Atos Origin’s mission is to advance the performance of our customers by offering innovative solutions that deliver measurable business value. We believe that by developing long-term relationships with our clients we are better able to understand their strategic vision and help them implement solutions that deliver improved efficiency and productivity gains.
One such area where we have used this partnership approach to provide economic prosperity and also make a real contribution to society is through Atos Origin Medical Services. Atos Origin Medical Services is a leading provider of managed medical services delivering disability assessment medicine, occupational health, medico-legal services, primary care and diagnostics services that touch the lives of over two million people in the UK. Its clients include the NHS, major government departments, public sector authorities and private companies. Medical Services employs 1,400 people, including 450 medical professionals, and operates from a nationwide network of over 250 medical facilities. It also engages a further 1,500 medical professionals with the support and mentorship of our medical leadership team.
One highly successful innovation has been the introduction of NHS Commuter Walk-in Centers. In May 2007, this project won the Grand Prix at the Public - Private Finance Awards 2007 as the best operational project across all sectors, recognizing the improvement in public services that the Atos Origin run NHS Walk-In Centers have delivered and the benefits that they have brought to the local community.
Since opening the two centers, Manchester Piccadilly in November 2005 and Canary Wharf in April 2006, more than 45,000 patient consultations have been carried out. Between the two facilities, on average 90% of patients see a nurse practitioner or GP within 20 minutes of arrival. Patient feedback has been extremely positive with 94% of patients at Manchester Piccadilly and 96% of patients at Canary Wharf rating the service as either good or excellent. Staff satisfaction is also very good at both centres with 100% of staff saying that they are satisfied with Atos Origin and 100% strongly agreeing that their working environment is good.
Other recognition has come for Atos Consulting, the business consulting arm of Atos Origin, which has recently won the prestigious Platinum Award at the annual Management Consultancies Association (MCA) awards held in London. This award recognizes the outstanding performance of the consulting team that worked with the Department for International Development (DFID) to restore confidence in the Security and Justice systems in the Balkans.
In 2002, DFID asked Atos Consulting to implement a major program in the Balkans to improve the effectiveness of the police, courts, prisons and central government ministries responsible for them. Atos Consulting put together a team of close to 100 people in 17 locations, working in four different languages. Projects ranged from those with a central, strategic focus – such as improving the organization of courts, prisons and police systems – to projects with a local focus such as introducing a customer service ethos within municipal courts and local police forces.
The result has been improved relations between police and citizens and better reporting of crime and clear-up rates. In the courts, case backlogs have been cut, the number of summons delivered has risen and the adjournments have fallen dramatically.
Atos Consulting has worked with the DFID to help bring communication technologies to rural African communities through the Catalyzing Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA) program. This was a multi million pound effort designed to help the people of Africa benefit from a range of technologies from the internet to community radio. The project spanned 34 countries, with many languages, cultures and different technical, logistical and political challenges.
Atos Consulting facilitated a series of policy debates across Africa, bringing together governments, international agencies, regulators, companies, the media and educational institutions to shape policy in each country. The Atos Consulting team was 90% African giving it more credibility with the local community. It was able to tailor communications to the needs of each country; encourage collaboration between project teams to exchange learning and to co-ordinate activities to achieve efficiencies.
The impact of the CATIA program was recognized at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005. For example, in just three years, Atos Consulting and its African partners significantly increased the affordability, access and use of ICTs in Africa. For example, after successful lobbying by the CATIA project internet backbone tariffs in Kenya reduced by 60%.