Digitalisation of environmental services operations in the public sector is moving slowly, according to the results of new survey.
Of 100 questioned, 94% of environmental services managers in local authorities, government or infrastructure agencies admitted their organisation is yet to fully digitalise operations.
The survey, carried out by asset management software and services provider Yotta, identified that budget restrictions (47%) and outdated systems architecture (50%) are seen as two of the main barriers.
It also found that 72% of those surveyed said they expect the pace of digital transformation to accelerate in the next three to five years. Cloud architectures are expected to have the biggest impact over that timeframe (42%), while mobile technologies were referenced by 35% of respondents.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning were regarded as impactful by 33%, while internet of things technologies were close behind with 25%.
Work to do
Tim Woolven, product consultant at Yotta, said: “While most environmental services teams are well underway on their journey to digital or even nearing completion, there is still work to do.
“Outdated technology systems are seen as one of the main barriers but we would expect that to change over the coming years as mobile systems and cloud architectures become ever more pervasive and advanced technologies like AI, sensors and machine learning continue to mature.”
Just under half (48%) expected improved operational efficiency to be one of the main benefits digital transformation would bring to their organisation’s environmental services in the future, 44% cited better employee morale and 39% highlighted enhanced data quality.
