The University of Salford is collaborating with Greater 蜜桃直播-based charity, Oldham Personal Advocacy Limited (OPAL), on a two-year knowledge transfer partnership (KTP), aimed at driving digital transformation within the organisation, thanks to support from Innovate UK.
With the help of University researchers, the vision of the KTP is to develop and embed a digital transformation management system to improve the operations of OPAL, a charity that supports people with learning disabilities and autism. This KTP will enable OPAL to improve its response time, scale-up and increase capacity to support more service-users, and target harder to reach groups.
Despite only being in its early days, the partnership has already addressed multiple operational challenges, improving efficiency by transitioning to new digital processes, resulting in an estimated time saving of 5.25 hours per full-time staff member per week. This has, in turn, improved staff to client ratios and led to a 30% increase in income, which had previously remained static for years.
Over the next five years, the outcomes are expected to generate over 拢660,000 additional income, while driving additional revenue in excess of 拢260,000 annually at the end of the five years.
Michelle Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of OPAL, commented: 鈥溾�楢s an organisation that鈥檚 been supporting adults with learning disabilities for over 40 years, this KTP marks a significant step forward for us. Until recently, we relied on paper-based processes for managing service user information and operations. Moving towards a digital system has been a big cultural shift, and while nothing is changing overnight, it鈥檚 been important to us that our employees are part of that process every step of the way. Making sure everyone feels comfortable with the changes and receives the right, tailored training has been a priority.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a real pleasure working with the University of Salford and especially, Marc, whose expertise has helped bring these ideas to life and made the technical side much easier to navigate. I鈥檓 genuinely excited about what this means for our future, being able to reach and support more people, respond faster, and use modern technology to improve our services. It鈥檚 also a chance to show what鈥檚 possible for other organisations in our sector, and that feels like a meaningful legacy to build.鈥�
Dr Jonathan Lord, one of the lead researchers from the University of Salford, added: 鈥淟ike many charities, OPAL has lacked the funding and expertise to modernise and digitalise its operations. A focus on simply 鈥済etting the job done鈥� has limited process development and reduced competitiveness with more automated service providers.
鈥淭his KTP is transforming OPAL by streamlining operations, improving response times for vulnerable adults, and enhancing its ability to scale and reach hard-to-access communities.鈥�
Professor Marie Griffiths, co-project lead from the University of Salford, continued: 鈥淭he project has already changed how OPAL thinks and operates, enabling faster service-user responses and greater organisational capacity, with employees now engaging with digital tools at every stage of the service-user journey.鈥�
As part of the partnership, KTP Associate, Marc Harrison, alongside the University鈥檚 team, has developed a business model canvas for the charity to provide a clear overview of how it creates and captures value. This alone has enabled the charity to identify new revenue streams in excess of 拢125,000.
In addition, the University is developing a personalised service user dashboard to encourage a high-performance working environment for all stakeholders, while enabling families and carers to track progress of service users through their 鈥榙evelopmental journey鈥� 鈥� a digital record of activities and outcomes that evidences personal growth and impact.
Another opportunity currently being explored is the use of facial recognition systems to promote independence for visually impaired users, improving self-supporting skills and their autonomy in society and the world of work.
Jonathan concluded: 鈥淥PAL is a fantastic charity that鈥檚 doing incredibly meaningful work for its community and we knew we could help expand this work through the adoption of new digital tools to drive efficiency.
鈥淲hile we are still in the early stages of the project, the tools and new processes we have implemented have already had a considerable impact and we鈥檙e only just getting started.鈥�
KTP is a government-funded scheme connecting UK employers with academic researchers; to create and embed new capabilities into businesses so they can achieve their strategic objectives, transform their business and deliver substantial financial returns
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