Why every public service mission needs great tech
April 28, 2022
What happens when a public service organization combines a clear purpose with powerful technology?
Accenture is powerfully positioned to help unleash technology at scale and speed. In Public Service, we channel these strengths as we collaborate with governments, nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the globe.
We aim to help these organizations make a difference at the pace of digital — to rapidly multiply mission reach and impact. And that’s the case whether the mission is remembering the past or supporting urgent human needs in the present.
How artificial intelligence is helping ensure that #everynamecounts
The Arolsen Archives — International Center on Nazi Persecution maintains the world’s most comprehensive archive on the victims and survivors of Nazism.
Through its #everynamecounts initiative, the center is working to digitize and index a staggering number of documents (110 million, to be exact). When relying solely on manual indexing, the center was able to transcribe four documents an hour.
In collaboration with Accenture, the center sought a faster, more effective approach. Together, we prioritized roughly 7 million documents that would be too difficult for humans to read and transcribe. Then we put Accenture’s Solutions.AI engine — a collection of artificial intelligence (AI) tools — to work.
Today humans are working alongside Solutions.AI to greatly improve the speed and accuracy of digitization. The approach leans on AI where it makes sense, tapping into human strengths where they can add the best value.
The center (and its army of volunteers) can now digitize more than 10 times as many documents per hour.
How can we deploy technology in support of today's refugees?
Sadly, persecution and human suffering did not end with Nazism. Today millions of people around the world are being forced to leave their homes. When they arrive in other countries, they need a wide range of support — from obtaining reliable identification to securing housing, food, education and employment.
Accenture is already helping refugees to establish digital identities they can rely on as they move across borders. We also see significant potential to improve coordination and deployment of other refugee support resources.
Technology can bring speed and scale to the creative solutions that nonprofits and NGOs devise to support refugees. Human efforts will always be invaluable, but people can’t deliver at the pace of digital. Given the current and projected level of need, technology is essential.
How can innovative technology make the impossible possible?
Remember how governments implemented new technologies in record time during pandemic shutdowns? To enable remote work, they adopted AI, virtual contact centers, collaboration platforms and other cloud-enabled solutions. With these capabilities, most agency workforces maintained or even improved their productivity.
Not long ago, it might have seemed impossible to have state employees working from home or citizens engaging with agencies more digitally than in person. Now it’s a reality.
Not long ago, it might have seemed impossible that the Arolsen Archives would be using AI to preserve historical records. Now it’s a reality.
Let’s lean into tech to enable more coordinated, compassionate and effective refugee support. Let’s make that a reality, too.
What are the major challenges your public service organization is facing? How could you use technology to achieve exponentially greater scale and speed?
It’s not something in the distant future. There are ways to make it happen today. Accenture Public Service welcomes the opportunity to innovate with you.
Let’s stay in touch via LinkedIn and Twitter.
Read more from Ryan
- How can states spend today for a better tomorrow?
- Pandemic momentum: Use (case) it or lose it
- Rebuilding public infrastructure with digital capabilities post-COVID
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