How BearingPoint is helping governments navigate the coronavirus
Since the start of the coronavirus, BearingPoint has supported several governments and dozens of public sector organisations with the delivery of critical Covid-19-related public services. A round of notable projects.
The first Corona-related engagements came shortly after European countries went in lockdown. This sparked a large repatriation operation, with governments tasked with bringing back nationals stranded abroad. In Ireland, a team of BearingPoint consultants helped the government in managing the repatriation process, from identifying those stranded to the request process through to the actual transport.
The outbreak of the crisis sparked another major government-led initiative: ramping up intensive care capacity in hospitals, and putting an infrastructure into place that could handle the steep rise in the number of corona patients. In Sweden, BearingPoint worked in the front-line, supporting the set up a temporary Covid-19 field hospital in Stockholm for 600 patients, including the planning and managing of patient flow and hospital beds as well as a new organisational system.
In parallel, healthcare institutions across Europe needed to respond swiftly to the changing landscape, which included anything from providing more information and guidance to Covid-19 infected patients, to developing new products/apps that can help organisations and individuals tackle contain the spread of the disease. In Ireland, France and Sweden, BearingPoint helped hospitals and other healthcare institutions with developing new patient journeys, designing new, Covid-19 related products and the deployment of technologies such as eHealth solutions.
The economic response
The economic crisis induced by the coronavirus has faced both central and local governments across the continent with an unprecedented impact. Enacting business continuity and crisis management plans was one of the first steps taken, and in Germany and France, BearingPoint supported government institutions with the implementation of these plans.
With the immediate response in place, governments then started their work on meeting changing demands. In several member states, BearingPoint supported its public sector clients with the rapid deployment and revision of operational plans, on topics spanning patient care processes, community health, and employment welfare.
In light of the abrupt need to work remotely, the firm’s consultants also supported public sector organisations with embracing virtual and digital ways of working, and with the transition to remote and agile project management approaches.
The consulting firm further helped mainly local governments with responding to steep increases to their workload. While planned centrally, the bulk of covid-19 government financial schemes are being executed at a local level, and BearingPoint has been tapped by municipalities across Europe to help them absorb the intake of requests.
In Ireland, BearingPoint developed and deployed a new end-to-end solution to support applications for the Pandemic Unemployment Benefit for citizens using a new online service and enabled by robotic process automation (RPA) technology, making payments to close to 600,000 individuals by the end of April. In Germany, the consultancy built a prototype for the automated evaluation of applications regarding governmental help for small businesses using artificial intelligence (AI).
Meanwhile, in the background, the crisis has led to an acceleration of digitalisation initiatives in the public space, and BearingPoint has been (and still is) working with clients across Europe to build and accelerate their transition to digital services in areas such as social services, citizen information, passport and driving license services.
Andrew Montgomery, the global leader of BearingPoint’s Government and Public Sector practice, said that he is delighted the firm is able to play such a relevant role at a critical time for governments, businesses and people. “We have been able to draw on capabilities, leading practices and learnings from across our government and public sector clients and teams in many different countries. Working remotely and in partnership with our clients, we have quickly mobilised resources to design and deliver solutions to support both the public services needed during Covid-19 and the new ways of working for public servants.”