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  • 5 minutes
  • 12/04/2022
10250

Fujitsu: Social Value – an unprecedented opportunity in unprecedented times?

Gary Young, Business Operations Director for UK Public Sector at Fujitsu, has taken a lead on developing Fujitsu's social value response and strategy, and is a member of the National Social Value Taskforce. Here he shares his knowledge and Fujitsu's experience in Social Value execution.

We are excited to announce that Fujitsu are one of the sponsors at the National Social Value Conference 2022. Gary Young, Business Operations Director for UK Public Sector at Fujitsu, has taken a lead on developing Fujitsu’s social value response and strategy, and is a member of the National Social Value Taskforce. Here he shares his knowledge and Fujitsu’s experience in Social Value execution. 

“Unprecedented”- a term that has become all too familiar to us since the beginning of 2020. In the past couple of  years, we’ve weathered “unprecedented” global  crises, “unprecedented” political  events, “unprecedented” personal  experiences.  The  impact  of  these  events  has  been  widespread;  presenting  new  and  unfamiliar challenges to individuals, families and communities throughout the UK. This adversity does offer us all a unique opportunity to collaborate in building a fairer and more sustainable society. From organisations to individuals, we all have a role to play.

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. The release of  PPN 06/20 in  September 2020  is just that. The Cabinet Office’s decision to mandate a minimum weighting of 10% to social value in the evaluation of bids has altered the IT Services competitive landscape. From a Fujitsu perspective, Social Value is part of our DNA as an organisation. Our purpose is to “Create a sustainable world by resolving social issues through digital innovation.” In 2030, we imagine a world in which people, regions, companies, things, and data are connected to generate innovation based on delivering value to people and resolving societal issues in order to create a green future and a sustainable society that leaves no one behind.

While there is much to be speculated about, it’s very difficult to predict where social value will be in 10 years’ time. While environmental and economic objectives will no doubt persist, no one can say for certain what the next “unprecedented” event might be which will recalibrate our national and organisational priorities. This being said, we can say with some confidence that:

▪     Social Value is here to stay. As organisations increase their focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals  it  will  become  a  business  imperative  for  everyone;  increasingly  engrained  within  our  BAU operations and mindset.

▪    Those organisations who place it at the core of who they are, will be best placed to succeed.

▪    As  ever,  understanding  customers,  the  things  that  are  most  important  to  them,  and  taking  steps  to support  the  delivery  of  their  aims  is  key  to  remaining  relevant.     Relevance  from  a  social  value perspective is essential to building lasting partnerships.

Early as it is in the life of this policy, we have perceived several challenges which we will need to address as a collective to maximise the positive social impact it will surely bring. As social value continues to mature, every organisation, private and public alike, should consider how they develop social value strategies where everything they  do  contributes  to  achieving  their  own  social  value  priorities  and  purpose.  These  social  value  strategies should  not  only  consider  individual  initiatives,  but  also  how  services  are  designed  and  delivered,  in  order  to ensure “best social value for money”. While social value is currently being considered from an individual project basis, we believe that more value can be gained if social value is considered within the context of a long-term ambition  or target. Furthermore, we need to ensure that overarching Government Social Value ambition  and targets are translated into departmental and organisational strategies with greater cohesion and consistency in how social value is applied and measured across Government.    As we all embark on this journey, we have an opportunity to learn  from  one another to leverage our combined insight and, ultimately, maximise the social value we deliver as an ecosystem.

As  we  seek  to  support  our  customers’  ambitions,  the  increased  concentration  on  Social  Value  has  already fundamentally changed the shape of our engagement models, conversations with customers and end-to-end delivery  models.  When  building  our  social  value  approach,  we’ve  explored  new  and  innovative  measures  to enhance the positive impact of the services we offer while increasingly considering:

  • Government Policy: Align social value strategy to UK Government ambition and priorities; enabling the UK’s long-term digital ambitions while providing equal opportunity to everyone, everywhere in the UK.
  • Our customer’s sustainability plans: Collaborate with customers to tailor our Social Value proposition to their organisational priorities, both near and long term. We are already enabling  our customers to resolve social issues by leveraging innovation and capitalising on emerging technologies e.g. Digital Twin, Quantum-Inspired technology, AI, data and analytics.
  • Levelling Up:   Bringing   economic   value   and   skills  to   the   UK   through   onshore   delivery;   offering employment opportunities to all regions. Focus on local delivery, employment and investment to “level up” and grow the UK economy.
  • Diversification of the Supply chain: Harnessing SME and VCSE capabilities to drive innovation and growth. Strengthen our SME and VCSE relationships; actively bringing opportunities to our partners and sharing experience and knowledge to enable their continued growth.

At Fujitsu we have taken positive steps to deliver tangible and relevant social benefits to our wide and growing portfolio of customers, along with the communities in which they operate. We are relishing the opportunity to take unprecedented leaps in  the delivery of  social  impact as the IT  services market leader. Over the coming months and years, our priority will be to collaborate with our customers and partners to create strategies, build solutions and deliver services that will maximise combined social value contribution.

Gary will join the panel for ‘No place left behind’, an assessment of the government’s levelling up paper, on day one of the National Social Value Conference 2022. Limited tickets are available, so book yours today and join us there.

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