The human side of transformation
Read any newspaper and you’ll find speculation that technological transformation is slowly but surely
removing people from the equation. AI replacing jobs. Algorithms replacing judgement. Services becoming standardised, automated and impersonal. The assumption is that progress inevitably means systems becoming less human.
Yet the finalists in this year’s Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Awards tell a different story. Yes, technology is driving delivery – we see that right across all 24 categories. But, again and again, technology is being used by humans, for humans.
In Barnsley, consultancy Akeso is shortlisted for its pioneering work delivering “health on the high street”, after helping the local NHS trust to move outpatient care from its main hospital
into a shopping centre.
The result of the move was a significant boost to efficiency – not just good for NHS finances but good for staff and patients too. Missed appointments fell by 22 per cent. Unnecessary follow-up appointments dropped by 20 per cent.
Akeso did not simply relocate existing services: it redesigned the way outpatient care was delivered, allowing the new centre to cope with rising demand more sustainably.
The result was not only a healthier community, but a healthier local economy. By opening the outpatient facility, Akeso regenerated the town centre in the process: there were 150,000 additional visits to the town in just one year, with an extra £2.5m of spending.
It can often feel like the direction of travel these days is for public services to become more centralised with, in many cases, a reduction in quality. Yet the success of this project contradicts that assumption, by bringing a vital public service closer to the people who need it and improving the quality of that service. This is a story, therefore, of how a bold reform, aided by technology, can strengthen society, and provide a model for others to emulate.
Ensuring the public has a good experience when interacting with the state is not just an issue in healthcare; it is also essential to ensuring that justice is done. Consider PwC’s work with the City of London Police, who are responsible for policing fraud across the UK. Cybercrime and fraud now account for almost half of all UK crime, yet the systems for dealing with it have not been fit for purpose.
PwC was brought in to overhaul the force’s Action Fraud service by putting victims at the heart of the process. Replacing fragmented tools and manual practices with modern digital reporting and case management tools, it created a faster, clearer and more responsive service. Improved data quality and automated triage also enabled police to identify viable lines of enquiry more effectively, while freeing staff from repetitive work so they could focus on what matters: helping vulnerable victims and dealing with complex cases.
Previously more than a third of all calls to the Action Fraud line were abandoned. The PwC overhaul saw that fall to just 5 per cent, after calls were being answered five times faster. Reports were processed 32 days quicker than before.
Behind these statistics are people who previously gave up reporting crimes because the process was too slow, confusing or exhausting. Such transformations strengthen public trust that institutions are capable of responding when citizens need them most. It counteracts the sense that, too often when dealing with the state, computer says “no”.
Another finalist is CBRE with Nationwide, the only major UK financial institution committed to keeping its branches open until 2030. The building society knew that what makes it special, its connection to community, cannot be taken for granted. The business also knew that this connection depends upon its staff being heard and valued.
That is why Nationwide undertook a review of its more than 600 branches to ensure everything from physical spaces, digital tools and human interactions worked well for staff and customers alike. The smart use of data helped to ensure that the in-branch experience matches the digital experience for ease and satisfaction. In helping banks to stay local, healthcare to become more accessible, and customers and victims to feel valued and empowered, our finalists show the importance of systems shaped by human choices.
Each of the MCA Awards finalists, whether teams or individuals, embody the new age of human-led, human-focused digital transformation. We hope that many more, in consulting and beyond, will be inspired by their stories.