North Karelia Wellbeing Services County: Vision 2030

Siun sote had identified that digital appointment booking and online services for social and family services could make everyday life easier for citizens while improving the efficiency of professionals' work. Beyond introducing new digital services, the organization wanted to drive a broader transformation toward a multi-channel service model and foster a culture that embraces digital service delivery.

The project's objective was to identify common ways of working across social services and explore how digital appointment booking and online services could support these practices.

Our role was to identify opportunities for introducing digital appointment booking and online services. Together with Siun sote, we created a vision for the future of digital social services and mapped both short- and long-term steps toward achieving it, with milestones for 2025 and 2030.

The vision was grounded in the wellbeing services county's strategy and its service promise: delivering the right service, at the right time, in the right place.

The vision was co-created with both social care professionals and service users through interviews and collaborative workshops. Participants explored future possibilities using a variety of exercises and inspiration materials, allowing ideas to evolve through discussion and iteration. This collaborative approach ensured broad ownership of the vision and strengthened readiness for change.

Vision for 2025

The near-term vision focuses on:

• Helping citizens better understand available services and increasing transparency in social care.
• Guiding citizens to the right services earlier and helping prevent situations from escalating.
• Giving citizens greater visibility into their service journey and its progress.
• Making it easier for professionals to coordinate schedules and collaborate.
• Taking the first concrete steps toward digital social services.
• Initiating a new way of working for both citizens and professionals.

Vision for 2030

The long-term vision aims to:

• Reduce professionals' manual administrative work and simplify collaboration.
• Enable citizens to independently access the right services, reducing unnecessary contacts.
• Actively support citizens throughout their service journey and help them manage their own cases.
• Make communication between citizens and professionals faster and clearer.
• Enable automated monitoring of customer situations where appropriate.
• Increase flexibility and provide more personalized ways of accessing services.

The vision provides social care professionals with a new perspective on the possibilities of digital services. As digital tools become part of everyday work, they will fundamentally change how professionals deliver services and help drive a broader shift in organizational culture.

Both citizens and the well-being services county stand to benefit. A more digital, transparent, and customer-centric operating model improves service accessibility, strengthens customer guidance, enhances the customer experience, and enables more effective social services.

About North Kerelia Wellbeing Services

Home to more than 650,000 residents, Helsinki is Finland's capital, largest city, and the economic center of the Helsinki metropolitan region. The City of Helsinki is also the country's largest employer.