Welfare Can Digitize Faster
Digitization is too slow. In order to cope with staffing in the future, the public sector needs to put in another number of gears – and immediately. By that he means that there is a big challenge with staffing in the public sector going forward. Workplaces will need to deliver more services than today, as the population ages. And you will be forced to do that with fewer employees than today. There simply aren’t enough people to recruit. At the other end is innovation exploring and creating new things.
Digitization can make work more efficient
One solution to this, he believes, is digitization. It can make work more efficient and free up energy and working time for employees. It can be about everything from fall sensors in elderly care to automated decisions in social services. Digital solutions have existed for a long time, but it has felt scary and not really worth making the switch. But now we are in a situation where digitization is really needed, and then it will also happen. Coping with staffing is not the only reason. It is also a waste of money to continue working as before. This applies, among other things, to new technology that is not introduced.
We know that digital supervision of the elderly, for example, can save per user. That’s what it costs to keep doing wrong. The technical solutions do exist, but we actively choose not to use them. Because there is still great resistance to digitalisation, he believes. We have built control models that are designed to counter variation, to counter risks. In addition, he says, municipalities and regions need to decide which direction they want to go. He shows a graph at one end is efficiency continuing to make the things we already do more efficient.
The graph also has another dimension. It goes from creating external benefit for residents, users, patients and so on, to creating internal benefit for the organization itself. Many municipalities and regions get stuck in the field of internal efficiency. The more we lock in this field, the less we have for external innovation. We increase the gap to what gives the best effect for the residents. In other words, if municipalities and regions get stuck updating old systems that benefit their own organization, they cannot afford to create new systems that benefit residents.
