The CivTech 8 Challenges

Challenge Sponsor: The Extra Help Unit (EHU), Citizen’s Advice Scotland

Not all energy consumers are equal. Some are more vulnerable than others and need extra and immediate help. In an audience where everyone is vulnerable, prioritisation is more difficult and that can have a huge impact for the consumer, potentially increasing the risk of harm or even be life threatening. These outcomes impact friends, families and our staff working with the consumer.

Consumers don’t always clearly and succinctly outline their concerns or feelings, which can make detection and identification of priority cases difficult under a load of information, some of it more relevant than others and the sheer volume can hide those in need of greatest help.

So, how can technology help to quickly identify and prioritise support for people in the most vulnerable situations, starting with those having energy problems?

Challenge Sponsors: Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID), Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate, Scottish Government

The existing resource planning, allocation, management and reporting system is profoundly manual, and this means it’s static and labour intensive. But we work in an environment in which workloads, resources and deadlines change frequently, and people often have to work across different teams and locations. We need a system that is able to respond to the continually changing conditions, is flexible and dynamic. The ability to match the right resources with the right skills to meet changing tasks and deadlines is vitally important.

So how can technology help drive effective resource management for a multiskilled workforce in a constantly changing environment?