This thorough report scrutinises the challenges and opportunities linked to the digital transformation within the UK Government, with a particular focus on the Ministry of Defence (MoD). It highlights the crucial role of data and artificial intelligence (AI) in contemporary warfare and defence strategies. The document illustrates that, despite the MoD’s ambitious strategies for the adoption of emerging technologies, it contends with substantial obstacles, including a culture resistant to change, outdated systems, skill shortages, and complex procurement practices. The report critiques the government’s previous digital transformation endeavours, which often emphasised user-centric design and agile methods but fell short of instigating the deeper organisational change required for a genuinely data-driven ethos.
The report advocates for a shift in perspective from project-based methods to a product-oriented mindset that demands ongoing development and innovation to fully harness data and AI. It discusses the public sector’s challenges in attracting talent, where bureaucratic barriers, rigid pay structures, and an unenticing organisational culture impede the recruitment and retention of proficient digital and data personnel.
Leadership is pinpointed as a decisive element, where there is a discernible disconnect between the publication of strategies and their pragmatic implementation. The report calls for leaders to proactively facilitate digital strategies by intervening in hiring processes, budgeting, and operational procedures. Moreover, it stresses that successful digital transformation, particularly in the realm of data and AI, requires an organisational culture that values and integrates data throughout all operational layers.
In sum, the report posits that the MoD possesses a singular opportunity to assimilate lessons from past public sector transformations and to establish a new standard for data-centric operations. This can be achieved by forming the right partnerships, cultivating the requisite skills, fostering an appropriate leadership and management strategy, and nurturing a culture that wholeheartedly embraces the potential of digital technology. The strategies presented are ambitious, yet the report emphasises that their realisation depends on the MoD’s capability to translate these blueprints into tangible, actionable undertakings.
Read the full white paper:
Lessons Learnt from Government Digital Transformation
JAMES HERBERT
Chief Executive Officer
James is an expert panellist of the Defence Data Research Centre (DDRC), and an entrepreneur specialising in starting and scaling modern software and technology services businesses.
In 2017 James co-founded The Panoply which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2018. Now over 600 people strong, The Panoply delivers Design, Software, Cloud and Data services to global clients across multiple sectors including media, government, energy, financial services and logistics.
Prior to his entrepreneurial career James played a leading role in many of the most significant data and technology initiatives in the UK Government. He worked in the Cabinet Office team that designed the G Cloud procurement framework, co-wrote the world’s first national Government Cloud Strategy and developed the data model underpinning the NCA.