Innovation With a Purpose: Deploying Digital Technologies to Improve Outcomes in Human Services

2
6 in 10 citizens
view the private sector
as more innovative
than government
3 in 4 citizens
want government
technology leaders
to innovate more
56% of citizens
believe Human Services
agencies should use
advanced analytics
to provide more
individualised and
relevant services
56% of citizens
trust Human Services
agencies to keep their
personal data secure
Copyright © 2018 Accenture. All rights reserved.
An Accenture survey of more than
6,000 citizens in six countries revealed:
CITIZENS WANT MORE
INNOVATION IN HUMAN SERVICES
Source: Accenture Public Service Global Omnibus Citizen Survey (December 2017)

3
90% of
employees
see innovation as an
important part of
their day-to-day jobs
90% of
executives
see innovation as
an important part
of their day-to-day
jobs and leadership
responsibilities
Accenture surveyed
185 employment and social
services professionals
across 10 countries.
We found that almost
everyone recognises what
citizens are asking of them:
HUMAN SERVICES AGENCIES AGREE:
INNOVATION IS GOOD FOR
PEOPLE AND FOR AGENCIES

Accenture’s survey revealed that
employment services agencies have more
capacity for innovation than any other
segment within government. Why?
We believe it’s because these agencies
typically operate as part of an ecosystem
with innovative participants—including
jobseekers, who may be younger, and
private-sector employers and start - ups
who are often active in driving innovation.
INNOVATION:
WHO’S GETTING IT RIGHT?
Copyright © 2018 Accenture. All rights reserved. 4
55 60 65 70 75 80
Employment services
Healthcare provider
Border services/Customs
Pensions
Revenue/Tax
Social services/Welfare
Defence
Healthcare payor
Centralized Administration
Policing/Justice
Maturity in the Accenture Innovation Framework*

Accenture measured Human Services agencies’
performance against our innovation framework—Strategy,
Ideation, Absorption, Execution, Impact and Benefits
IDENTIFYING
INNOVATION LEADERS
Copyright © 2018 Accenture. All rights reserved. 5*See Appendix for description of the five pillars of the Accenture Innovation Framework.
Strategy Ideation Absorption Execution Impact & Benefits
• Does the Human Services
agency recognise the
importance of innovation?
• Is there a process in
place to develop ideas
to support innovation
and change both
internally and externally?
• Is innovation absorbed
throughout the culture and
are most promising ideas
chosen for execution?
• Is the Human Services
agency able to execute
on innovative ideas
using both internal and
external capabilities?
• What is the impact
of innovation?
Accenture designed the new study around our Innovation Framework
From this work we identified the
leading characteristics of
innovative Human Services
agencies amongst survey

To deliver citizen outcomes and to reduce operational expenses
for their organisations. They achieve those results at a higher rate.
INNOVATION LEADERS ARE CLEAR ON THE
PURPOSE OF INNOVATION:
Innovation leaders embed innovation within their organisations
59.30%
73.30%
66.70%
40.50%
41.90%
41.90%
Reach different citizen
groups/demographics
Discontinue services or programmes that are
not performing well or meeting outcomes
Reduce human errors by
customers or employees
Human Services Innovation Leaders Other Human Services Agencies

The survey uncovered
differences in how
Human Services innovation
leaders approach key
aspects of innovation.
WHAT
DISTINGUISHES
HUMAN
SERVICES
INNOVATION
LEADERS

INNOVATION IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF
LEADERSHIP & CULTURE
63.00%
66.70%
70.40%
59.30%
37.30%
48.10%
43.70%
38.00%
Encourage innovation to a great extent to
better meet and fulfil the agency’s mission
Manage the innovation process through
an internal R&D/innovation team or lab
Task different people with overseeing
different parts of the innovation process
Include innovation as part
of day-to-day discussions

INNOVATION IS NURTURED THROUGH
59.30%
63.00%
66.70%
41.80%
43.70%
35.40%
Give employees the freedom and flexibility
to engage in innovation-related tasks
Incentivise innovation by offering honorary
placements/fellowships inside the agency
Incentivise innovation by offering honorary
placements/fellowships outside the agency

INNOVATION IS ENABLED THROUGH
Innovation leaders take
a systematic approach
81.50%
92.60%
50.00%
62.70%
Use detailed, objective criteria
to rank and select projects,
aligned to strategic objectives
Create a business case for
each innovation project,
including risks and potential
issues
Innovation leaders help
remove fear of failure
66.70%
92.60%
46.80%
77.80%
Regard risk-takers highly,
independent of the
success or failure of their
innovation projects
Have mechanisms to
manage risk created by
innovation initiatives

INNOVATION IS NURTURED THROUGH
ECOSYSTEMS
59.30%
81.50%
63.00%
37.50%
51.90%
44.90%
Target their collaboration with third parties
based on the innovation type
Collaborate with third parties and are more likely
to participate in innovation- and ideation
Actively pursue and encourage development
of ideas for innovation from outside the organisation

INNOVATION IS PACED THROUGH
TECHNOLOGIES
Innovation leaders use creative techniques such
as prototyping and user research
59.30%
63.00%
30.40%
34.20%
Invest in and implement
user research and
testing of prototypes
Maintain physical space
for ideation, prototyping
and other innovation work
Human Service innovation leaders are ahead of
the cloud curve
64.20%
38.80%
Use a cloud platform for
innovation (to enable reduced
costs, data collaboration and
speed of implementation)

USING DATA TO
UNLEASH INNOVATION
Prior Accenture research* has shown that Human
Services agencies have these data-related challenges:
• Measuring and understanding performance
• Ensuring data privacy
• Building technology and data skills
In addition, Human Services agencies have
begun to pilot and implement innovation by:
• Creating collaborative data warehouses
• Developing analytics platforms
• Using unstructured and big data
* https://www.accenture.com/t20170224T040950Z__w__/us-en/_acnmedia/PDF-
36/Accenture-Public-Service-Emerging-Technologies-Slideshare.pdf v
Practicing open data principles, publishing ‘open
data’ for general public consumption and regularly
engaging with developers to explore new services
77.80%
60.10%

INNOVATION LEADERS EMBRACE
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
55.60%
51.90%
59.30%
55.60%
34.80%
34.80%
38.60%
29.10%
Blockchain
Internet of Things
Video analytics
Biometrics/identity analytics

INNOVATION IS DRIVEN BY
KEY ENABLERS
12.50%
74.10%
88.90%
22.20%
3.10%
40.50%
63.30%
7.60%
Finance: Allocate more than 10% of their
administrative budget toward innovation
Skills: Find it relatively easy to find people
internally and externally with the skills needed
to introduce or execute on innovations
Impact measurement: Have a framework to evaluate return
on innovation investments and other potential public
impact of innovation cases following implementation
Ability to scale: More likely to move from initial
prototype or pilot to full implementation of
an innovative service in less than six months

LEADERS RECOGNISE BARRIERS TO
EFFECTIVE INNOVATION
63.00%
55.60%
55.60%
44.40%
33.80%
36.50%
33.30%
26.90%
Lack of qualified personnel to
support the innovation process
Lack of an overall ‘innovation architecture’
Prohibitive legal and regulatory environment
Inability to scale and implement
long-term innovation after pilots

When it comes to innovation skills, our research
revealed two paradoxical findings about innovation
leaders: they are more likely to identify skills as a
barrier to innovation, yet nearly three-quarters find
it ‘relatively easy’ to find people internally and
externally with the right skills.
A CLOSER
LOOK AT
THE SKILLS
PARADOX
17
How is this possible?
Our research points to three characteristics
of Human Services innovation leaders:
They do not deny the challenge. Self-awareness
of lack of skills and processes is a critical first step.
They create the right conditions. While it may
never be possible to hire talent with all the right
skills, leaders are adept at building targeted skills
and establishing key processes for attracting and
retaining top talent.
They are not afraid to look outside. Leaders are
keenly aware that partners can help fill internal skills
gaps. They excel at selecting appropriate partners
based on the type of innovation and skills required.

Is your Agency ready to embrace innovation and progress towards the Era of Empowerment?
Find out by reading our POV
Follow the leaders
• Align innovation
initiatives to strategic goals
• Empower your people with
a culture that encourages
innovation and isn’t afraid of failure
• More is better when it comes
to partnerships and collaborations
• Embrace open data
and emerging technologies
INNOVATION
WITH PURPOSE
IS ABOUT
LEADERSHIP
AND CULTURE,
ECOSYSTEMS AND
TECHNOLOGY

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• South Africa
• United Kingdom
• United States
METHODOLOGY AND
DEMOGRAPHICS
Employment and social services
respondents represented the
following levels of government:
National/
Federal
State/Regional/
Provincial
Local
12% 41% 47%
Employment and social services respondents have the following job titles:
EVP
Functional Head
(Non IT)
Line of Business
Head (Non IT)
CIO Other C-suite
27% 27% 12% 7% 27%
In October 2017, Accenture surveyed
185 employment and social services
respondents from 10 countries:
Employment and social services respondents
operate in agencies with these budget ranges:
Large
($20 billion or more)
Medium
($2 billion to $19.9 billion)
Small
($250 million to $1.9 billion)
Very small
(less than $250 million)
26% 31% 20% 23%
Employment and social services respondents
represent agencies with the following headcount ranges:
More than
50,000
25,000 to
50,000
10,000 to
25,000
5,000 to
10,000
2,500 to
5,000
Less than
2,500
6% 9% 17% 24% 14% 30%
We identified innovation leaders by looking at the mean innovation score for
the sector. From there, we identified innovators that were at least one standard
deviation higher than the mean. Each of the 10 countries surveyed had at least
one agency that emerged as an Innovation Leader.

About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad
range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and
operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across
more than 40 industries and all business functions — underpinned by the
world’s largest delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection of
business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create
sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 435,000 people
serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to
improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com. Copyright © 2018 Accenture. All rights reserved.
Laura Hulme
Research Specialist
Accenture Public Service
Accenture Research
laura.hulme@accenture.com
Shalabh Kumar Singh
Research Manager
Accenture APAC Health and Public Services
Accenture Research
shalabh.kumar.singh@accenture.com
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DEPLOYING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
TO IMPROVE OUTCOMES IN HUMAN SERVICES CONTACT US
Gaurav Gujral
Managing Director
Global Consulting Lead
Accenture Social Services
g.gujral@accenture.com

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