Q: You started in an infantry role in the Army, what sparked your shift towards digital and technology?

That’s right. I joined the Army as an Infantry Officer – very much at the pointy end of the organisation. Then I was selected for my first technical job around the adoption of Bowman – which was the Army’s adopted digital tactical communications.

I was responsible for its introduction into the first armoured infantry battalion and its first deployment in Iraq. I was then promoted to Major and did a masters degree in information management technology. This set me up to build business applications for the Army.

When it comes to digital, I was responsible for overseeing the build of some of the software that the Army currently uses in its legacy portfolio. Back in 2012, this was the best that was available. Fast forward 12 years and it’s definitely not the best that’s available anymore…

Q: What career path did you take after leaving the Army and how did it lead you to Made Tech?

When I left the Army and before Made Tech, I went into consultancy with quite a generalist delivery approach. But found that when I looked back at the work I’d done, it had all been about digital delivery.

I realised that whether I intended to or not, I found myself to be something of a technologist. That was the work I enjoyed doing and the next logical step for me. 

What I found most exciting about Made Tech was that joining was an opportunity for me to help an organisation that had lots of good experience delivering digital programmes, in what I described as an agile-native environment in government. Being able to bring that into defence organisations along with my experience and different perspectives is something that I think defence really needs. 

Q: What’s your approach to digital in defence?

The reality is that everything’s a computer nowadays. Right from your toaster through to armoured fighting vehicles. For me this is one of the key points where defence should sit up and take notice.

By thinking about capability in terms of the underlying information system within it, you start to separate out the hardware and software elements and the platform and data structures too. All those things we take for granted as digital natives.

Once you start to think in that way, you come up with a very different approach to tackling big problems.

Q: You touched on legacy technology, let’s talk a little bit more about that. 

Legacy creates a problem across defence. For example, when you look at the Army, they still roll around much of their technology in vehicles designed in the 1950s and introduced in the 60s and 70s.

There’s some old bits of kit knocking around. The traditional approach is to use it till it falls apart, then build a new one because that’s what we’ve always done with vehicles. That doesn’t work with digital technology – we need more of an evolutionary approach. 

They didn’t think much about how they would integrate or keep pace with the wider industry and developments in technology. That oversight now creates a big problem in the sector and defence needs to fix it.

Q: Beyond legacy, what other challenges are we seeing in defence? 

Well, we’re now at a nexus point where the expectation of the user – the next generation joining the military or the next generation of civil servants – have expectations of what digital technology should look like. The realities of defence’s digital environment really mismatch those expectations.

That impacts a number of areas. First it’s lower workforce happiness, which feeds into the second one which is that it also impacts productivity. So you’ve got a less productive workforce and not a particularly happy workforce. That makes everything about the business harder to do. 

However, the thing is that having lots of legacy platforms operating in their own silos means that there’s lots of opportunities to improve things. Artificial intelligence (AI) is really hard to apply to defence because their data is not organised in a way that allows them to take advantage of it.

Defence organisations have got to get their digital information systems into a position where they can properly exploit the opportunities available in the wider market – like AI. 

Defence is starting to chip away at this stuff. As they do, the data they release is going to help others to justify doing more. But at the moment, because most haven’t sorted the data side, they find it difficult to justify their work and show the productivity benefits.

Q: How do you think the industry can bring in these new ideas – and implement them well?

One of defence’s biggest challenges is how to get new blood, new organisations and new, innovative ways of doing things into an organisation. If you’re looking at the same old suspects, big primes—and by big primes, I’m talking about the big defence engineering contractors— we’re not seeing the change we want and we’re missing out on innovative talent.

Defence needs to adopt more innovative commercial approaches and dynamic frameworks. This would allow more experimentation, similar to the GDS ways of working. Smaller, innovative companies could then come in and expose the wider market to the true breadth of the defence ecosystem – which those primes currently hide.

This also requires a significant mindset shift. We need to do more in the discovery space and start talking about alphas, minimum viable products, and running betas—all things we’re used to in many other areas of government.

We just need to accelerate that thinking into not just the back-office of defence, but also into battlefield capabilities. 

Q: What strategic shifts could defence organisations introduce to optimise their approach to digital?

Defence must focus on services, not platforms. Currently, they prioritise large platform procurement in their discussions. Their system is designed to build these platforms. And again, this design, rooted in old manual processes, is part of the problem.

How did you build a tank in the 1950s? You do it like this.

That’s how procurement systems are set up in defence. But that doesn’t work if you want to evergreen an information system. You’ve got to think about roadmaps rather than detailed requirements documents. 

This allows teams to iteratively work to set up a minimum viable product. You’re then at the point where you can deliver something and iteratively deliver all those ‘nice to have’ requirements afterwards. That way we get working software in the hands of the user much more quickly.

We can keep improving that software so they’re not paying for a new platform in 10 years time. By continually improving and updating the platform you get better and better software and a better user experience.

This requires a change to the procurement system and a change to the way defence thinks about projects and programmes. It needs to be much more about service management and incremental upgrades to get something out in the world much quicker. 

In this post I mention the need to digital information systems into a position to properly explore opportunities like AI. If you’re looking for a framework to help you navigate those challenges, download our whitepaper, Laying the groundwork for AI.

The post The future of defence is digital appeared first on Made Tech.

Breaking down data silos in defence 

One of the biggest challenges in defence is data silos. Different parts of the organisation store their data separately, making it hard to access and share information. While there are various strategies for digital modernisation, these efforts often work in isolation. Each organisation within defence has its own chief information officerand they often work independently. This slows down decision-making as data isn’t easily available across teams and platforms.

The UK’s Data Strategy for Defence flagged this issue in 2021.

Improving data sharing across platforms could allow defence teams to better predict resources, enhance decision-making, and respond quicker to threats. The strategy even 3 years ago was to drive a more data-centric approach across operations.

Rather than trying to fix everything at once, agile projects focus on smaller steps to unlock the value of data. For example, the Defence Information Platform is consolidating over 25 platforms into one, making it easier to find and manage data. These smaller data projects are key to delivering quick wins, rather than waiting years for a big project to complete.

Using AI and agile strategies to speed up decisions

As more data becomes available, defence organisations are looking at ways to use AI to make faster, better decisions. The Defence AI Playbook (2024) highlights that AI could improve situational awareness, automate decisions, and predict future outcomes. By 2030, it’s estimated that up to 30% of defence processes could be automated using AI. 

But to tap into this potential, agile methods are needed for rapid testing and scaling of AI tools. Defence organisations need to be able to deploy AI solutions quickly. Instead of waiting years for a massive project to deliver, defence is now focusing on how to release value early. 

A ‘fail fast, learn fast’ mindset is key to quick innovation. By conducting pilot projects and iterating based on feedback, defence organisations can refine their AI models quickly without risking large failures. This not only speeds up the development of effective solutions but also creates a culture of continuous learning.

Early release of value in defence projects

In the past, defence projects followed a waterfall model – large, multi-year plans with all the value delivered at the end. Now, programs like Business Modernisation for Support (BMfS) are shifting to agile methods, delivering value in stages rather than waiting for one big project cycle to finish.

It’s estimated that the Ministry of Defence could save billions of pounds by improving data access and adopting agile approaches across its operations. This shift not only reduces costs but also allows for faster improvements.

Agile methodologies align equally well with modern security practices in defence. Security is now ‘baked in’ from the start of a project rather than being checked at the end. This approach supports quicker, safer delivery of new applications and systems.

Defence teams must tackle data quality and security

Defence organisations all recognise that data quality is a key issue. While there’s a lot of valuable data, it’s not always ready for AI systems to use effectively. ‘How do we clean up our data and make it accessible?’ is a common question I hear from clients.

Data security is another major concern. While AI offers significant potential to improve decision-making and automate processes, it also introduces new security risks. For example, large language models (LLMs) trained on defence data could unintentionally leak classified information, or AI systems could be manipulated by adversaries to provide false or misleading outputs. 

Organisations are understandably cautious about sharing sensitive data with LLMs. Agile approaches help tackle this challenge by allowing defence teams to test and refine AI models in smaller, more secure steps, rather than taking on the risk of a large-scale implementation.

Agile strategies for future success

The shift to more agile strategies in defence along with a data-driven approach is reshaping how the industry operates. By breaking down data silos, using AI to speed up decisions and focusing on delivering value in smaller stages, defence organisations can respond faster to modern challenges.

In particular I think that the key to long-term success lies in adopting agile methods that allow for continuous delivery of value. This not only helps defence organisations stay ahead of today’s challenges but also sets them up for the future.

For more insights, visit our data and AI services pages or take a look at the government Defence AI Playbook.

Laying the groundwork for AI

Unlock your AI potential: Discover your archetype, master the 3 pillars of data maturity, and learn from real-world transformations in our latest whitepaper, Laying the Groundwork for AI.

Download the whitepaper

The post Agile strategies for modern defence appeared first on Made Tech.

This growth of cybercrime and state-sponsored intrusions has been on a monumental rise over the last 15 years. As technology has improved, become more affordable and made its way into the hands of almost everyone, the nefarious drive to use this technology for financial gain and espionage has grown proportionally. 

Alongside this, the time to market for public vulnerabilities has greatly reduced. 

It’s becoming more common for exploit proof of concept code to be available shortly after a vulnerability is publicly disclosed (often within hours or days). While helpful in ensuring appropriate mitigations are developed, it also greatly accelerates the creation of automated exploitation mechanisms. This gives cyber criminals easy and cheap access to exploit tools that can deliver malware at scale, often without the need for human interaction.

The cyber security industry itself has become an industrialised economy, both through the research and sale of high value zero-day exploits and the increasingly cheaper cyber crime toolkits available on the darkweb. When cyber criminals are offering ransomware via an affiliate program and the cost of adequately protecting against attacks is far higher than it is to procure them – the public sector has a major issue.

The UK government’s response to this growing threat was clearly outlined in its National Cyber Security Strategy 2022-2030 (published February 2022). 

“Government’s critical functions are to be significantly hardened to cyber attack by 2025, with all government organisations across the whole public sector being resilient to known vulnerabilities and attack methods no later than 2030.”

– National Cyber Strategy 2022-2030

Despite providing some very clear plans for public sector organisations through its Vision, Aims, Pillars and Objectives – the headline statement that all critical functions are to be significantly hardened to cyber attack in just two and a half years and all public sector organisations must be resilient to known attack in seven and a half years, is a difficult thing to wrap your head around, but we’re here to help!

So what about these Alien space-hackers? 

Cyber security commonly gets a bad rap and I struggled to understand why, despite working in the field for years, until I read this quote from The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford. 

“They’re always coming up with a million reasons why anything we do will create a security hole that alien space-hackers will exploit to pillage our entire organisation and steal all our code, intellectual property, credit card numbers and pictures of our loved ones.”

– Bill Palmer, The Phoenix Project

It often feels like there’s 2 forms of risk: the clearly obvious and the frankly bizarre. I for one often have my mind focused on the alien space-hackers, which is somewhat understandable, having spent many years of my life helping the public sector defend against some of the craziest, most inconceivable cyber security threats that you couldn’t even imagine.

This however, is not the norm, we don’t all face the same risks. Because of this, a cyber security function can’t create a single template for doing security well, rolling it out across the public sector and calling it a day. 

Equally, there is no one silver bullet when it comes to defending against risk. There is no such thing as a zero risk, fully secure solution. Cyber security risk can only be understood, managed and remediated. Organisations must plan for the worst, defend for the known, then monitor and respond to the rest. And as the threats evolve, so must the response. Cyber security is never done – it’s a culture to embed.

Why Made Tech?

Building securely has been a key part of Made Tech’s delivery philosophy since its inception in 2008, but it’s become clear over recent years that our partners in the public sector have struggled to keep up. 

There are many things that impact this, from a lack of skilled resources, budget constraints and the focus on adding features above securing the basics.

Providing a dedicated cyber security consultancy service that sits alongside and compliments our growing set of services enables us to continue in our core purpose to positively impact the future of the country by using technology to improve society, for everyone. 

The threats may never end, but that doesn’t mean we want to lock you into a never-ending commitment to us as a cyber security consultant. As with our track record with technology delivery, our approach is to help instil the culture, competencies and ways of working to leave your organisation fully equipped.

Because defending the public sector from cyber attack is incredibly important, but making sure the public sector is empowered with the technology, knowledge and support to continually defend itself is Made Tech’s mission.

If you’d like to hear more from us on cyber security and the public sector, sign up for Made Tech Insights to get new blog posts and other content delivered straight to your inbox.

The post Do alien space-hackers threaten the UK public sector? appeared first on Made Tech.

It’s because we’re so aware of the growing demand for these assessments that we’ve put together an all-in-one package to support your organisation through a DDAT assessment with minimum disruption to your organisation.

Benefits of a DDAT assessment

The Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework assessment explores the different job roles in the DDaT space. By running a DDaT assessment in your organisation, you can give your teams the opportunity to evaluate their skills and capabilities. 

Giving people the option to review their roles and responsibilities allows you to coach, mentor and upskill your people while growing the digital skills to build government fit for the 21st century. And by identifying, recognising and valuing the skills you already have in place, you’re better placed to retain people with with essential DDaT knowledge and skills.  

Using the DDaT framework, teams can learn more about what different digital roles do in government, understand the need for specific skills and plan pathways in their specialist field their career progression. Assessing your organisation against this framework can also help to review individual skills in preparation for performance reviews, create effective job adverts and carry out human resources and workforce planning. 

It’s no secret that teams across all areas of the public sector are stretched, with complex workloads and limited resources. And, not to toot our trumpets too hard, but we know a bit about digital, data and technology in the public sector – it’s what we do all day.  So we’re keen to help public sector organisations through their DDaT assessments, saving your team time and effort so they can focus on helping citizens. 

The complete DDaT package

We can support you through 6 core areas of your DDaT assessment:

1. Independent evaluation of your self-assessment including a detailed report 
2. Delivery management of your DDaT project
3. Upskilling, mentoring and bringing together Communities of Practice through the introduction of Heads of Community
4. Business analysis, including cost analysis and identification of individuals who align to the DDaT roles
5. Business case support
6. Communications and engagement support

We’re particularly pleased to offer communications and engagement guidance, which includes workshops for line managers and those staff invited to take self assessments to help you develop your DDAT strategy and communications plan to set up everyone in your organisation for success.

Supporting a central government department through their first phase DDaT assessment

We supported a large central government department through the first phases of their DDaT assessments. We ran an end-to-end package in the heart of the department, making sure their teams felt valued while also attracting new specialisms into the organisation. 

Focusing on the organisation’s specific needs, we were able to collaborate with them on their communication and engagement strategies, business analysis and workshops to brief line managers and those colleagues identified as sitting in Group 1 roles within the DDaT framework. 

By transferring our sector knowledge, we’ve coached the team and purposefully developed a programme they can confidently run without further input from us.

The option for the DDaT self-evaluation has meant staff can actively assess and improve their skills, working toward their career progression while encouraging cross-government digital capability and transformation. 

After work began, we were delighted to be kept on for another 12 months, supporting the organisation through the next phases of the programme. 

If you want to find out more about our complete package for DDaT assessments or have a chat about how we can help you, please get in touch below.

All-in-one, but tailored to your org

The beauty of this approach is that it’s cost-effective, thanks to the reusable assets we’ve developed, yet has the scope to tailor to your organisation’s needs with Made Tech experts available to support at every stage. If you’d like to talk more about next steps, please get in touch. 

If you’d like to talk

The post Announcing an all-in-one DDaT Capability Framework roll-out package appeared first on Made Tech.