PROFILE
challenges. Data architecture is one: we
have so much valuable data locked up in
monolothic systems that are expensive and
difficult to change. This is compounded by a
second challenge of compliance with GDPR,
again requiring changes to legacy systems.
Cybersecurity is a constant threat, especially
in government. We have had to adapt
quickly to develop a new security team
to address this threat, moving away from
the old assurance model to a much more
technical and proactive one. We now recruit
ethical hackers into our ‘red team’ to go out
and find our vulnerabilities before anyone
else does.
On the plus-side, things that were hard 10
years ago are so much easier now. We don’t
need to worry about servers, storage and
capacity management. SaaS software like
Google Apps and Microsoft 365 updates
itself in the background without us having to
give it too much thought.
An important career lesson
The late Steve Jobs famously said: ‘It
doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and
tell them what to do; we hire smart people
so they can tell us what to do’. Learning how
to put aside control and learn to act as a
servant-leader is the most important lesson
I’ve learned. If you hire brilliant and diverse
teams and give them a clear mission, you will
deliver amazing results. I am endlessly awed
by the brilliance of our people in MoJ Digital
and Technology.
and allows them to prioritise services of the
highest value. In the prison space, this has
real-life impact on safety and security. ethonographic approaches to understanding
what users really need, rather than what
they want.
Utilising technology to enhance the
customer experience Current IT challenges
throughout Europe
Technology is rarely, if ever, the sole answer
to better customer experience. Layering
technology platforms over broken processes
just leads to users frustrated by a digital
process rather than a paper one. Instead,
we focus on designing whole services based
on the needs of end-users. Frequently this
will include digital or technology solutions.
Central to this approach is early and
constant user testing. We have a strong and
growing user research profession in MoJ:
specialists who combine quantative and Neatly side-stepping the challenge of Brexit,
most European CIOs I speak to share similar
www.intelligentcio.com
Advice for aspiring CIOs
Start with user needs before even
thinking about solutions. Organisations
waste enormous amounts of money
building systems and features no one
asked for, or that solve the wrong problem.
Speak to users, deliver services iteratively
and test constantly. n
LEARNING HOW TO PUT ASIDE
CONTROL AND LEARN TO ACT AS
A SERVANT-LEADER IS THE MOST
IMPORTANT LESSON I’VE LEARNED.
INTELLIGENTCIO
61