visit the NALC website to submit your nomination: Clerk of the Year – Sponsored by Cloudy IT. 

Conclusion 

At CloudyIT, we are dedicated to championing the unsung heroes of our communities. By sponsoring the “Clerk of the Year” award, we aim to acknowledge the critical work of council clerks and support their ongoing digital transformation. Together, we are building a future where digital innovation and dedicated service go hand in hand, ensuring that our councils can continue to thrive and serve their communities effectively. We look forward to meeting this year’s finalists and announcing the winner at the upcoming awards ceremony. 

Linda Chandler - Digital Levelling Up

From Smart Cities to Smart Places – Why size doesn’t matter for digital innovation

by with No Comment CouncilDigital innovationModernisation

Thank you to Linda Chandler, Industry Executive for Local Regional Government at Microsoft, for contributing this article.

Here, Linda elaborates on key points she joined us in discussing at the SLCC Practitioner's Conference in February 2022 for our presentation marking the launch of our Digital Levelling Up programme. (SLCC members can watch the session free of charge by requesting the recording here.)

​Read the full article for an insightful view of how the future of work has the potential to help our high streets, and how stakeholder collaboration at a hyperlocal level is crucial for achieving place-based agility.

Three clear shifts are aligning to make digital innovation relevant for places of all sizes: the affordability of smart city technology, the future of work and the cohesion of our communities.

From Smart Cities to Smart Places

When we think about the different pillars of a city – government, transport, education, health, retail etc. these are equally present on a smaller scale and are as recognisable in our district and parish councils as they are at a city or county level. Computing power in the 1980s was only available to a smaller number of organisations that could afford mainframe computers, but the 1990s saw the democratisation of this through ‘personal computers’ (PC) which combined with the global connectivity of the 2000s and the mobility era of 2010, have democratised technology for the average person in the street.
Evolution of Tech
Source: Evolution of Technology and User Interactions, Kuldeep Singh, Medium -https://medium.com/xrpractices/evolution-of-technology-and-user-interactions

More than a decade ago the phrase ‘smart cities’ made its entrance into the lexicon of how we talk about digital and place. At the time this was probably more “technology-push” than “citizen-pull” but as technology has become more reliable, faster and cheaper over the years and as societal acceptance and adoption of technology has grown, we are at an interesting point where technology that was only the preserve of the major global cities – say of London, Singapore or Barcelona – is now within reach of our towns and communities.

Smart place themes
Source: Smart places: from smart cities to smart towns and communities - https://www.farrpoint.com/smart-places

The Future of Work and the High Street

Another trend which has been growing for over a decade is that of flexible working. Microsoft technology has been at the forefront of enabling the future of work and as an organisation we have been involved in shaping it for some time. From being active in a government-backed initiative called the ‘Anywhere Working Consortium’ that was launched in 2011 to our more recent Work Trend Index and New Future of Work research.

Fast forward a decade and for those that could, the pandemic really forced some of us into the world’s largest working from home experiment. However, working from home and working in the office are extremes on a spectrum of places to work, but real life is rarely so binary.

While many find working from home flexible and productive, some find it isolating and do not have the facilities at home to accommodate a working environment.

Example of broadcasted council meeting
Hybrid working: 6 Dec 2021 Woughton Community Council broadcasted council meeting

I’m sure you could walk down a high street near you and find many workers with their laptops perched on tables in coffee shops, escaping the confines of home.

What if your high street had a co-working space which was more conducive to supporting a work environment near to home?

What would that do for both the daytime economy and for supporting community connections?

Cohesive Communities and the Eco-system of Place

Digital technology is no longer confined to organisations, but is present in almost every aspects of our lives, places and society. 

We also recognise that the power of place is not just about local government.

Coffee shop working

It’s about the community of local organisations – an ‘eco-system of place’ – public services such as health, care, education etc., local businesses, social enterprises, the voluntary sector, residents.

Hyperlocal networks came into their own during the pandemic – they proved that they were close to understanding local issues, could act with agility and be innovative around how they create impact.

It’s my hope that the democratisation of smart technology, coupled with taking control over the future of local working can create the engagement, stakeholder connections and place-based agility that our towns and communities need.

Let’s face it – we all stand to gain from this approach – it’s not so much about smart technology, but developing smart sustainable economic futures in the places we live.