Senior managers in local authorities have much greater confidence that technology can enable cost savings than the rest of their organisations’ staff, according to new research.

A survey carried out by enterprise application supplier Unit4 found an overwhelming consensus that reduced funding is a threat to local authorities – 98% said it was a threat, with 65% labelling it as a severe threat.

However, the poll found that 80% of senior executives believe digital transformation will help save money, compared to just 51% of the sample overall.

Mark Wilson, interim managing director of Unit4 for the UK and Ireland, said: “It is encouraging to see that senior management in local government see the strategic role technology has to play in meeting the challenges.”

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Unit4 surveyed 1,086 senior UK local government staff on technology trends in the sector.

There was little awareness of government frameworks aimed at saving money – only 3% said they were a high priority.

Only 3% said they used G-Cloud, with a third saying they didn’t even know what it is.

Securing was listed as the greatest barrier to adoption of cloud services, with half identifiying the issue.

However, two thirds said their organisations already used a shared service, with 34% seeing it as a high priority.

Human resources and payroll services viewed as the most likely area for sharing with other organisations by 63% or respondents.

The research was carried out by Dods Research, part of Public Technology’s parent company Dods.