So, after setting down some of my own thoughts around how the UK could build a smarter state, I really enjoyed attending TechUK’s conference, a great chance to meet other public/private representatives with similar interests to me. I also came away with some genuine insights and a few great anecdotes – the one about having to track a Cobol developer’s houseboat was particularly amusing. I’ll share it, if you bump into me.
As always with tech events nowadays, what sticks with you is the sheer pace of change. I learnt that 76% of FTSE100 companies have disappeared in the last 30 years, and that the lifespan of a company is now often less than 15 years. And this is, of course, before AI has fully come into the picture!
But as a person that has spent most of the last two decades helping digitise the UK government, it was great to hear the ministerial commitment to making us “lead the world in AI adoption and regulation” – and disheartening, as well as a bit of a reality check, to hear that we have slipped down the ‘government digitisation league tables’ since the heady days of Martha Lane-Fox and the creation of GDS. The rest of the world has simply moved more quickly than we have, with the Nordics and Baltics taking pole position. Those Swedes are crafty, I tell you. I should know, I'm married to one.
There was no clear consensus or discussion around why this is, but I think one of the quotes from an NHS representative illustrates one of the challenges: “our policies are often stopping good usage of technology”. Even if the people and technology are present the landscape in which public sector operates must evolve if we hope to become a world leader.
The panel on ‘Intelligent Automation’ highlighted many of the great gains we can get when we're moving from sampling data for modelling to being able to ingest 100% of the data- but stepped quite carefully around the impact of generative AI on government. Perhaps unsurprising as I can’t rightly say I know of any commercial organisations that are fully clear on how they're going to use this new technology – or even if it’s a threat or opportunity! We regularly assess both private and public sector organisations for AI readiness and know that there is a lot of excitement, fear and (perhaps most of all) denial out there.
I was particularly interested in hearing Tom Read, CEO of GDS, sharing his vision for GOV.UK moving into becoming an “everything government app”. With all the developments around OneLogin, identity, notification and so on, this goal should be within reach. I, for one, look forward to having my passport on my mobile. Better not run out of charge before I land, though. But the idea was not so much just a new channel, but more that the government is going to proactively tell you when you must do things or have the right to claim support. They gently reach out to you, and then show you that all the forms are pre-filled for you. This is laudable, even if a few cynical voices wondered about whether the government was actually all that keen to pay out more money than it had to.
GDS got several shoutouts for the work they have done over the last decade, specifically for the language, structures and clear guidelines their Service Manual had provided the world with. Again, it’s less the technology and even the people, and more the clear guidance that's required.
A representative from GDS also mentioned that they're creating structures and governance that will help identify digital success in one department and spread it to others. Whilst this may be commendable, it’s also a bit of a no-brainer. Why has this not happened to a much greater extent over the last decade or so? I know there are exceptions to this, but after a decade in this industry I know the wheel is being reinvented again and again, often within the same department.
For me personally, the day offered nothing but hope and excitement. This, the transformation of the UK state to a world leader in digital, is what we at Transform are all about, and the opportunities for us to help are almost endless. It will be very interesting to compare my experience this year to next year’s ‘Building the smarter state’ conference. I have a feeling things will have moved on quite a bit by then!
