Established in response to Martha Lane's Fox report, the government's Digital by Default strategy aims to transform government digital services in order to streamline processes and ultimately save money and improve efficiencies.
Whilst much focus to date has been given to the way individuals interact with government services online, the strategy has also brought about major changes for businesses. In some sectors, private companies have been ahead of the government's digital strategy. However, across other sectors, it is the government that is contributing to, if not driving, the pace of change. The relatively conservative accountancy sector is a good example of where this has tended to be the case.
Recent changes to the way departments such as HMRC and Companies House now require mandatory documentation has altered the way the industry interfaces with key government bodies. The result is a significant shift in attitudes among professionals in the sector, and an increasing interest in adopting new technologies. One such example is the cloud, which until recently was an area that had remained relatively untapped among the majority of accountancy professionals.
Since the government's Digital by Default strategy has had a greater profile in the sector — particularly through the compulsory online filing of forms such as company tax returns – there has been a far greater level of interest among accountants looking to take advantage of cloud-based tools that are now considered commonplace for both consumers and other areas of business.
With HMRC turning its back on paper documentation, and as a result, all UK businesses now expected to follow suit, there are major implications for the technology used by the UK's 30,000 accountancy practices. A few years ago it was unthinkable to submit returns in any other way than paper form but in 2013 alone a record 7.93m submitted tax returns online. However, there is now a huge growth in accountancy practices sharing and approving key documents such as tax returns with clients in the cloud.
The industry is embracing the benefits of the cloud for client collaboration and this trend is also extending into core compliance activity, such as tax return completion and auditing. And with new industry regulations such as the current shift to real-time reporting for payroll, cloud technology that was once seen by the industry as a risky option is now appearing on the horizon as somewhat of a "must-have" tool which is going to help with compliance and enable time and cost savings.
What began as a tentative approach to the cloud is now gathering pace, and there has been a renewed focus by the industry on cloud-based tools together with a developing awareness about the benefits such tools can bring.
So it seems in some sectors at least, the stick may prove to have more impact than the carrot in helping organisations appreciate the benefits of new technologies such as the cloud, with the government's approach helping to provide reassurance around issues such as security.
Naturally, it is to be expected that some areas of business will be comparatively more or less willing – or able – to adopt new technologies as they are bought to market. There's no doubt that initiatives such as the government's Digital by Default strategy will ultimately help to move things along, but the primary point to make is that this is done at a pace that acknowledges that some businesses need greater support than others.
The key to successful implementation of this type of transformation at such a widespread level is for any change to be gradual and for supporting technology to be clearly explained to encourage the best possible adoption. Only then will UK public limited companies really reap the benefits that cloud technology still has to offer.
Phill Robinson is the CEO of IRIS Software Group
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