The way in which the charity sector delivers its services needs to change in order to reflect shifting consumer habits and the way in which the public wants to access support and information.

At the same time as the media habits and access preferences of service users are changing, so the perspectives and priorities of commissioners and funders have also shifted significantly. Many charities face the challenge of sudden and often drastic cuts to funding, while having to provide services to, in many cases, more people than before.

And these evolving trends provide a unique opportunity for the outsourcing sector to provide added value, both to charities and the public whom they serve. Research recently undertaken by ICM on behalf of my organisation Connect Assist shows that previously held concerns regarding loss of personal interaction attributed to outsourcing are largely misguided, because consumer priorities have altered in favour of speed and ease of access.

Some of the main deterrents for charities outsourcing their services in the past have fears relating to the loss of personal interaction, expertise and the integrity of the organisation. Yet our research shows that the public consider speed and availability to be the most important priorities when contacting a charity (58% of those surveyed) compared with only 17% who felt that personal interaction was crucial. The overarching priority for respondents was that they received sympathetic advice from an expert source.

Broader social trends were also reflected in the findings. A quarter of those surveyed said that they wanted to access support and advice through Social Media such as Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps unsurprisingly this figure rises to 58% amongst the 18-24 year old demographic and 45% amongst the 25-34 year old group.

And herein lies the opportunity for charities to access the expertise already held within the outsourcing sector; with its strong track record of service delivery through traditional call centres and more recently multi-channel contact centres.

While online fundraising has become relatively mainstream, far fewer charities are delivering life-changing services to the people, families and communities they work for via a digital platform. Yet the digital medium offers immensely rich potential for service delivery, from providing information, advice and assessments to sustaining relationships with service users.

Most consumers are now familiar with accessing services online, whether from a PC, phone, tablet, kiosk or TV. A host of data illustrates the extraordinarily pervasive adoption of digital channels and an exploding preference for digital access, for example: 58% of the UK population now shop online, while charitable donations made online or via mobile phones have grown from 8% in 2004 to 18% in 2010.

Within the digital space, new applications of mobile technology are showing the fastest growth. Five billion applications were downloaded to mobile phones in 2010, compared with 300 million the previous year, and a large proportion of them are associated with social media. Indeed, by some accounting, social media is the predominant activity on the Web. In the UK, where mobile phone penetration is over 100%, half of the mobile Internet traffic is for Facebook.

As in any organisation, digital service delivery is a part of the mix of overall charity service delivery. In the same way that you can choose to walk into a bank, call them, write to them or interact online, charities still need to keep their services available across as many channels as possible. But the advent of digital services allows users to receive the same high-quality experience whether they engage online or offline, as well as enjoying the ability to switch from one channel to another at will.

At a time where undoubtedly more people will need the services of charities right across the UK, it is now urgent that charities meet the challenges that these survey results highlight. The outsourcing sector has the expertise and ability to enable charities of all sizes to embrace the digital revolution and expand the range of channels they use to provide services. Not only will this result in their ability to support more people in need, for many it will also result in a reduction in costs – surely a ‘win win’ situation for everyone?