Madrid City Council is currently in a digital transformation process, mainly focused on the modernization of its work environment and services. All of this has been possible thanks to the use of the cloud for remote working, internal communications and telephone services, which allow its employees to stay connected while working outside their usual position.
"The pandemic has caused a change in mentality regarding technology, putting the value of digital transformation first. And this is the process that we are adopting from the Madrid City Council through all citizens, officials and companies that have really understood the importance of working in this way.”. Fernando de Pablo Martín, general director of the Digital Office of the Madrid City Council, talks about the cultural change that the capital and all its inhabitants have experienced during the last year.
Like the rest of Spain, Madrid was hit hard by the pandemic, which forced most of its 3,3 million residents to work remotely. But unlike other towns, the administration was well prepared for what was coming.
Long before the coronavirus began to spread in Europe, the capital began a digital transformation process that was crucial to keeping services running during co-lockdowns.
The process, during which the City Council migrated to the Microsoft Azure cloud and implemented a large number of solutions, was completed last year, at the time when Madrid was most demanding it. This has allowed the 27.000 officials working for the council to carry out essential work remotely, further driving the city's digital transformation.
"We were able to change our work culture in just two weeks,” he explains. “This is something that previously would have taken us one or two years, but thanks to the enthusiasm shown by our officials and the help of our technological partners, we were able to accelerate and quickly implement these solutions".
"From a technological point of view, I like to think of Spain as a small Europe and Madrid as a small country”says Fernando de Pablo Martín. “The City Council and its 27.000 workers are responsible for a variety of areas such as security, citizen services, social services, economic development, mobility, employment, urban planning, tourism, culture and sport.”…
For the past three years, the administration has been working to digitize its services and modernize jobs as part of the mayor's plan for urban economic recovery.
These efforts have culminated in the migration to the cloud and the introduction of tools such as Microsoft 365, Teams and Microsoft's voice solution to make work more efficient.
"Recent years have seen a strategic push to optimize and unify the IT approach across the administration.","We realized this was the future of work, but we didn't have the resources to make it tangible".
"This is why we turned to Microsoft, who helped us modernize our work environment while simultaneously working on other big projects, including the digitization of our communications systems and other services, from taxes to HR.".
COVID-19 and the business voice
The Madrid city council had already advanced a year in its project to modernize work areas when COVID arrived, although it was not until then that the City Council really realized the benefits of the initiative, in addition to higher adoption rates among employees.
"We had already digitized many of our services, but we could see that usage was still low". "The pandemic was a true catalyst as it forced our employees to change their work habits and adapt to performing their duties from home.".
After the implementation of this transformation, the City Council was prepared to face the interruption caused by the COVID-19 wave. And, in just a few weeks, he made sure the necessary employees had access to Teams and Microsoft 365, OneDrive for Business, and others.
At the same time, they also realized the importance of transferring the communications system to virtual lines, to allow employees to make phone calls from home. This led to a landmark project to adopt Microsoft 365 E5 Business Voice, a cloud-based solution that integrates into M365. Provided by Microsoft and a local telecommunications partner, this technology allows users to make and receive calls from a single app, Microsoft Teams.
"Almost all of our workers now use the Business Voice tool, and this is triggering a much-needed cultural change within the organization". "They were used to having their phone available in the office and now they have all the information in Teams".
"This shows how decisive our commitment to the cloud was, since it helped us carry out our daily administrative work with new tools and from anywhere”. 100% remote.
Train City Hall workforce to operate remotely
As they moved forward with the deployment of Microsoft 365 E5 Business Voice, the Madrid City Council launched in parallel a series of training courses to help their employees use all their new tools with confidence in the face of any unforeseen event that may arise.
"Internal data shows that before coronavirus, only 4% of workers had the capacity to work from home efficiently”explains Pablo Martín. “But the crisis has presented an opportunity to train all our staff to work remotely, and to use Microsoft solutions effectively.".
The City Council had already organized some training sessions on the use of Teams before the pandemic, but the process was accelerated, in the midst of the crisis, when more solutions – including Voice – were introduced. Everything necessary to perform the same work as if it were done in person in the office.
"Now we have created a program that allows different areas of the City Council to receive appropriate training in all Microsoft 365 tools", keep going. “We want people to be aware of the possibilities they offer".
The program is expected to take up to two years to complete, although de Pablo Martín is sure that, by then, there will be more Microsoft technologies that will need to be taught as this world moves rapidly.
"Whatever we introduce in the future, be it data analysis tools or solutions that help us collaborate better with the rest of Europe, we are determined to maintain an ongoing training process to ensure we are at the forefront of using the technologies", Add.
Next steps
The pandemic has played a crucial role in the digital transformation of Madrid City Council, but, as Pablo Martín reiterates, this was only the starting point.
"We have seen how COVID-19 accelerated our technological adoption, but also exacerbated the digital divide that existed and that, as an administration, we had to help resolve.", He says.
"As a result, we are ensuring that everyone is properly equipped to work remotely, as well as making more use of technology to offer services that our public officials and citizens can use without problems.".
During his more than 30 years of experience working in different government and public sector organizations, Pablo Martín has witnessed how the online revolution has changed his work in recent years. And he knows that this trend is here to stay.
"I see the future of our administration as revolving around four things: strengthening our digital identity, bolstering cybersecurity and trust, providing internet and phone access to everyone, and promoting data sharing between government organizations in an interoperable manner.". "“This would offer citizens the opportunity to truly benefit from our services digitally and be better prepared for what lies ahead.”
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