Last week operator, Vodafone, published a summary of findings from its Vodafone M2M Technologies Survey, undertaken by polling and research consultancy, ComRes. The major finding as reported by the operator, ComRes and later, Mobilenews, was that 67 per cent of urban councillors across Britain were unaware of M2M technologies and that over £400 million of savings could be made if local councils adopted M2M solutions for local services.
According to Vodafone: ‘This gap in understanding would explain why M2M is yet to be widely used to improve public services such as street lighting, refuse collection, urban traffic and transport management, whilst at the same time saving the tax payer millions’. The report revealed the need for those in the M2M industry to educate local urban officials rather than expecting technological understanding to reliably pass from central to local government as a matter of course.
Yet one of the most striking results of the polling was that the overwhelming majority of urban officials responded that they were both entirely unaware of M2M technologies and considered themselves to be well informed about how new technology could be used to improve local service delivery:
- 72 per cent agreed that ‘My council has kept up with developments in technology that affect local service delivery’
- 68 per cent agreed that ‘As a Councillor, I feel well enough informed about developments in technology to make informed decisions on future policy and procurement of local services’
- 67 per cent answered no to the question: ‘Before today, had you ever heard of machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies?’
This contradiction reveals that there is another factor to deal with when engaging local policy makers – their own conviction that they are sufficiently up-to-speed with the latest technological developments and understand how they can be used to improve local service delivery. M2M regulatory experts may well need to consider this when putting forward the case for the use of M2M in local services. Other than engaging urban councillors directly, those in a regulatory capacity may want push for greater inclusion of councillors when in consultation with central government.
In spite of the lack of technological nous amongst urban councillors, they are still firmly convinced of the need to invest in technology in order improve local services:
- 93 per cent agreed that ‘Councils investing in technology projects is an important part of delivering better local services’
- And 88 per cent agreed that ‘Councils investing in technology projects is an important part of delivering cheaper local services’
