Guest blog: Embracing partnerships to help close the digital inclusion gap

David Jones, Digital Learning and Development Specialist at Monmouthshire Building Society outlines how the Society is prioritising digital and continuing to put their members first.

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Katie Wise

This article was first published in Society Matters magazine

David Jones, Monmouthshire Building Society

It’s an exciting time for the Society, as we’re on a journey to enhance our product offering in the digital space and look towards modernisation. We’ve been around for over 150 years and our aim has always been to put our members first. Our new strategy is to continue this, but with the changes around us in technology, we’re embracing digital services.

Digital Inclusion

We’re modernising in every part of the Society. Whether it’s about how members sign up for services in branch or the systems we’re using in head office.

One of our biggest challenges is taking our members on this journey. Many of our members like to bank in traditional ways, they love to bring in their passbook and see a friendly face in the branch. That’s one of the reasons we chose to partner with Digital Communities Wales.

Digital Communities Wales’s aim is to close the digital inclusion gap across Wales, specifically focusing on marginalised areas, for example older people, people with disabilities, people from ethnic backgrounds, who may not have access to technology. In Wales, this also includes rural areas, where people may not even have data connections at all. As a regional building society, many of our members will fall into one of these categories and we need to do everything we can to stop them falling behind. Knowing all of this, we felt that it was a great partnership fit.

The Digital Communities Wales (DCW) Charter

The DCW Charter exists to support and champion organisations working in Wales who are willing to promote basic digital skills and help people online. The Society has signed up to six pledges to show our commitment to helping digitally excluded people enjoy the benefits of being online.

We wanted this to underpin some cultural shifts that we’re looking to make, which aligns with the new strategy we launched this year. Our aim is to prioritise digital but also continue to put our members first.

Looking after your digital health

The fantastic thing about Digital Communities Wales is they really underpinned our own internal ambitions, to build strong communities through improving individuals digital health.

Everybody’s got their own personal digital life, and we need people to have awareness of their own digital health. With essential services moving online, people have that missing link with how to do it and safely. No one wants to be unsafe with money but there are people out there who will try and take advantage.

Broadening our digital offering

Our MBS app will be in the market soon. It’s member focused, allowing our members to interact when they want to, and how they want to.

We’re also hoping to launch our own live chat service later this year for those who want to be able to speak to us in their own time, when it suits them.

It’s ever evolving, but we don’t want to take away the ability to come in and have a cuppa either. We’re committed to staying on the high street and we’re here when our members want to come in for a chat with our customer consultants. Those same customer consultants will be there to help and support those members, even help them download that app and show them how to use it.

Getting people in the right space means that our colleagues will provide a more quality member experience and help fulfil our purpose of helping members, colleagues, and communities to thrive.

Find out more about Digital Communities Wales - https://www.digitalcommunities.gov.wales/

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