Written by Victor G. Snyder, Consultant at BossMakers

COVID-19 forced the pace of digital transformation , requiring enterprises to move beyond websites, to reorient entire organizations around digital processes and digital services.

The need for deeper digital transformation is urgent. Only 27% of CEOs are confident that revenue will grow in the next 12 months, while consumer growth has plummeted. What’s more, 36% expect to cut their spending over the next 12 months, up from 19% who gave the same response before the pandemic.

For the foreseeable future, digital is the way forward. Surging demand for digital interactions originated from…

Written by Sarah Talbot, Emerging Technologies Lead at Swindon Borough Council.

In Swindon Borough Council where I am Emerging Technologies Lead we have faced a great many challenges as a result of the first year of COVID-19. One area has been a large increase in application for Free School Meals. My team has had to quickly initiate an innovative digital transformation project as the pandemic hit, enabling it to meet surging demand and ensure that local children could access much-needed support.

With more families entering the benefit system, applications for Free School Meals across our region rose more than 2,000%…

Written by Caroline Williams, Marketing Manager, Target Group

To digitise or to digitalise? That’s the big question for 2021 and beyond.

5 key considerations for retail banks as they transform.

Retail banking is in the throes of the most significant transformation since its creation in the 17th century. Technology is the main driving force behind the change, influencing consumer behaviours and expectations, as well as shaping a new regulatory agenda.

Technology is enabling the most sophisticated use of data ever seen, automating processes, replacing human capital and dramatically enhancing speed and customer experience. …

Written by Peter Dewsbury, Director at Arcus Global

Breaches of cyber security are a significant risk to every business and individual, but are increasingly affecting local government. Recovering from the February 2020 ransomware attack that reduced Redcar & Cleveland Council to using pen and paper for critical processes, was estimated to have cost over £10.5m — three times their 2019 central ICT budget.

However, you no longer need to manage the majority of cyber security risks yourself — you can instead transfer much of it to the cloud. You can also make it much simpler to secure, keeping the assets…

Written by Swetha Singh, Senior Agile Delivery Manager, DWP Digital

I started my journey as a senior agile delivery manager in the Digital Security team in September last year.

Given the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19, I was nervous about the on-boarding process and being able to carve my identity within the team. I was concerned that it would be difficult to put things into perspective without having met my colleagues in person. However, the experience has actually been completely different and definitely a pleasant one. Everyone within Digital Security has been very welcoming, supportive and warm.

My role in tech services

Digital Security as a…

Written by Sue Clarke, Clinical Lead, NHS Digital

At the time, all nursing documentation was done on paper. We used whiteboards and clipboards to document our patient’s status and manage patient flow around the hospital.

It was incredibly time-consuming, walking around the wards making notes and compiling bed occupancy. Not having real-time data made making decisions difficult. Nor were we able to share that data with other health and care organisations to make the patient’s journey, and any delays, a shared responsibility. There was enormous potential for improvement.

Welcome to the 21st century

An example of using digital technology to improve care was the introduction…

Written by Tony Armitage, Data Team Lead at Arcus Global

With the National Data Strategy setting out the Government’s desire to create a data-led public sector, as well as an appetite from local authorities to deliver data-driven services, many organisations now see that migrating from legacy systems to a new provider offers the ideal opportunity to improve data quality and use this investment to its fullest potential.

Data migration can be seen as a ‘necessary evil’ when implementing new tech, and may not be given the attention it deserves. The consequence of this is data decay — key data is…

Written by Rheanne Bennie, Digital Marketing Officer at DWP Digital

The Virtual Machine Environment Replacement (VME-R) project replaced aging legacy infrastructure necessary to enable future welfare policy changes to be implemented. This complex and intensive programme has seen DWP rebuild technology, some of which was more than 40 years old, which supports its core benefit payment systems, part of the National Critical Infrastructure, onto more modern, secure and performant platforms.

In total 11 critical benefit systems were replaced with zero disruption to DWP’s benefit operations or delays to citizen payments. The largest 4 of these systems were replaced in the…