Mike Manson, Chief Executive of ALGIM and global president of Linked Organisation of Local Authority ICT Societies (LOLA), outlines how councils worldwide are using advanced software technology to transform services.
In a world of aspirational and emerging digital software technology, it can be extraordinarily hard for councils to know where to start with its adoption.
Some councils are rolling out licenses for users to try to find their own way through this ‘AI’ minefield; others are prescribing very specific tools for very specific operational problems.
Through the 2025 Local Government AI International Case Studies coordinated by LOLA, we can see how some councils around the world are actually using advanced software technology to deliver better services.
Increasing accessibility
Swindon Borough Council in the UK developed its ‘Simply Readable’ programme using Anthropic’s Claude 2 model and Stable Diffusion, to turn complex council documents into Easy Read formats for residents with learning disabilities.
The council also integrated Amazon Translate via AWS, reducing translation costs from £64,000 annually to £27, which shows us that using the right tools can save a huge amount of money and can strengthen service accessibility, equity and compliance with equalities obligations. When we talk about ‘digital inclusion’, I believe this is the type of thinking we should be adopting to make our councils even more accessible and inclusive.
Removing the repetitive
In the Netherlands, The Municipality of Emmen implemented Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to handle repetitive administrative tasks.
RPA doesn’t ‘learn’ – it performs pre-programmed actions and that’s exactly why it works so well in stable, rule-based processes. The first software robot saved 800 hours of work in a single month; another delivered the equivalent of two FTEs, with the pilot costing just €15,000.
Not reinventing the wheel
Staying in the Netherlands, municipalities collaborated to create GEM, a virtual assistant. GEM addressed fragmented chatbot systems and inconsistent knowledge bases, without each council needing to build its own chatbot.
GEM now handles 5000–6000 conversations per month and includes multilingual translation modules based on a shared standard. This allows staff to focus on handling the more complex enquiries.
When small changes add up
Closer to home, the Dunedin City Council applied Large Language Models (LLMs), hosted in Microsoft Azure, to classify Building Warrant of Fitness (BWOF) records.
Since applying these tools, the Council achieved a 93 per cent classification accuracy and saved 160 administrative hours annually, for just $332.
This wasn’t a seven-figure transformation programme, but it didn’t need to be. It was a focused application of LLMs to a real compliance problem.
I believe the learning here is that if we start with a specific pain point, keep our project scope tight, keep measuring accuracy and prove value, then we can decide whether or not it is worth scaling.
Building confidence before making changes
The Whitehorse City Council in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs didn’t start with a tool at all. It launched an AI Capability Uplift Program, training more than 600 staff and running structured pilots using enterprise tools such as Google NotebookLM and secure generative AI environments.
It created interim guidelines, built an internal resource hub and set up a cross-council collaboration network to see how these tools could work in the real world before they rolled out organisation-wide.
It would be great to see this approach reflected more often across our own country, with a focus on increasing confidence, understanding, and literacy, before introducing sweeping changes to technology.
The next level
One of the more ambitious examples of innovative digital software use comes from Derby City Council in the UK.
Rather than trialling a small internal pilot, Derby introduced digital assistants (‘Darcy’ and ‘Ali’) across phone and web channels to manage citizen enquiries.
This programme has since expanded into Adult Social Care, Customer Services and Debt Recovery.
The reported outcomes are significant. Derby has achieved £7.5 million in savings, handled over 500,000 queries, and resolved 43 per cent of those enquiries without staff intervention, which was double its initial target.
It demonstrates that large-scale digital technology adoption is possible, but requires a focused, structured approach rather than just enthusiasm alone.
What can we learn?
It’s clear that successful councils scope out their problem before they choose the tool – and they don’t limit themselves to one solution.
It isn’t always the case that you will need massive investment or wholesale system replacement. Many of the strongest examples internationally began with tightly scoped pilots aligned to existing priorities.
With these examples, we can see that the things that surround the technology (governance, capability uplift, and cross-council collaboration) are just as important as the tools themselves.
Digital technology adoption in local government is not about chasing the latest tool. It is about leadership, clarity of purpose, and being intentional about where technology can make a genuine difference.
Councils that succeed with this will be those that focus on solving real problems, build confidence within their organisations, and collaborate with others rather than working in isolation. When that happens, emerging technology stops being something abstract or experimental and becomes another practical tool to improve services, strengthen communities, and support the people who deliver them.
If we take anything from these examples, it should be this: meaningful progress rarely begins with the technology itself. It begins with clear intent about the outcomes we want to achieve for our communities.