Working together to build a digital future in the care sector

According to the COVID-19 Global Survey 2020 by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, from March to June 2020, the percentage of companies seeing opportunities for digital transformation almost doubled between March and June 2020.

It’s a sign that the pandemic has been a catalyst for digital transformation, but is it enough? 

In ‘How to build the digital state’ Arnauld Bertrand, EY Global Government & Public Sector Consulting Leader suggests central government, governmental departments, and wider stakeholders must work together to build better outcomes for service users. But how does this impact digital technology in the social care sector?

The role of the central government

The government has a key role in developing new legislation to improve adoption. And while big transformation projects led by the government can sometimes experience decades of delay, The Integration and Innovation report from the Department for Health and Social Care shows a willingness to achieve progress in the sector. So what can be done:

  • Break down data silos and achieve interoperability of different systems, to provide one-stop access to public services.
  • Continually update regulatory and legal frameworks to take account of rapidly evolving technologies like artificial intelligence.
  • Embed cybersecurity at every stage and collaborate with others to create a robust policy framework.

The role of governmental departments, agencies and local government

Individual government agencies and departments must also drive digital transformation. This will involve reforming areas from organisational structure and governance, to work processes, culture, skills and technology. They could even look towards businesses like care providers that have already successfully adopted tech – to achieve a blueprint for implementation.

  • Appoint senior champions. People who get tech and can passionately articulate a case for change.
  • Use design thinking and customer experience strategies to help build services around real user needs.
  • Upskill employees and encourage a digital-first culture with training and recognition for digital skills.
  • Support an agile approach with an MVP mindset, which will allow a quicker delivery with regular, incremental updates.
  • Encourage innovation and empower staff at all levels to challenge the status quo and suggest new ideas.

The role of service providers and suppliers

Governments can no longer act in isolation. Instead, they must tap into the knowledge and resources of the wider stakeholders – including service providers, suppliers and service users themselves – to find innovative solutions to analogue problems.

This can be achieved through:

  • Creating or joining innovation networks that encourage the sharing of knowledge.
  • More collaboration between service providers and service suppliers.
  • Engaging service users in the co-design of technology.
  • Building more open data-exchange platforms.
  • Working on integrations and partnerships with other like-minded providers.

The digital revolution isn’t coming… It’s already here. There’s no doubt that the adoption of tech has been accelerated by the events of 2020, but that doesn’t mean that we’re playing catch up. Tech suppliers, like Unique IQ, have been preparing for this dynamic transformation and adopting more agile practices for a long time. But it’s now time for us to collaborate and deliver the solution together.