Cut spending, but improve services: Is analytics the answer for government?Analytics can help the public sector make the best use of skills, investment and services |
11 July 2011
Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has published new insight to show how public bodies could provide more cost-effective services through smarter use of data. It also finds that public bodies are in a great position to use analytic techniques to drive long-term improvements to vital services such as healthcare or policing.
Insight on tap: Improving public services through data analytics argues that, together with publishing greater volumes of data to improve transparency and third party reuse, public bodies should also act to improve the way they use data to manage their business.
In a time of budget cuts and austerity, the effective use of analytics can help the public sector drive improvements in cost management and efficiency through better evidence-based decision making.
Mike Turley, public sector partner at Deloitte, commented: “In an effort to reduce operational spending, there is a real danger that public bodies may lay off staff with critical skills, sell the wrong assets, or commission services that are less effective. This could significantly affect the services that public sector organisations provide.
“Analytics, when applied correctly, represents a major weapon in the fight to bring down costs sustainably across public bodies. This does not necessarily mean capital investment in new technology, but a cultural change to use data effectively to prioritise actions and to help make better decisions.”
The Deloitte report also shows that as markets open up and consumer data proliferates, there may be opportunities for government to apply insights obtained from private sector partners to shape policy and operational decision making.
Mike Turley said: “There are numerous examples of how the private sector is using analytics to enhance business performance. For instance, in the insurance industry, many insurers are using predictive analytics to help identify the level of intervention required in the claims handling process. In turn, this has helped to improve the customer experience and reduce fraud. By learning from these insights, the public sector could further develop how it rolls out services and programmes to the wider community.”
Case study
The NHS’ workforce, as well as being one of the largest in the country, has a fundamental impact on the quality of care provided in the UK. Given the significant lead time in training professionals, the NHS needs to be able to predict demand for professional groups against a backdrop of rapidly changing methods of healthcare provision. As the NHS goes through significant change, traditional assumptions based on previous years are becoming less reliable and leading NHS organisations are increasingly using advanced planning, modelling and other analytic techniques to help them project and understand their future workforce needs. Analytic and statistical techniques are also being used to understand and respond to the impact of changing financial, activity and quality pressures on workforce, supporting moves towards more integrated planning processes.
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