#98: Environment Agency: Reusability & Common Problem Solving

Chris Cope, Digital Programme Director at the Environment Agency, and Ed Pikett, Director Central Goverment Technology and Transformation at Hitachi Solutions Europe, sit down with Editor Sam Birchall to discuss how public sector organisations can step away from building systems from scratch, and work to intelligently leverage and reuse work done by other teams within government. We take a closer look at the work done by Chris and Ed as part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 'Smart Environmental Regulation Programme' - and how this provides a model for collaborating on common problems across government.

Generative AI, popularised by ChatGPT, creates content by learning from a vast corpus of existing content and then using patterns from that data to generate fresh content - and has the potential to transform information retrieval across government data silos, and internal and citizen-facing customer service. But how can government organisations maximise the value of this transformative technology, while minimising the risk? We're joined by KJ Lian, Global Head of Data at Amazon Web Services, and friend of the podcast, Deepak Shukla, Data and Analytics Lead for Public Sector at Amazon Web Services, to dig deeper into the promise of Generative AI.

Government departments are operating across multiple databases with different standards, architectures, security levels – a great complexity at a time where data plays an increasing role in decision making. Afshin Attari, Senior Director Public Sector & Unified Platforms at Exponential-e, returns to discuss how data teams can overcome these challenges - and maximise data interoperability!

Friend of the podcast Deepak Shukla returns to talk with Sam about one of the hottest topics in government transformation right now - the role of AI in enabling better government delivery. Deepak leads on data and analytics for public sector at Amazon Web Services in the UK and Ireland, and will be helping to host a discussion on the value of Generative AI in the public sector at the upcoming Government Transformation Summit (22 November 2023, ETC Venues, 133 Houndsditch, London).

Data interoperability refers to the ability of different systems, technologies, or software to access and use shared data - something clearly crucial for government attempts to overcome silo-based decision-making and data collection, while respecting the circumstances under which data may have been collected from citizens. We sit down with CGI's Vice President of Consulting, Richard Buckley, to understand how government can build upon the current approach to data utility, and deliver better frontline outcomes.

What role will AI play in the transformation of public sector delivery - and how can government organisations responsibly manage the impact of this technology on citizens, businesses and public servants? Alex Jaimes, Chief Scientist and SVP of AI at Dataminr, joins Sam as we take a closer look at what AI is capable of doing today, and the opportunities of what AI could help the public sector achieve tomorrow.

Government Data exists in a complex, ever-changing environment with many stakeholders - and against this backdrop Adaptive Data Governance is a way of managing data that emphasises flexibility and responsiveness to change. Just as an organisation's data landscape, business needs, regulatory environment, and technological capabilities change, so a department's data governance will need to evolve. Sam talks to Alberto Villari and Steve Holyer, two data experts from Informatica, to examine how to maximise the value of adaptive data governance in the public sector.

How can government departments best deal with the pressure to deliver transformational change at pace? James Buckley, Head of Practice for Digital Transformation at Made Tech, sits down with Sam to discuss some of the different approaches that can be taken to accelerate delivery, and they look at the impact of emergent and disruptive technologies, including digital twins and hyper automation.

How can data be used to enable cross-government collaboration and service delivery? What kind of data sharing mechanisms and data infrastructure are necessary to support cross-government functions and services? We caught up with friend of the show, Deepak Shukla, Amazon Web Services' Data & Analytics Lead for Public Sector, to dig deeper into the approaches best suited for government departments. Learn more about this issue, alongside senior public sector data leaders at Government Data Summit in London. Subscribe to Government Transformation Magazine.

Government will only be able to achieve transformational outcomes if it is able to leverage data from across departments, and with the private sector. To do this, while retaining citizen trust, places an emphasis on responsible data sharing. What are some of the considerations for data heads when planning how they will collaborate with other public sector data users? We sat down with Robin Sutara, Field CTO and Pritesh Patel, Public Sector Leader at Databricks to hear how they view the challenges and opportunities around this issue.. Pritesh and the Databricks team will be part of the discussions at the upcoming Government Data Summit (30 March 2023).