Re-Engineering to be Market Ready for NDIS
14 August 2014 at 10:18 am
The roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will force disability providers to open their doors to a new way of doing things and offers a chance to completely reinvent themselves, writes the CEO of Achieve Australia, Anne Bryce.
As Australia continues towards rolling out the NDIS – a truly global initiative – much has been said about the paradigm shift that will revolutionise the disability marketplace.
Such a shift will turn people with disability from welfare hand-out recipients to consumers with real choice, forcing disability providers to open their doors to a new way of doing things after years of block funding issued by government direct to service providers.
There’s a critical juncture ahead as we look towards the change and continue to be strong advocates for choice and control as the sector readies itself for the full NDIS roll-out.
It’s also a chance to completely re-invent ourselves to be truly innovative and market ready come July 2016.
As a founding member of the grass roots ‘Every Australian Counts’ campaign that saw the successful implementation of NDIS, at Achieve Australia we are preparing ourselves for NDIS.
Strategically, being NDIS ready is our number one priority to ensure we not only continue to meet the needs of our existing clients, but also pave the way to support new clients entering the market to have the choice and control to live independent and meaningful lives.
Recently, Achieve Australia attended the Better Boards Australasia Conference in Adelaide and it appears we are not alone as the sector continues to grapple with the most significant change in disability services history.
With more than 300 Directors and Executives in the room during a panel discussion a live poll saw 45 per cent of attendees confirm that they are already looking at strategic opportunities to partner, merge or amalgamate to strengthen their products, services and support.
What’s clear is that it will become increasingly critical for service providers to have embraced technology, systems and performance culture to be scalable and sustainable to meet the growing needs of the sector and we know that there will be a large number of providers who can’t do it alone.
Achieve Australia’s strategic approach was supported when Rachel Botsman, a global thought leader on the power of collaboration and sharing through digital technologies to transform the way we live, work and consume, spoke to the conference delegates about Collective Collaboration.
Botsman said Collective Collaboration was the start of a transformation in the way we think about supply and demand and part of a mass value shift in the way we consume that is disrupting sectors.
To respond to such disruptions, Botsman encouraged delegates to rethink the way they build relationships, maximise the way they think about resources and open doors to revolution to navigate through the complexities of disrupted market places.
A pivotal project to be NDIS ready is to open Achieve Australia’s doors to conversations with like-minded organisations who are struggling to deal with the complexities the reform is bringing about.
The overwhelming majority of service providers will need to look at new opportunities, think outside the square and truly innovate to ensure the people we all support, our consumers in the new paradigm, are serviced to meet expectations.
About the author: Anne Bryce has over 26 years experience in disability service provision, with nearly 20 years operational management level experience. These roles included the management of Accommodation, Employment, Community Living and Community Brokerage Services and has worked in both government and non-government agencies.Bryce was appointed to the role of CEO for Achieve Australia when The Crowle Foundation and Achieve Foundation (formerly Hornsby Challenge) successfully merged in 2009. She is a member of the National Disability Services (NDA) Board. Achieve Australia has been providing services and support for people with a disability since 1952.
