Mark Hill, Senior Associate
“Bringing any new platform online is challenging but particularly so when you have a hard deadline and a tight timescale. In our own experience, it can take around 18 months to bring a new social care system online. In some cases, that can run closer to two years.
“A lot needs to happen in that time. As well as the overarching case management system, an authority will also need to build solutions for everything from financial assessments through to provider payments. Implementing just one of those things can be a complex endeavour, particularly when you consider how sensitive the underlying data is. Implementing them all at the same time—at speed—promises to be extremely challenging.
“In practice, that means two things. Firstly, authorities will need their implementation programme to be as seamless and efficient as possible. Secondly, and in service to the first point, they’ll need to be able to bring in dedicated resource the moment it’s needed. If you’re racing towards a predetermined go-live date, you can’t really afford to wait for a dedicated data migration specialist to become available on the contract market.
“All of that said, there’s a big difference between a rapid system implementation and rushed one. No matter how compact the timescale might be, taking the time to stop and think is essential. In fact, with the right approach, it can even help to speed up delivery.
“At BetterGov, we’re passionate about the principles of co-production. Yes, we bring a lot of technical expertise to the table, but we also pride ourselves on our ability to help authorities find out what they really need their social care system to do.
“Going into an implementation, everyone has an idea of what they want the system to achieve. But things can also get set in stone without anyone really knowing why. That’s why it’s so important sometimes to take a (quick) step backwards and look at the ultimate objective. It might transpire that a specific choice will add three months to the timeline, for instance. If an alternative approach can deliver the same outcome faster, wouldn’t that be preferable?
“These are the kinds of things that you can only find out about by asking the right questions. And sometimes, you need an outsider’s perspective to know what those questions are.”
