16 minute read
Tech - Digital Skills
The digital skills gap: the importance of public and private sector collaboration
Martin McFadyen, head of public sector at Virgin Media O2 Business discusses the digital skills gap and how the Connect More Programme is helping people gain the digital skills they need
Digital skills are no longer optional. From applying for jobs and making GP appointments, to finding the best online deals and enabling smarter working, digital skills are an essential part of everyday life.
And their impact on the economy must not be overlooked. Research from Virgin Media O2 and economic modelling from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has found that the digital skills gap is costing UK workers £5.69 billion, with the cost to the UK economy rising to £12.8 billion.
This is having a major impact on people’s lives and work. According to the Digital Poverty Alliance, 82 per cent of jobs currently require digital skills. Yet, 5.4 million Brits are unable to carry out simple digital tasks – such as using a computer to write a letter or sending an email – despite wanting to.
With the cost-of-living crisis impacting both people and businesses alike, this simply won’t do. We discovered that 40 per cent of people pay higher prices for bills as they can’t shop around online, while 1 in 3 say their lack of digital skills has held back their earning potential.
And this has a knock-on effect on organisations too, with a lack of digital skills amongst the workforce impacting day-to-day operations. In fact, in our Tech and the Battle for Talent report, 36 per cent of UK workers reported that their organisation rarely (if ever) provides training on the use of digital technology, while 32 per cent regarded a lack of training opportunities as the second biggest reason behind the skills shortage in the workplace.
Without finding solutions to the digital skills gap, organisations in all sectors miss out on talent, whilst people miss out on the personal and professional opportunities that they need more than ever during these financially unstable times.
The path to progress With the economy, digital skills and the workplace so closely linked, we need to address the skills gap and unlock progress and growth in all areas.
And to do this, the private and public sector must act together.
Both sectors have a stake in the improvement of digital skills. Local authorities have the inroads at community level – and are best positioned to access the people who need help the most. Yet, with costs rising, E
many find themselves putting digital skills initiatives on the backburner. Private organisations, on the other hand, have the resources and access to technology and connectivity to help to support with delivery.
I firmly believe that understanding the power of collaboration with the public sector is critical to tackling the UK’s digital skills crisis.
Introducing the Connect More Programme People want to upskill. Our study shows that while 56 per cent of respondents have a desire to learn new digital skills, 13 per cent simply don’t know where to start.
Virgin Media O2 Business is committed to tackling the gap at its root. It’s why we’ve developed a brand-new approach: one that leverages our heritage in the digital skills space with the strong partnerships we have with public sector organisations all over the UK.
A fundamental pillar of the Connect More Programme is the importance of training – providing the digitally excluded with skills, confidence, and motivation to use digital technology and make the most of being online.
The recently launched programme gives our employees an opportunity to use five paid volunteering days per year to deliver digital skills training through local authority drop-in centres across the UK.
After a successful pilot with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), we’re now looking to partner with our network of public sector customers
across the UK to help deliver the Connect More Programme nationwide.
The pilot saw volunteers identify the best areas in the local community to engage with, such as the Wythenshawe Community Housing Group. And the results speak for themselves. Here is what Patricia Handley, Wythenshawe resident and pilot session participant, had to say: “I don’t feel like I’m in a foreign country anymore. I’ve now been on this app and that app, and I never knew what people were talking about. But now I do. I know people out there who are out of touch with computers and frightened to sit in front of them. I don’t think anybody should sit down and say, ‘I don’t need to know anything else’. I don’t think you’re ever too old to learn. Some days, we don’t talk to one another as much because we’re so busy on the computer. But on other days, it’s a real community. We get together and talk, laugh, joke. It is brilliant.”
LFFN and the Greater
Manchester Combined Authority The key component which underlies all of our work to tackle the digital divide has been our valuable collaboration with public sector partners. The Connect More Programme started in collaboration with the GMCA. And it follows long-standing work with this local authority to enact change in Greater Manchester and the surrounding area.
In 2020, Virgin Media Business and the GMCA set out to deliver the UK’s largest Local Full Fibre Networks Programme (LFFN), a government-backed scheme which was designed to give businesses and communities greater connectivity.
Since then, the LFFN Programme has connected more than 1,600 public sites, including 150 children’s centres, 97 school sites and 70 libraries. And, through driving local employment, has also helped generate £19.7 million worth of economic benefits for the local community.
Moreover, through its social value work – digital skills training, consultancy in schools, and providing digital tech bundles and kits – the LFFN Programme was able to provide people of all ages with the resources and confidence to carry out basic digital tasks, by allowing them the space to ask questions, learn and grow their skillset.
The GMCA had the vision: a commitment to making Greater Manchester 100 per cent digitally enabled by breaking down the barriers of digital exclusion. But it was the collaboration between the local authority, schools, health centres, and private sector organisations like Virgin Media O2 Business, which helped us all to move this vision closer to reality.
Prioritising public sector partnerships Modern life demands digital skills. But their all-encompassing nature means that those who are impacted the most by the cost of living or lack of resources, tend to struggle the most digitally.
We truly believe in the power of digital skills to level up the UK. But a team effort between the public and private sectors is integral to making this happen.
The success of the LFFN Programme would not have been possible without the collaborative efforts of the GMCA and Virgin Media O2 Business.
And now, we have taken those learnings to create the Connect More Programme, calling on our public sector customers across the UK to help connect us – and vital digital skills training – to those most in need.
Tackling the digital skills gap is about more than just providing technology. It is the combination of resources – access to tech, connectivity, digital skills knowledge, teaching programmes and volunteers, as well as public sector organisations such as schools, libraries, and housing associations – which truly allows public and private sector partnerships, rooted in digital transformation, to thrive. L
FURTHER INFORMATION
https://www.virginmediao2business.co.uk/connect-more/
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
4C Strategies – Independent ICT Consultants
4C Strategies is an independent ICT consultancy specialising in technology and infrastructure projects.
The company covers all aspects of technology and infrastructure in the enterprise environment, with consultants showing demonstrable experience in helping clients to procure new technologies to meet their business requirements, providing endto-end support on ICT projects by delivering a portfolio of consultancy services to meet client requirements, from audit and strategy through to procurement, implementation and resourcing. 4C Strategies has been assisting organisations in the healthcare industry for over 20 years. Expertise covers all aspects of IT technology and infrastructure, including: digital strategy, IT and technology strategy, data centres, servers and storage, data security, desktop telephony, MS Teams and wide area networks (WAN).
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Tel: 01858 438938 nhs@4c.co.uk www.4c.co.uk
Supporting digital transformation
Neos Networks is a leading provider of network infrastructure. Joanne Green talks about the benefits of improved connectivity
Could you tell us a bit about your company and what you do? I’m Joanne Green and I head up the public sector and transport teams at Neos Networks. Neos Networks is a leading provider of connectivity infrastructure, and we operate one of the largest fibre networks in the UK for our business customers. We work with organisations across the public sector supporting their digital transformation programmes and gigabit connectivity plans.
If a local authority is planning to improve connectivity and digital infrastructure, where is the best place to start? The first step is to identify the key outcomes that any authority wants to achieve. This is critical in defining the tangible benefits which can be achieved by improving their digital infrastructure. Once this is understood, we can then put in place a solution, enabling optimum connectivity to the locations needed and ultimately delivering against the authority’s objectives.
Our insight from the marketplace as well as from a number of our existing customers is that a key outcome is often improving connectivity to rural areas, with the objective of providing communities with better access to local services. We provide the digital infrastructure to enable gigabit connectivity to locations such as community centres and libraries. Enabling this connectivity has provided opportunities to use these places as hubs for multiple services, for example a drop in pharmacy, a temporary vaccination centre or a local shared workspace delivering benefit to the local community.
What are the benefits of improved connectivity and digital infrastructure to local businesses? Higher speed and greater bandwidth to businesses mean they can provide faster access to a wider range of services online, enabling them to expand at pace. Local businesses focus on connecting with their communities and making accessibility easier for their customer base. This helps to increase business & talent retention in the region whilst improving access to their products and services. Enhancements to connectivity allow businesses to integrate more effectively with other local services and organisations too, helping to enable the circular economy in the area. This creates new routes to market, broadening their reach to new customers both within and outside their area.
Improved connectivity can help further smart city ambitions, how can smart cities benefit local residents? Smart city technology is already having a major impact across communities. The point of being a ‘smart place’ is ultimately about making people’s lives easier and simpler. Using a common-sense approach to enable solutions which are simple and reliable enough to change peoples’ behaviour, the goal is to continue to make life easier for those who live and work in our communities.
There are already many examples of the kinds of smart solutions which are helping citizens every day, like shops with no tills or staff, where shoppers simply select the items they want and leave (enabled by facial recognition and device detection); security gates which recognise employees via AI cameras and open automatically without a swipe card being scanned; cars which unlock as they’re approached; and smart energy solutions which turn off appliances to save power (and money) - a major benefit during the current energy crisis.
Some cities have also developed apps that produce heat maps of social isolation hotspots by collating reported signs of potential loneliness, such as piles of rubbish or post. This is another great example of smart cities and places using technology intelligently to look out for their residents.
There are many other projects either implemented or in development around traffic control, air-quality monitoring to enable improvements to transport systems, sensors to advise drivers of parking spaces and available charging points for electric vehicles, and smart traffic lights that favour sustainable modes of transport.
How can Neos Networks help local government advance smart city plans? We have already worked with several authorities to enable them to reduce costs to serve their communities as well as giving them better visibility and understanding of the requirements of citizens and businesses in their areas.
The integration of smart technologies across a whole town or city requires a combination of large numbers of sensors, vast amounts of data and Internet of Things-enabled devices. These in turn need dependable, high-capacity, future-proof networks. We can deliver their core connectivity infrastructure in an agile way. We work as a single partner, drawing together services from other providers where necessary, taking the pain away for the authority.
We work with local and regional stakeholder organisations to lay fibre to support their current and future growth. We’re getting the fibre infrastructure in place so that they can develop their areas for the future and expedite their plans. We enable them to take into account the needs of their connected community properly, using smart technologies to better serve their people and the businesses that serve them.
Browse our interactive network map to see if we’re well connected in your city, or get in touch with us below to find out how we can improve your connectivity. L
FURTHER INFORMATION
neosnetworks.com enquiries@neosnetworks.com
Joanne Green, Sales Director, Neos Networks
Advertisement Feature Protecting investment in legacy IT systems while moving to the cloud for a sustainable future
Organisations across all sectors have difficulty keeping ageing core systems running while simultaneously moving them to the cloud. The overarching challenge is developing a robust approach and then delivering the business case within budget
Post-COVID, public sector organisations face real and evolving challenges. They must provide continuity of essential services while facing pressure to cut costs and stay within tight budgets. The cloud offers opportunities to switch capital costs to operational costs, and potentially then reduce those operational costs.
The challenge is the price of transformation. It is essential to establish the “AS IS” state, define the “TO BE” state, plan and cost the journey while managing the risks and changes which will occur, then deliver the transformation against the underlying business case.
There are key challenges. Systems based on long standing technology (considered legacy) depend on skills of IT professionals who are leaving the workforce, often unexpectedly. Determining the “AS IS” state is expensive, if that knowledge has been lost. The siren call of new technologies is all too often taken up by the enthusiastic but not always experienced, who are not chartered engineers and cannot see the dangers.
Keeping the lights on The complexity of “AS IS” architecture is significant. If a system is fully maintained then there is a period where it can continue without material effort. But during that time, expertise is lost and experts, even if they remain, become out of practice.
However, unnecessary expenditure should be avoided. Treat the transformation as a combined project to maintain the “AS IS”, implement the “TO BE” and design the migration or integration path. Such a combined project can progressively transfer functional components until the project is complete.
In a transformation project, a broad range of skills is required: knowledge of the “AS IS” system, understanding of the proposed “TO BE” system, and above all an excellent project office and design authority which can maintain the integrity of the plan, quality and technical standards.
That means bringing together people who understand the existing systems and technology, the target technology and how to manage digital transformation.
The incumbent team knows the systems, people can be trained in the target technology, particularly if the teams are seeded with experienced cloud technologists but managing transformation generally needs external third-party expertise.
Transitioning to the cloud - the reality of experience The government’s cloud-first strategy means public sector organisations should carefully evaluate potential cloud solutions. Many bespoke systems of the 90s implemented standard functionality which has already been replaced by enterprise systems such as SAP, ORACLE Financials, Salesforce, Xero, and Atlassian. Much of the business software used today already runs in the cloud.
If an organisation has specialist bespoke applications developed inhouse over many years, the first question has to be whether there is an existing cloud solution that will support the current solution’s business processes and is a simple migration path available?
At Diegesis, our skills encompass many legacy technologies such as Actian-X (Ingres), Informix, IBM technology including MQ Series and Integration Broker. We deliver cloud-based solutions running on AWS exploiting a wide range of Open Source and COTS technology. This has led us to being engaged on a range of migration and integration projects helping our customers in all of the stages of transition mentioned above. Finding people who appreciate the issues and opportunities and can talk the language of legacy, cloud and end users addresses a major area of risk for any transition project. We have successfully followed the strategies discussed to deliver projects and to rescue projects where we were not initially involved.
Management skills Projects live or die on the success of the technical and delivery managers and above all on the ability of the project sponsor to guide the programme around shared goals.
Transformation means change over time, so planning, budgeting, project management, people and above all risk management, contingency and mitigation are as important as ever. In a multistakeholder environment, the need to have clear yet flexible contracts appropriate to the project and to manage suppliers to a common outcome becomes critical.
In conclusion Transitioning to the cloud while maintaining a service to customers is not easy. Those who have not undertaken such projects before should consider bringing in management and technical skills to manage the requirement for change.
At Diegesis, we’ve run numerous transformation projects and have the rich experience needed to help implement appropriate strategies to deliver success. L Diegesis has 30 years’ experience supporting, developing and optimising data management applications across government entities including The Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Office of National Statistics (ONS) so we understand the strategies for success.
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