The UK government has a bold ambition to revolutionize public services using artificial intelligence (AI): AI Opportunity Action Plan. The recommendations, released this year, provide 50 recommendations to position the UK as a global leader in AI, including transforming public services through the use of AI. However, many challenges remain before the public sector can truly enjoy the benefits of this transformative technology.
Modernization becomes more difficult for public sector organizations, legacy systems, paper-based records and data silos. This year's Public Accounts Commission (PAC) report found that almost a third of the central government system was identified as “legacy.” Cabinet Office surveys suggest that approximately 50% of the public sector is spent maintaining these systems.
Beyond high costs, outdated systems block access to public sector rich data stores and hamper advances towards data-driven and AI-enhancing approaches. For public sector organisations, having data to get data is the first step to improving better data-driven decisions and working methods, providing a stepping stone towards a brighter, AI-powerful future for UK civil servants to provide improved services to their citizens.
How AI can change the public sector
Currently, AI is not widely used by the government. According to a report from the National Audit Bureau, 70% of the government sector plan or pilot AI projects. Across the public sector, AI has a great commitment to providing enormous opportunities, improving efficiency, enhancing decision-making, and providing more personalized and responsive public services. AI can provide insight into everything from medical conditions to academic research, making organizations more efficient, and fostering smarter policy decisions and faster crisis responses. For government agencies, simplifying their data architecture provides a great opportunity, whether this is organizing long-standing weather data or adopting public transport controls. By shifting towards the Cross-Cloud data platform, public sector organizations can promote data-based decisions, enable data sharing, and promote better outcomes for citizens.
For example, weather forecasting means that MET offices can more easily share data with the NHS to study weather and health, and that AI can be used to experiment with text-based predictions based on MET office's rich data stores. The impact of modernizing our approach to data is quick and measurable, with a return on investment of 19 people from the UK taxpayer Return on Investment (ROI). Benefits and potential benefits span multiple sectors, such as predicting and mitigating the impact of weather on services, and helping emergency services reach the scene of the accident on time.
Public Sector Silo Challenge
Public sector organizations should look at data collection and data management to begin the modernization process, and work together to break down data silos. When data remains locked in silos, organizations spend most of their time and resources combining these silos and endeavoring to shift data between them. Siloed data means that the dataset is always correct, relevant or consistent when needed for analysis, and can take valuable insights into your organization.
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Security is, of course, the biggest concern as public sector organizations deal with highly sensitive information on a daily basis, and fear of loss of control over data can hinder attempts to modernize. Secure, cloud-based data sharing allows government agencies to maintain control of their data and feel confident in its security. This allows the department to work seamlessly with others and share important insights that may have previously been locked in.
Another major issue is that public institutions are often buried in paperwork. This means that you need to work hard to scan physical A4 paper before analyzing the data. To give an example, the NHS works through a vast number of patient files stored on paper and accumulated over decades to make them easier to access, but the tasks are enormous. AI tools such as document analytics software can speed up this process, helping to integrate data in one place and free workers to deal with other challenges. These challenges are very realistic, but addressing them paves the way for AI tools to revolutionize UK public services, increasing efficiency and cost reductions.
Why the cloud is important
Cloud-based AI solutions allow multiple different organizations (or parts of the same organization) to securely access data in a secure, compliant way through the same cloud. This means that government agencies can maintain data privacy while also allowing appropriate access to data that can drive new insights.
For example, the public correctly maintains the NHS to a very high standard of data privacy and security. Today, NHS organizations are heading towards data sharing across the NHS Trust, along with UK partners and other care providers. Choosing a cloud-based system means that NHS organizations can manage data governance and sovereignty while adhering to privacy requirements, but at the same time, sharing data when necessary is simple and secure. This means that the NHS will be able to enjoy the outcomes of data collaboration across the life sciences ecosystem, and will use data to advance medical research and drive innovation that can save lives.
Provides innovation
Public sector systems benefit from the increased innovation that AI can deliver, from healthcare to academia. There are many challenges along the road. Working only with paper-based records is an epic task, and dismantling siloed systems that have been in place for decades is also a major challenge. But moving beyond such legacy systems towards a cloud-based future will enable the UK to truly achieve the promises of its government's AI plan and reach its citizens. Addressing these issues will become the most important issue of the public sector and an important first step towards providing public services suitable for the 21st century.
