How can we help tech work for everyone?
The other day, for seemingly the hundredth time, I was watching my wife help her mum with her online banking. Logging on, security questions, which buttons to press, you know the kind of thing.
I started thinking how useful mobile banking – indeed a whole host of digital tools – could be to her if only she knew how to use them.
It got me thinking.
What if, as a society, we could make more of the technology we already have? How much more good could we do?
Tech that can help the disadvantaged
My wife’s mum isn’t alone when it comes to technology – in fact there are over five million people out there unable to carry out simple online tasks like sending emails or using the internet.
If we can fill this digital skills gap, the rewards are huge. We won’t just be helping countless thousands of people on a personal level, we’ll be filling a gap that’s costing the country £12.8 billion a year.
How do we fill it? Education.
Free digital skills training that’s open to the whole community, so everyone who wants to learn more can. And no-one gets left behind.
Our Connect More programme is a great example.
Working in partnership with local authorities and the public sector, volunteers from our 2,000-strong workforce provide digital training to improve the lives of local residents.
So far they’ve spent 627 hours in local communities supporting 798 people with digital skills.
Tech that can help the young
Improving lives through technology isn’t just about educating the existing generation – it’s about skilling up the next one too.
That’s the thinking behind Connected Falkirk, a recent initiative to bring anytime, anywhere connectivity to all the region’s schools.
As Stuart Lennie, Connected Falkirk Manager, Falkirk Council, put it:
‘We wanted to make sure that every child, no matter which school they went to in Falkirk, got the best experience they could in terms of digital skills.’
By working closely with the council, we’ve helped them meet those goals and make real difference to education in the area.
Internet access has hugely improved. Network configuration takes minutes not hours. The council has saved £230,000 through reduced expensive leased lines and travel. There’s even been 75% reduction in calls to Connected Falkirk helpdesk.
Connected Falkirk is now helping schools across the region engage, inspire and achieve like never before, yet still provides significant savings to the local authority.
Tech that can help the planet
Upskilling residents is, of course, a great way of helping your citizens enjoy life more – but it’s not the only way. There are other things we can do to improve the quality of life for everyone.
That’s increasingly difficult at a time when tight budgets are putting huge pressure on your social and environmental goals.
But again technology can help.
Our tech donation programme, for example, can help local residents by supplying digitally excluded children and over-65s with free smartphones and mobile data.
Or our carbon calculator can help you understand the carbon footprint of some of our more popular solutions.
And our mobile recycling scheme can extend the life of old or unwanted devices by trading them in.
Tech that can help every single person in your authority
Technology can also inform when it comes to making those big, authority-wide decisions that affect everyone.
Where do your citizens go? How do they get there? How long do they stay?
All critical questions when it comes down to town planning, handling large events like concerts or simply sorting out a better traffic flow through a town centre.
Programmes like O2 Motion can help your authority make informed decisions in a host of areas like on planning, resource allocation, even staffing, by giving you the facts on population movement in your area.
By knowing where your citizens are going, how often they go there and how long they stay there, you get meaningful insights and you’ll be able to make better decisions on their behalf.
Tech that can help in the years to come
Looking ahead, tech promises much with the prospect of being able to help more people, in more ways, more of the time.
The story of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust hospital provides a tantalising glimpse of what a tech-enabled future might look like.
That’s because we’re currently running trials to assess the efficiency, safety and security benefits of using smart, 5G-connected tech in NHS hospitals.
On a practical level, the trials are focussing on 5G-connected e-observations (eObs), connected smart devices and smart monitoring (internet of things), augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI)
It's an important moment.
As Kester Mann, technology analyst and Director, Consumer and Connectivity at CCS Insight, put it:
‘This is a landmark moment for the UK telecoms and healthcare sectors. Dedicated 5G in hospitals can open the door to a range of new applications such as real-time tracking of patients’ conditions, remote support and round-the-clock monitoring of medicines and equipment.’
What next for tech in the community?
It’s fair to say that there’s a lot more we can do, a lot more ways we can help people, just by using the tech we have more effectively.
Innovative education schemes, improved tech recycling, fresh community initiatives, revitalised town planning – all are within reach without enormous expense.
Indeed, in many cases – as with Falkirk – this work actually saved money.
So perhaps we should be looking harder for new ways to use our existing tech. Because a lot of people (including my mother-in-law) could feel the benefit.
1. Statistics taken from a 2023 survey of 1,500 public and private sector employees undertaken by Censuswide and Virgin Media O2 Business.
Upcoming Local Public Services events
Local Public Services updates
Sign-up to get the latest updates and opportunities from our Local Public Services programme.
Authors
