The impact that digital services have had in our public sector organisations’ response to the pandemic and their support for our communities in adapting to these sudden and unexpected changes has been profound. This has resulted in major changes in how our society operates – many of which will be permanent, particularly in the way we work and how we communicate. In our newly-published whitepaper, Unified communications in the public sector of the future, we look at how digital communication software has played a major role in Australia’s fight against COVID-19. Now, the workplace can be any place, and our citizens have a new set of expectation on how public sector services can be delivered. We explore the changes that have been taking place and the role that cloud unified communications is playing or can play in the future in different areas of the public sector, including:
Federal Government: while an organisation as large and complex as the Australian Government has always presented communication challenges, cloud UC has the potential to improve collaboration and teamwork by building better connections between offices, between teams, and between people. In fact, its role in the Australian Governments’ secure cloud transformation could be huge.
Local Government: unified communications will help transform the local government office from a static, permanent place of work to a series of dynamic virtual networks built around changing service needs. That also has the potential to generate physical real estate savings that can be redirected into improved services for rate payers. See also our recent post The benefits of cloud for Australian local councils.
Healthcare: traditionally technology innovations have focused on more tools for the desk-based worker, but in hospitals, clinics and community healthcare programs the real opportunity for communications and collaboration empowerment is in bringing office-based and frontline workers together on one unified platform. We’ve also seen a significant rise and more permanent role for telehealth amongst a wider choice of delivery channels for the community to access healthcare services, which are being facilitated by RingCentral’s unified communications and contact centre solutions.
Education: digital transformation has been moving at pace at all levels of education, particularly in the growth in the use of online learning platforms and distance education. Multichannel communication has become a way of life for many students and teachers. A unified communications platform integrated with learning management systems (LMS) and student management systems (SMS) is integral to more effective teaching and administration, and ultimately to better student outcomes.
For a more extensive and in-depth examination of the role that unified communications can play in improving service delivery and operations in the public sector, you can read further in our whitepaper, Unified communications in the public sector of the future.
Originally published 12 May, 2021
