Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils: Improving citizens’ lives with better employee productivity
Overview
Once Southwest London borough councils Kingston and Sutton began sharing IT services to save money and reduce workload, its technology leaders wanted to extend these operating efficiencies to more departments. The councils also hoped to give their combined 5,000 council workers across 114 sites a more modern work experience as they helped residents with services like libraries, hospitals, schools, and transportation.
Kingston and Sutton considered replacing the councils’ Windows 7 computers with cloud tools in a bid to boost productivity, and give employees more flexibility in where and how they worked. For example, council employees lacked easy ways to collaborate on documents, and were spending too much time traveling to in-person meetings. With Chrome Enterprise, Chromebooks, and Google Workspace, the two councils can now allow employees to work efficiently in the cloud, work from home, and take part in video meetings—all while reducing IT administration.
About Kingston and Sutton Borough Councils
Kingston Council is the local authority for the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London. It was established as a government unit in 1965, and has a population of over 182,000. Sutton Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Sutton in Greater London. It was established as a government unit through the combination of three smaller councils in 1965, and has a population of over 211,000.
Industries: Government
Location: United Kingdom
Chrome Enterprise results
Thousands of hours of commuting and walking time saved
Saves workers thousands of hours in commuting and walking time among council offices.
Strengthen security by easily setting council-wide policies in the Admin console.
Helps employees connect in the field with residents who can’t visit council offices.
Inspires creation of flexible and open work spaces available to anyone with a Chromebook.
Speeds progress on projects through shared Google Sheets and Google Docs.
Advances view of IT department’s role in enabling digital transformation—not just “wires and Wi-Fi”.
A modern work experience for local governments
As a first step in its digital transformation, Kingston and Sutton councils replaced a legacy email solution with Gmail, with integration assistance from partner Cloud Technology Solutions. As employees became familiar with Gmail, they began using other Google Workspace tools—for example, sharing Google Sheet spreadsheets to collaborate on ideas about new council initiatives, connecting in video meetings with Meet, and sending messages in Google Chat.
The councils carefully matched 5,500 Chrome Enterprise devices with workers’ roles and preferences—from Chromeboxes for those who work primarily at one desk, to Acer Spin Chromebooks with tablet presentation tools for those who work in the field. Chrome’s Legacy Browser Support lets employees continue to use essential legacy applications from Chrome Browser; with Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, IT team members can secure devices right out of the box and quickly roll out policy changes.
We deployed 3,000 Chrome devices in just a few months. They’re so simple for people to use. We couldn’t have done that with Windows devices. Our ability to change and respond to residents’ needs is hugely improved by Google Workspace and Chrome devices.
David Grasty, Corporate Head of Digital Transformation, Kingston and Sutton London Borough Councils
About partners
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