Transforming public services: From senior inclusivity to workforce futureproofing

How do you order a taxi nowadays? When was the last time you flagged one down on the road? Flagging down a cab almost seems to be a forgotten gesture used in the last century.

For Avepoint’s Solution Director, Grace Zhang, digitalising “simple tasks” like hailing a cab or making hospital appointments and even ordering food at restaurants - has unintentionally left non tech savvy people, like seniors, behind.

“They shouldn’t have to struggle to access these basic services,” she stressed.

“On the other hand, for the businesses, with the whirlwind of digital transformation, [digitalisation] is not only a trend, it’s not only a challenge, but it’s a way. It’s actually a thing you have to follow,” she continued.

Not only is digitalisation a trend, but it has also become the norm for businesses today.

She was speaking at GovInsider’s Festival of Innovation (FOI), where she shared how public services could be made more inclusive and accessible for everyone, as well as the need for the workforce to constantly upskill themselves to meet changing societal needs.

Supporting seniors

During her presentation, Zhang provided an example of a hypothetical artificial intelligence (AI)-powered interface, AgeWell, that used AvePoint technology to provide services to seniors.

Noting that AgeWell was a [hypothetical] website that belonged to a government entity who dealt with retirement planning, she said the website incorporated a voice-activated virtual assistant, presenting information such as blood sugar levels and notifying users’ caregivers when anomalies are found. 

“A regular chatbot was just not friendly enough for the seniors due to their poor eyesight,” said Zhang, explaining the rationale for adding a voice activated AI agent.

Beyond simple reminders, the AgeWell virtual agent is also able to lead users to a “virtual connect hall”.

Here, the agent provides consultation in relevant public services such as personalised policy interpretation and retirement planning, Zhang continued.

As seniors sometimes face difficulty in providing information about themselves to caregivers and care professionals, AvePoint adopts a facial recognition system.

Not just limited to seniors or healthcare

Zhang emphasised that the system was not just limited to the seniors or to the healthcare sector. The system could also give a forecasted monthly payout, or simulate ways to increase one’s monthly savings- which the younger generation could utilise.

AgeWell could also help users to fill up forms by making the process more efficient by pre-filling key information and making it easier to fill by collecting user feedback.

Discussing the technology that could power such a website in the real world, Zhang shared that it is necessary to train the AI on the backend to be able to understand specific user profiles, financial status and other regulations.

She added that AvePoint’s prototype, “Mind Loom”, was designed such that users could instruct the AI model to think like a human, personalising the model to be specific to different user pain points.

“Innovation is not about just moving ahead. It's also about looking back and ensuring no one is left behind,” Zhang concluded.

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Staying ahead of the curve

During her second presentation at FOI, Zhang shared how AvePoint set up an effective upskilling framework for civil servants to stay competitive.

This comprehensive upskilling framework aligned organisational goals with individual growth.

According to her, it supports various upskilling approaches, including career path-based, competence-based, and process-driven planning, and can seamlessly align with each individual HR systems’ framework.

Notably, Zhang shared that AvePoint’s system offered a Process Pulse module, which measured the efficiency of critical workflows and identified areas for improvement by suggesting targeted upskilling initiatives.

In this way, the system allowed employees to find out why they may be performing poorly in a particular area and suggest tailored upskilling plans based on identified performance issues, Zhang continued.

Users will also be able to access competency reports, explore career paths, and identify transferable skills for career transitions, which will be stored into management systems such as SharePoint, she explained.

“Our system is able to aggregate all of your knowledge about this particular missing competence and also to aggregate who are the potential [people] working on this missing competence,” said Zhang.

She added how AvePoint’s system recommends courses based on different levels of difficulty and competence required.

The AI system was also able to generate upskilling quizzes for learners, among other features. 

You can watch Zhang’s presentation recordings on-demand here and here