Focus: Charities and voluntary organisations will play a "revolutionary" role in the future delivery of public services, social exclusion minister Hilary Armstrong has argued.
The third sector is key to the delivery of services to the socially excluded. Their role in service delivery is set to grow as government increasingly recognises the sector’s wealth of knowledge and understanding of their client groups and their needs. However, as the sector takes on more responsibilities it needs to find new ways of working efficiently and effectively. One thing is clear. If voluntary and community groups are to continue to deliver and enhance the benefits they provide to service users in an environment of change, competition and increasing expectations, they must utilise effective ICT based operations and develop robust ICT strategies.
This presents potentially huge opportunities for the ICT industry, which to date are largely untapped. The third sector can provide entry into new markets, not only in terms of socially excluded groups, but also where their work overlaps with groups who are socially included but are still digitally disengaged. Organisations such as Age Concern and Help the Aged, for example, aim to engage with all older people regardless of whether or not they are materially deprived. They offer access to a large market of people with disposable income and, frequently, strong motivation to start using technology when shown how and why.
The development of industry and third sector sustainable partnerships is crucial to transforming services through ICT. A major challenge for the ICT industry is explaining the social benefit of technology to potential partners. Digital inclusion tends to be low down the list of priorities of third sector organisations. It is therefore essential to stop talking about technology, and start talking about benefits. In addition, there is often still a gap between commercial business case and public policy objective; the private sector can only work where there is competitive returns and a business case. To create positive partnerships, industry and the third sector must be able to overcome such barriers and engage in a mutually beneficial way.
There are already many examples of how voluntary and community organisations are using technology in innovative ways to engage directly with socially excluded people; for example through use of text messages, email and online forums. But there is less evidence of digital take-up around the potential of strategic and back-office uses of ICT. Perhaps some of the greatest opportunities for service transformation are around the sharing of services between organisations. Concern about data sharing is one of the stumbling blocks in joining up services. Some third sector organisations are crying out for shared databases, but others fear loss of their clients’ trust if confidential details are passed between agencies.
Charity Share, a joint venture between NSPCC and The Children’s Society, is a rare example of such a shared service initiative. The two large charities have joined their IT resources, resulting in increased efficiency, cost-savings, and better service provision. There is a clear opportunity for the ICT industry to help the voluntary sector exploit the benefits of shared services, whilst overcoming legitimate concerns of data integrity and client confidentiality and trust.
Fear of technology amongst third sector employees, particularly those at the front line, is another significant barrier to successful transformation of service provision. Lack of funding for training purposes is one of the problems cited by voluntary organisations wishing to move forward. Anecdotal evidence shows it is reasonably easy to get funding for a couple of PCs, but much more difficult to find funds for training staff in how to use them. If care workers are not confident with technology, there is little chance they will be able to use it successfully to engage clients or work more efficiently. It is key for industry and the third sector to work together on the up-skilling of frontline third sector workers in order to move forward on the use of ICT for service transformation.
Social exclusion and the third sector’s central role in combating it are currently high up on the government’s agenda; as evidenced by the recent establishment of an Office of the Third Sector dedicated to helping the sector develop the skills it needs for success. Now is exactly the right time for the ICT industry to be developing long term and sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships with the sector.
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