Digital transformation is about people, processes, and technology. In many ways, technology is the easy bit.
Robyn North, Director of Digital Transformation, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
What are the key priorities for RCOG?
We’re in a fortunate position as a membership organisation, in that we have exceptionally high retention rates—averaging around 95%. Our trainees spend circa seven years working through our training pathway to gain full membership, so they are keen to retain their membership after that.
Our focus is more on getting to know our members better. We want to be able to tailor content and personalise the experience people have with us—wherever they are in their careers.
In terms of revenue opportunities, we also see huge potential to grow our international membership base and explore more business-to-business partnerships, which would enable us to share our content with an even wider audience.
How is technology enabling this?
We have always moved quickly in terms of digital adoption, and were very swift to digitise exams and events, for example, during the pandemic.
One of our main challenges has been overhauling a fragmented infrastructure and several legacy systems. A big part of our digital transformation programme has involved bringing some of these disparate systems together, building APIs and integrating everything with our CRM.
Historically, it has been difficult to access the level of data and insight that we needed to offer better personalisation, but we’re making huge strides now as we build a more holistic, flexible infrastructure.
Our learning management system (LMS) has made the delivery of our content much more sophisticated. D2L Brightspace is constantly being enhanced and we’re excited about all the new functionality on the platform, particularly some of its interactive capabilities. We want to make sure that everything we have on our eLearning site, RCOG Learning, is of the highest quality and that our users are having a seamless experience—whenever, wherever and however they want to learn.
How are you making better use of data?
We’re using data to inform everything, from which events are resonating best with members to content design. We’re looking at engagement and completion rates, as well as conducting user feedback surveys at the end of each course. We’re constantly looking at new mechanisms that help us to examine how content is being used, so we can make changes.
We also carry out a high-level evaluation of products every three years to make sure that all our content is meeting its educational objectives.
People using our content are, typically, very time poor. We must make sure that we’re producing content in a format that suits them and fits in with their schedules. That’s why we’re introducing more podcasts and video content, for example, that members can access when it’s convenient for them.
Is there a role for AI in your strategy?
We are exploring how AI can help us to personalise content even more and how it could support our clinical resource with content creation. Essentially, we’ll look at every single asset we create, with quality, diversity and accessibility in mind, to make sure we don’t leave any stone unturned in making our content the best it can be.
What part do people play in digital transformation?
Digital transformation must be led from board level. We had a level of digital maturity at RCOG, and people were bought into the idea of being digital first. But you need a leadership team that understands what that means in practice, essentially a commitment to invest in people, skills and technology.
There’s an element of cultural and behavioural change that needs to accompany technology investments. Digital transformation is about people, processes and technology. In many ways, technology is the easy bit. Having the right people and processes in place to get the maximum benefit from it is often undervalued. We’re putting huge emphasis on that at RCOG to make sure that everyone is on the journey with us.
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