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Digital, Data and IT Strategy 2021-24

Introduction

Two years ago, we set the vision to incorporate a digital mindset and set the scene for the future direction of AfC’s digital ambition. In October 2018, Achieving for Children began its journey to BeDigital…

The aim has been to support digital growth within the organisation, which enables our staff to work smarter and more efficiently and to provide better, more interactive services for our children, young people and their families.

For the next two years, the strategic objectives are to have a connected, accessible, agile and efficient ecosystem for our workforce and children, young people and families. Our ambition is to strengthen our digital, data and IT capabilities to enable us to maintain the delivery of outstanding children's services and connect with our communities more widely.

Our mission: 

To use technology to deliver high quality, innovative solutions that enhance and improve services for our employees, partners, children, young people and families.

To create a connected, accessible, agile and efficient ecosystem for our workforce, communities, children, young people and families. 

BeDigital Strategy:

Enable:

To enable service users to interact with us better.

Empower:

To develop the digital skills and confidence of our workforce

Improve:

How we collect secure data to ensure our systems talk to each other with high quality data

Achieve:

Better outcomes for our children & young people and efficient business processes for staff

BeDigital objectives:

Enable:

  • Better engagement channels of communication - internal and external.
  • Maintain hardware and networks for working flexibly from anywhere.
  • Design services that meet the needs of our children and young people.

Empower:

  • Recruitment of digitally literate talent and ensure the workforce has a good standard of digital skills.
  • Upskilling Digital Ambassadors to support the workforce.
  • Immerse an open culture that values digital ways of working and promotes self-service.

Improve:

  • Better use of good data for decision making and quality assurance.
  • Caring for the environment through digital change.
  • Maximise the use of market leading business systems to sustain and grow our digital & ICT services.

Achieve:

  • Embed a ‘smart commissioning’ and ‘better value for money’ culture.
  • Design secure and useful ways of sharing information and collaborating with partners to support our users.
  • Create capacity and resilience through digital best practice, focusing on digital work with social care.

The risks of not going digital:

  • Adverse impact on service users who are trying to access children's services in the most efficient way.
  • More demand on resources that are not flexible and modern.
  • The organisation being left behind as technology evolves.
  • A workforce that does not have the skills and equipment to be able to carry out their responsibilities.

BeDigital critical success factors:

  • Leadership
  • Resource
  • Security and accessibility
  • Data and intelligence
  • People
  • Innovation and user centric design

Leadership:

Digital & ICT is a priority for all managers and they positively advocate digital & ICT solutions. Leaders also have the ambition to explore automation and artificial intelligence in children’s services. 

Resource:

There is appropriate (re)investment and resource needed to support and achieve transformation to its full potential, as well as sustaining current capabilities.

Security and accessibility:

Ensuring systems are secure and compliant with data protection laws, and access to system is seamless. To have strong data quality across all systems.

Data and intelligence:

Enhanced presentation of data through interactive dashboards that not only provide more meaningful data, but enables users to self-serve.

People:

Staff are able to self-serve and have the skills to embrace digital & ICT change and encourage peer-to-peer support. Everyone takes ownership to be more digital.

Innovation and user centric design:

There is a culture that supports and encourages innovation. We also ensure our service users understand what we are doing, how it will benefit them and how they can use technology to benefit themselves. We will also use the discovery, alpha and beta approach to innovation.