With the advent of intelligent, cloud-based platforms, public sector organizations can connect data and insights to protect vulnerable families with faster and more targeted interventions. One example is Edenhouse, an SAP partner that’s piloting Accelerate Resilience Communities (ARC), a platform designed to help local public service agencies in the UK identify vulnerable people so they can quickly get the help they need. Running on SAP HANA with SAP Analytics Cloud, the PoC captures and analyzes data from local organizations such as councils, schools, police, welfare, and hospitals to spot families in distress from problems such as domestic violence, employment issues, anti-social behavior, poverty, and truancy.
How does intelligent data help society's most vulnerable people?
“Bringing together large amounts of information from multiple datasets helps public sector professionals across different organizations spot trends so they make better decisions for early intervention,” said Thea Ricketts, account manager at Edenhouse. “It’s designed to help every organization be as effective as possible in allocating resources, turning information into actionable intelligence.”
In just one month, the pilot helped one UK-based agency improve eligibility for payments by 452 percent, identify an additional 22,000 at-risk families, and increase potential support funding resources by over 140 percent.
Early warning signals from connected data
Intelligent, cloud-based platforms have the potential to transform how communities understand and head off problems. Connected data between disparate systems helps social care agencies take more significant action.
“Maybe a child has been missing school, a parent has been arrested, and the family has stopped claiming payments for their eligible social care,” said Ricketts. “These incidents aren’t typically captured in one database or routinely connected. But looked at together over a period of a few months, they tell an ominous story about this family’s increasing vulnerability, allowing community services organizations to step in with help, long before the worst happens.”
Prevention is the strongest protection
Replacing disparate, disconnected, and often manual systems with one cloud-based platform that intelligently analyzes relevant data can help overburdened local public services to do more with less. For example, studies have shown that on average, 85 percent of victims sought assistance five times from professionals in the year before they received effective help to stop the abuse. Intelligent technology can save time and costs.
“People who are feeling disenfranchised because they are unemployed, struggling with poverty and crime, and have no opportunities, are more vulnerable to domestic violence, child abuse, other crimes, and even radicalization,” said Ricketts. “When a police officer, health worker, or social care professional can quickly spot patterns, they can direct appropriate resources towards at-risk individuals sooner.”
Stop the cascading impact of vulnerability
According to Jim White, head of public services, EMEA North at SAP, early intervention has helped communities prevent cascading impacts of vulnerability that extend to just about every aspect of life, beginning with infant mortality rates, to educational gaps or opioid abuse. However, people at social agencies struggle to manage and make sense of increasing amounts of data that resides in numerous place. He said that bringing information together on one platform is immediately revealing, and often illustrates previously undiscovered root cause and correlations.
Ricketts agreed, noting that connected data means professionals don’t have to search in numerous systems or reinvent the wheel every time because they have faster access to updated information.
“Maybe an elderly person is calling various agencies repeatedly for help, but still hasn’t applied for eligible benefits,” said Ricketts. “Social care workers could see this quickly, moving this person to safe housing to improve their quality of life and save costs for the community long term.”
Public sector agencies using the ARC platform can see what’s going on in someone’s life by tracking their interactions (or lack of) across multiple systems against certain risk indicators. A holistic view of children and adults emerges as the system designates which families and individuals appear to be at risk based on the data. The real-world consequences are significant.
“We’re looking at a tsunami of vulnerability coming our way, and it’s not just because of the pandemic,” said Ricketts. “In Europe alone, there’s an estimated 30 million vulnerable people. Using technology, governments can save money and have better results in addressing urgent community needs.”
One UK government agency has applied the technology to pandemic response efforts, combining and analyzing data from multiple public sector organizations. Organizations in other countries have used the tool to help reduce recidivism and fraud . Edenhouse is also exploring opportunities with local and federal government agencies in the United States.
The truth is, we have the data to protect society’s most vulnerable people. With the right technology, professional care services can understand the data, and apply it to help those in need and the community at-large.
Sourced from Forbes - Contributed by Susan Galer