Talking 5 with Local Public Services Member GBG

This month's Talking 5 guest is Paul Daley, Head of Government & Partners, GBG

Each month, techUK's Associate Director for Local Public Services, Georgina Maratheftis, interviews a member active in the local government space about their vision for the future of local public services and where digital can make a real difference to people and society. This month we talk to Paul Daley, Head of Government & Partners, GBG about the role that digital plays in building trust in a digital world.

Welcome Paul. Firstly, tell me more about you, your career and how you got to this position today?

I’m currently Director for Public Sector & Partners at GBG, a leading expert in digital location, identity and identity fraud software, a business I’ve been a part of for the past ten years.

However, I’ve been in the technology industry for over 25 years now, having gone straight to work at a dotcom business after I graduated from university with a degree in business. As a graduate I was instantly attracted to tech industry because of the constant innovation and ability to learn – it’s never stagnant, no day ever the same and that’s why I’ve continued to build my career in this landscape.

I started working with public sector specifically 23 years ago during my time at Experian, where my role focused on how the power of data, identity and technology could triangulate to solve key government challenges. My role at GBG has been a continuation of this journey, specialising into how digital identity verification and fraud prevention can solve both local and central government issues.

What is the greatest opportunity for local government when it comes to digital?

Looking specifically at digital identity and fraud prevention technology, the opportunity for local government is huge.

While local government aren’t first adopters or even early adopters of this technology, I don’t see that has a hinderance but rather a helping hand. Private sector organisations, such as fintech, banks and gaming, have been pushed forward by regulation requirements and customer demand to adopt fraud prevention and identity verification technology very early on. As such they’ve done all the hard work that comes with being a ‘first’ in anything including testing new use cases.

Now local government has a wealth of tried and tested case studies across multiple industries and use cases at their fingertips – and this knowledge is power! With an understanding what has been successful, local government now have the ability to assess where this technology is most needed and will have the greatest impact within their organisation. For example, digital identity verification and fraud prevention technology can reduce cases of council tax fraud or business rates fraud in local government, while simultaneously creating a more seamless and easy customer experience for those looking to use local government services.

With a focus on budgets and spend in the current economic landscape, this insight is invaluable and the opportunity for councils is there to be taken.

What is your vision for the future of local public services and places?

My vision is local government can and will use technology in the same powerful way as those early adopters have – and why not? The opportunity is available right now to create a full end-to-end digital engagement process. Ultimately this would reduce fraud, decrease costs, and create a better customer experience. The transformation of banking and the move away from physical branches is a perfect example; with digital identity technology many consumers are now able to bank almost exclusively from their phones, freeing up the skills and resource of those working in branches to focus elsewhere. Similar examples can be seen up and down the high street, with local councils in the perfect place to use the positives of those changes as well as learn from the lessons.

Ultimately, digitising local government processes will create a more inclusive environment. By enabling those whose needs can be resolved through having a fully digital journey to do so, it frees up time and resources for local government to support wider members of the public who require one-on-one help. In these challenging times, my vision for public services is to treat all citizens in the way they most want at the time and place that they most need.

Georgina Maratheftis

Associate Director, Local Public Services, techUK

Georgina is techUK’s Associate Director for Local Public Services

Georgina works with suppliers that are active or looking to break into the market as well as with local public services to create the conditions for meaningful transformation. techUK regularly bring together local public services and supplier community to horizon scan and explore how the technologies of today and tomorrow can help solve some of the most pressing problems our communities face and improve outcomes for our people and places.

Prior to techUK, Georgina worked for a public policy events company where she managed the policy briefing division and was responsible for generating new ideas for events that would add value to the public sector. Georgina worked across a number of portfolios from education, criminal justice, and health but had a particular interest in public sector transformation and technology. Georgina also led on developing relationships across central and local government.

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