The Children's Society
Innovation concepts with safeguarding as the first constraint: a private moderated network, virtual chat safety rooms, and the operational automation behind them.
Duration
2017 to 2018
Team
8
Scale
Enterprise
Scope
United Kingdom
Overview
Every idea here had to answer the safeguarding question before it answered anything else. The audience was disadvantaged children and refugees, and for that group the wrong adult finding out is a real risk rather than an inconvenience.
The persona work was anchored in what a young person actually said about the service: when I saw my worker I was very happy, he was from my country and speaking my language, I told him all my difficulties and he helped me with my problems. That sentence is about being understood, not about a service being available, and it set the bar for the rest.
The innovation concepts
**A private, moderated network as a safe haven.*
Monitored by Children's Society staff and trained volunteers, and designed explicitly against interference, intimidation and grooming. Argued as an extension of how young people already communicate rather than as a new destination they have to be persuaded to visit.
Controlled environments a young person can explore from home to build confidence and self esteem, with a trained volunteer or staff member available for a one to one private conversation at the moment it is wanted rather than at the next appointment.
So that a young person in a difficult situation can find others in a similar one, with an adult holding the space.
**Operational automation, from the December 2018 session.*
Integration with their Cascade HR platform and whether the vendor would open the APIs, Azure with robotic process automation on top, automated starter and leaver provisioning, a migration path from Raiser's Edge to Dynamics or Salesforce for a supporter database of around two million records, and sentiment analysis on their internal Yammer channel so an emerging problem raises a ticket before it becomes a complaint.
Why it mattered
A moderated peer space for vulnerable children is either designed around the risk from the first slide, or it should not be built at all. Writing that constraint into the concept rather than leaving it to a later security review is the difference between a product and a liability.
Project Artifacts
Project Details
Industry
Non-Profit
Duration
2017 to 2018
Team Size
8
Direct Reports
3
Scale
Enterprise
Scope
United Kingdom
Budget
Undisclosed
Platforms
Web, Mobile and Native: iOS and Android, VR, Conversational, RPA
Regulatory
Heavy
Engagement
Digital innovation concepts, user research and experience design