The new Digital Excellence Roadmap for Working Age Adults is a welcome step forward.
One of the things we particularly like is that it doesn't define digital excellence by how much technology an organisation has bought. Instead, it describes a journey from fragmented systems and siloed information towards connected organisations where information moves, leaders have better insight and, ultimately, technology helps people live better lives.
Because having digital systems and being digitally excellent are not the same thing, the real opportunity is much bigger.
For people drawing on support, digital should enable greater independence, choice and control: information that follows the person rather than the organisation, technology that quietly supports safety and independence, and more staff time available for relationships rather than administration.
For providers, it could be equally transformational. Connected information can help organisations understand capacity, workforce, quality and finances. It should help automate unnecessary processes, identify emerging risks earlier and spot where money and staff time are being lost.
In a sector operating on extraordinarily tight margins, those efficiencies aren't simply nice to have. They could make the difference between a provider flourishing and going under.
So how do we turn that opportunity into reality? We think it starts with three questions.
Where are we now?
Providers are starting from very different places. Some are still establishing the basics, with fragmented systems, manual processes and duplicated information. Others have invested significantly in technology but aren't getting the value they expected: good systems that don't connect, workarounds have developed and valuable data isn't becoming useful intelligence. And some are ready to explore what connected data, automation, AI and emerging technology could enable them to do next.
Understanding your starting point means looking beyond a list of systems. Where does your information sit? What's being duplicated? Where are your staff wasting precious time? What can't leaders and Boards see? Where is technology helping and where is it getting in the way?
What could be different?
Rather than asking how technology can make today's processes slightly quicker, what if we started with the lives people really want to lead and the organisation we need to become?
What could greater independence look like? What work shouldn't staff have to do anymore? What information should follow someone automatically? What could leaders and Boards know earlier? Where could better information transform the economics of delivering care?
Digital excellence isn't simply about digitising what we already do. It's an opportunity to redesign how care and support work.
How do we get there?
Not by starting with 'what technology should we buy?'
Start with the problem and the ambition, understand what you already have, decide what needs to change. Then make informed choices about systems, data, interoperability, AI and investment.
And don't treat digital strategy as something separate from operational, workforce, financial or quality strategy. Increasingly, they must be part of the same conversations.
The opportunity isn't to become more digital for its own sake. It's to reimagine what better-connected social care could look like, for people, for staff and for the organisations supporting them.
The new report gives the sector a valuable picture of where that journey could take us. The next challenge is turning that ambition into practical change.
At Brightman Kinsey, we're helping providers do exactly that - to understand where they are now, imagine what could be different and turn that into practical priorities for change. We bring together digital, operational, financial, leadership and governance perspectives because those things can't sensibly be separated. Contact us to find out more or explore how we can support you.
