The Tools You Use Right Now

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What tools do you use in their work now? Email, email lists, blogs, etc.

Technology is widely defined - phone, fax, pen, computer, etc. - put tech use in context

The point of the strategies and tools we want to share is to save time, become more efficient, provide better service, connect with each other more effectively, avoid duplication of effort, etc.

What innovative projects or programs have you implemented to meet client needs?
How do you use technology with your clients? How would you like to use it?
What do you think would be pros and cons of Settlement 2.0?

Context - Our Clients and the Internet

Some Stats

According to the Canadian Internet Use Survey:

In 2007, the rate of internet use was 78% among immigrants who arrived in Canada during the last 10 years. That's 3% higher than those born in Canada. If you're not using internet technology effectively in your agency, you're missing an opportunity.

“Almost three-quarters (73%), or 19.2 million Canadians aged 16 and older, went online for personal reasons during the 12 months prior to the survey… Among people born in Canada, 75% used the Internet, compared with 66% of those born elsewhere. However, the rate was 78% among immigrants who arrived in Canada during the last 10 years. Most of these recent immigrants live in urban areas.”

“Age remained an important factor. In 2007, 96% of persons aged 16 to 24 went online, more than three times the 29% among seniors aged 65 and older. However, Internet use increased among all age groups since 2005.” But, if you think this is just an age-related phenomenon, "51 per cent of Canadians aged 60 and older are online users." - Canadian Internet Project

E-mail and general browsing continued to be the most popular online activities from home. The web remained popular for finding government or health information and making travel arrangements. And many Canadians also used it for banking, paying bills and ordering goods or services. However, survey data show that more Canadians are participating in additional activities. For example, one-fifth (20%) of home Internet users reported contributing content by posting images, writing blogs, or participating in discussion groups. Of these people, over one-half were under the age of 30. Some 50% of home Internet users used an instant messenger during 2007. Again, relatively more young Canadians reported going online for this reason. The increased use of broadband has also meant a rise in downloading or watching movies or television, and downloading music.

Service Expectations

Immediacy
Peer Networks
Consistency
Accuracy
Expertise

Abundance of on-line resources and web-based information:

Newcomers have high expectations of settlement services and expect specialized services. Easy access to information helps immigrants be well informed even before seeing a settlement worker. Immigrants do not need to see a worker to gather simple information. As a result, the cases workers are dealing with are getting more and more complex which requires case management rather than simple information and referral. They are also dealing with the issue of misinformation and have to work both convince newcomers of the correct information and act as a gateway to accurate information.

Settlement workers are gateways to accurate information. Too much information may lead to underutilization of resources, as application of this volume of information becomes a problem. Clients need to be supported by consulting and advisory services to assist them to understand how the system works, how to pick up information and apply it in a relevant context.

Whether you like it or not, your clients are using the tech and expect you to be using it. This has been confirmed in our own research about technology service demand from newcomers and is evident through the consistently high use of sites such as Settlement.Org and newcomer-created and owned discussion and blog websites. The challenge is finding out what they want/need and in what format - and then how to deliver it!

Basic Technology Principles

What unmet needs or desires do our clients have?

How can we complement existing service delivery and to offer clients another way to get help? Can on-line, interactive access to and connection with counsellors, information, mentors and advisors, peers, and other learning resources be part of a service solution?

Connect and integrate your online work with your offline work

Context

Focus on your clients and their needs and what you're able to offer them. Make sure your online work is relevant and integrated into your daily work. Think long-term. If you build something that adds to your work or is separate from it, it just won't last.

This isn’t something that should be driven by your IT department. It also shouldn’t just be an add-on to someone’s work, it should part of their work – they should like doing it (passion), know the tool and their users inside and out.

How do you currently engage your clients/constituency/users/stakeholders/donors, etc.? Building rapport, understanding your users is just as important (perhaps more so) online as it is offline.

Newcomers should be able to access services with more choice, in a way that meets their needs and situation. We will build programs and technologies around what clients want and need instead of letting the program and technologies drive our program behaviour.

For Settlement 2.0, technology is valuable when it complements or maximizes a relationship currently in progress. We are exploring how it can be used to complement current client service practice.

Important principles:

No loss of human service interaction with clients
Minimal increase in workload for staff; instead, a change in how we do our work with some of our clients
E-services must complement existing services
Online work must contribute to meeting client service targets
E-services is not for all clients
Privacy and confidentiality are essential
Maintaining a high level of client-centric service focus