It’s all about data, data, data

To get AI to work, you need as much data as you can lay your hands on. It is the lifeblood of AI. There are a number of open source datasets online that can get you started, or in the case of applying Machine Learning to an existing service (i.e. automating an onboarding process) all you need is the data you currently have collected through this service.

A word of warning – in the current era of GDPR and Cambridge Analytica, the way that you collect and use data to power your AI system needs to be carefully considered. There are many ethical and governance issues that need to be thought through before you just throw a bunch of data at an AI system.

Key questions to ask yourselves are:

• What are our organisational values and how do they relate to our use of data (personal or organisational)?
• What do our data protection and GDPR policies say? Do you have a data governance committee to provide oversight?
• What data are we planning to use and what are its limitations?
  • Who or what does it include? Who or what does it exclude?
  • For example, using data from Twitter is all well and good, but it only represents the people who use Twitter, it does not represent everyone – and the demographics of the people who tend to use Twitter does not reflect society more generally.
• Are we allowed to use this data in this way? Even if we’re allowed, should we – would our service users feel comfortable with this decision?
• What treatment do we need to apply to data to remove any biases?
• Do we have a multidisciplinary team in charge of selecting, auditing, cleaning and using the data? For example, data scientists, social scientists, policy people?

These are only a few questions to start with and hopefully they’ve made it clear that it’s not enough to select a single dataset and go forward without interrogating it and making sure it’s appropriate to use.

Don’t forget the people and processes

There’s a misconception that implementing AI solutions means that any previous issues around people and process will be resolved by the software. Unfortunately it is not that simple. AI solutions may reduce manual processing work, or speed up work that would be time-intensive if conducted solely by humans. At the same time, for the AI solutions to work and to deliver any value, they require ongoing oversight by humans (to make sure they’re producing the right results) as well as maintenance and software support (to make sure they’re not broken). Putting in place a multi-disciplinary team that is resourced to provide these functions will set you up for success!

AI systems are generally implemented into existing networks or series of processes. The AI will need to form a productive part of this business process network, and so the design and specification for the AI system will have to understand and incorporate the requirements of the network. This includes having a process for managing the AI system if it gets something wrong – which could span a customer complaints process or a risk and audit function.

Get started

The best next step for any organisation thinking of implementing AI is to just get started! Each organisation is at its own stage of maturity when it comes to digital transformation and so understanding your organisation’s own position is key. For some organisations it will be worth investing in an onsite team that can build and test your own AI solutions, and for other organisations it will make more sense to procure an existing product or service on the market.

If you still have onsite servers and the data collected across your organisation sits in isolation of itself (i.e. in its own spreadsheet), then looking at cloud-based solutions to house all of your data in a single location is a good first step. From here, it becomes easy to automate a simple process – enabling you to then build in more sophisticated techniques like Machine Learning to improve the process, or automate more and more of the business processes until it’s automated end-to-end. These are the building blocks of then implementing more complex AI techniques or apply the techniques to more complex problems or processes.

A final tip – when you do get started, involve everyone in your organisation. Customer service people, policy people, operations people – they will all be impacted and, more importantly, their perspectives will help make sure the AI system that you implement will work for the whole organisation.

This article was originally published here.

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We will see more power given to the individual (the data subject in GDPR parlance) to control who has their information, what those third parties can use it for, remove consent for third parties to use their data and most importantly tell them (not ask!) to delete the data they hold – the ‘right to be forgotten’.

Failure to comply with these new rules may result in companies inappropriately holding or processing personally identifiable information to be fined.

In the UK the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) has long had the power to fine business that don’t comply with the Data Protection Act (DPA) – up to a maximum of £500,000 (see recent ICO notice where they fined TalkTalk £400,000).

Under GDPR this maximum increases significantly – up to €20M or 4% global turnover. Think about that for a second. That’s enough to wipe out companies.

What’s important to remember is that GDPR isn’t about fines. It’s about empowering the individual to have control over their data. For too long we’ve all suffered with nuisance cold calls about PPI, car crashes we haven’t been in, been on the receiving end of spurious mobile offers to name a few.

How did these people get your information? Through organisations who bought and sold personal data, phone lists, mailing lists etc. all procured because you may have ticked a box on a website allowing them to share your data with third parties. Yes, that’s right, you consented to this.

Consent

Consent is one of the significant changes when comparing GDPR to the DPA.

Specifically consent is something that must be given, not assumed – so no preticking opt-in boxes etc. – and must state clearly what the data subject is agreeing to. Specific details of what will be done with the personal information collected must be presented, the ambiguous statements like ‘we may share your details with 3rd parties or other affiliates’ are no longer allowed. You must be clear and accurate.

However for many of our customers, that are local government organisations, the need for consent and whether it is the right mechanism is something that has to be considered – especially when legislative and other requirements demand that personal information e.g. name, address, contact details have to be supplied and there is no option to say no. It is impossible, after all, to approve a planning application for something like an extension to a home without knowing the details of the individual (notwithstanding the obvious legal requirements etc. that trump GDPR).

Looking at what the ICO have to say about consent there are a few key points that are relevant to public authorities:

• Public authorities and employers will need to take extra care to show that consent is freely given, and should avoid over-reliance on consent.

• Consent is appropriate if you can offer people real choice and control over how you use their data, and want to build their trust and engagement. But if you cannot offer a genuine choice, consent is not appropriate. If you would still process the personal data without consent, asking for consent is misleading and inherently unfair.

The full page can be found here:

Looking at the above points would mean that for a vast majority of services that local government organisations provide, asking a person to consent is not appropriate.

Now – the thing to remember is that if a council would like to offer other services to the resident based on the data that they provide when applying for planning permission or bulky waste collection etc. then consent for that use MUST be given by the individual. With exact details of how and what the data will be used for.

For more commercially minded councils who are looking to add revenue streams by providing residents with additional, relevant services then consent will become something that they need to consider – at which point these are capabilities that we can build into our products.

In the end, you can always ask….

There is a lot to the GDPR and sources like the ICO website are excellent resources for helping you understand what is required of you and your organisation to be compliant.

The ICO are also human, and you can speak to them and obtain advice directly. I did the in December last year to validate some thinking around some work we were trialling and was pleasantly surprised at helpfulness of the gentleman I spoke with.

It is clear that as an organisation you have to know what data you hold on an individual and what it is being used for, and you have to have good controls around how that data is managed etc. With good information security and governance in place, and documented rational decisions around how and where personal data is used you are heading in the right direction.

The GDPR should strike fear into those cold callers who buy and sell our personal data with no regard for privacy. Responsible organisations should continue to be responsible and ensure good and appropriate controls are in place.

This article was originally published here.

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• Young Digital Leader of the Year
• Digital SME of the Year
• Digital Leader of the Year
• Digital Skills or Inclusion Initiative of the Year

Once again you have the opportunity to support the East of England’s local initiatives, organisations and individuals which have delivered a measurable impact towards Digital Transformation. Let’s celebrate leading Digital Transformation in the UK!

The post Meet East of England’s DL100 finalists appeared first on Digital Leaders.

Data is a set of qualitative or quantitative variables – it can be structured or unstructured, machine readable or not, digital or analogue, personal or not. Ultimately it is a specific set or sets of individual data points, which can be used to generate insights, be combined and abstracted to create information, knowledge and wisdom. Traditional analysis tools and software can be used to analyse and “crunch” data.

There are “dimensions” that distinguish data from BIG DATA, summarised as the “3 Vs” of data: Volume, Variety, Velocity. Hence, BIG DATA, is not just “more” data. It is so much data, that is so mixed and unstructured, and is accumulating so rapidly, that traditional techniques and methodologies including “normal” software do not really work (like Excel, Crystal reports or similar). Gartner stated that in 2011, the rate of data growth globally was around 59%. This means that almost 40% of all data ever created was created in the previous year and I am sure it is even more now.

Thus, “BIG DATA” can be a summary term to describe a set of tools, methodologies and techniques for being able to derive new “insight” out of extremely large, complex sample sizes of data and (most likely) combining multiple extremely large complex datasets. The potential here is that if we crunch true BIG DATA, we can make an attempt to establish patterns and correlations between seemingly random events in the world. Then, by establishing and testing hypotheses, we could understand causality, so predictions and deep insights could be made.

Due the complexity of BIG DATA and computational power / (new) methods required, this has only been possible to attempt in the last decade or so. Even today, most BIG DATA projects do not attempt to test hypotheses, or establish patterns, thus missing out on the potential.

In practice, BIG DATA is almost always to do with multiple sets of data, and in most cases, has little to do with personal data (though probably personally identifiable data is likely to be ubiquitous, given that sufficient correlation of multiple datasets could make personal data “fingerprints” unique).

In my experience however, when ‘big’ data is discussed, the discussions are not really about ‘BIG’ data. Most examples given, such at those at the Big Data in Government Conference are to do with just better use of data, reporting and analytics. It is not new, nor should it be viewed as new. Arguably, it has been (should have been) happening since the beginning of organised government. All too often definitions and key concepts in the data / BIG DATA world are not shared amongst practitioners, and fashions and fads take over.

Further, there is no consensus or shared understanding that using data and BIG DATA are different things and could deliver different outcomes. No one quite knows what special benefits might come from BIG DATA, not even in the private sector world. Nonetheless, there have also been some notable successes in using BIG DATA, such as Google Translate, Tesco Clubcard retail optimisation or airline fare modelling and prediction algorithms.

So let’s get back to an easier topic such as good “small” data use. None of the examples given at the recent Big Data in Government Conference were BIG DATA. More worryingly, none of them really affect the day to day business of the government – the actual decisions being made by officers or managers. I will repeat that: I heard no examples where a decision made was changed (at operational level) by a government officer or civil servant based on new use of data (BIG or otherwise). Data and its analysis appeared to sit as an ‘appendix’ on the side of government. Being in an appendix means that it is not involved in the day to day workings and processes of government. This may have been the fault of the specific examples, but I would love to hear of some more in future conferences.

Today, many more excellent tools, platforms and ideas exist in the field of good management of data (not just BIG DATA). This creates an enormous and immediate potential for the Public Sector in making relevant and timely improvements in “small” data management, data integration and visualisation. Most importantly, in integrating “small” data into the real time decision making of public servants and making it useful. I think this is best achieved by not being distracted by fancy and fashionable titles such as BIG DATA, but focusing on boring (but essential) transformation of the Public Sector. Let’s have a “small” data (or just plain old “data” conference. Less sexy, but more useful.

This article was originally published here and reposted with permission.

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On the flip side, PwC has estimated that global GDP could increase by as much as 14% or $15.7 trillion due to the impact of AI. Most significantly this is based on gains in labour productivity such as automation. While some of these expectation may be overhyped there are few who genuinely expect the total impact to not in some way transform significant parts of the economy.

The question is no longer whether there will be an economic transition – although one can argue about the scale – but about how to manage the transition in a reasonable and (dare I say) ethical way. Here there are options. It isn’t true that a wild west rush towards a massive bout of creative destruction is the only and inevitable outcome. Nor does the situation call for a Luddite response of early regulatory intervention to protect threatened industries. Instead, there is a certain level of measured and constructive engagement with the complexity of AI in its early phases of adoption that could potentially help introduce standards for good practice and pave the way for better and more human ways of adopting AI. Enter Local Government.

Councils in Britain are in a precarious economic situation. They have faced austerity for years and face still more in the coming years. Some councils have already had to make cuts of 33% of their budgets according to the Economist. This comes at a time when Councils face large increases in demand from an ageing population. Unsurprisingly, the situation in some local authorities is dire. You don’t find many Councils that aren’t currently in the process of transforming themselves – with greater or lesser success – to meet these challenges. For some local authorities if only 15% of jobs were lost that would be much better than the reality they have to confront.

Historically sluggish in technology adoption, the local government sector has recently picked up the pace and digital technologies have no small place in the efforts that have taken place to keep services running. Pioneers such as Aylesbury Vale District Council have already started using AI in limited ways. There is a close fit between the kind of AI used to augment human productivity and the kinds of work done by most local government officers. They are typically highly trained professionals who, on a day-to-day basis, deal with a perplexing variety of requests ranging from utterly mundane inquiries to critical, once in a career decisions. This is exactly the kind of scenario where machine learning algorithms will shine, not as a replacement for human expertise but as a way of crystallising it and allowing it to focus on the right problems. Routine tasks and interactions can be automated. Steps in complex processes that don’t require deep judgement can happily be taken over by robots. The huge trove of data contained in Council systems can be automatically analysed and made available to support the officer in natural ways. This will leave the people that ultimately deliver front-end services with more time to focus on the remaining tasks that really do require human judgement.

The particular problems that have often made technology adoption harder in the government context: security, privacy, regulatory compliance present serious challenges to AI well beyond the realm of government. What should we allow an AI to know about us? What kind of safeguards do we need to put in place before rolling out AI at scale? How can we prevent our algorithms from being exploitable by ill-intentioned actors? When should we care about whether we can explain how our machine learning algorithm came to the result that it did? Each of these require serious thought and have a range of reasonable answers. They are also the kinds of questions officers in local government would be well-placed to think hard about. In a sense, they resemble the kind of policy thinking that many in the sector do every day. The basic duty of care that local authorities have towards their residents can help anchor these answers and generate solutions that are broadly acceptable to a wider population and avoid the potential excesses that could come with a more gung-ho approach.

Ultimately, the robots are coming. We should try to make their coming a welcome event. Local Government has a real need for transformational technology and AI technologies are in many ways perfectly tailored to address that need. By adopting these technologies, however, Local Government would also place itself in a unique position to help show the way towards a responsible, ethically sound embrace of what may potentially be the largest technological shift in our lifetimes.

This article was originally published here and was reposted with permission.

Arcus Global are finalists in 2018’s DL100 Awards in the Digital SME category. Check out the finalists and vote for your digital champions below.

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It’s probably easier to say what it doesn’t mean, it is not or should not be, a new trendy term for technology refresh or a replacement for what has, in previous lifetimes been referred to as Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) or Change Management or Total Quality Management (TQM).

Actually, it is all of those things in combination, or at least whatever subset of those things that suits your particular organisation’s culture. But the absolutely essential and to some, “new” element is that whatever shape digital transformation takes in your organisation it is led by end-user experience; it doesn’t matter if  that end-user is a patient, a doctor, a blood donor, a farmer, a finance director, a delivery man, a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker – enhance their experience.

Let’s be clear, technologies that are “digital” have been around for a long time, it’s the shift in end-user expectation in this always on, always connected world that we are all immersed in every day of our lives that is making the difference, we are all end-users. End-users demand that slick efficient user experience they get when they buy their food shopping or that latest gadget with a few clicks of their fingers, anything less is seen as substandard.

The most successful digital transformation initiatives are radical in that nothing is off the agenda if it leads to enhancement in the end-user experience. Changes to business models, processes and functions, even redefinition of the entire value chain if that is appropriate, are considered. However, radical does not necessarily mean turning the organisation upside down, radical means all things are considered, if it doesn’t enhance the end-user experience don’t do it.

The success, or otherwise, of an organisations digital transformation efforts is greatly influenced by the culture of the organisation with the best results achieved by open, progressive cultures. How do you achieve and open progressive culture?

If there was an easy answer, everyone would be doing it but it is heavily influenced by the style of leadership an organisation has. The old maxim still holds true that an organisation, or indeed part of an organisation, takes on the personality of the leader because the leader gets the behaviour they are “seen” to reward.

So there it is, Digital Transformation success comes down to Leadership and where better to discuss it than Digital Leaders!

The post Digital Transformation is not technology led appeared first on Digital Leaders.

To start discussions, Tim shared his insights into the key cultural factors important to the successful implementation of digital transformation:

1. 1. The need for commitment.  
      Things get worse before they get better so transformation requires commitment. That can come from having no other option (‘the burning platform’) or by getting people to join a group whose success requires the transformation to be effective.
   2. Ownership.
      Most changes involve new technologies, ways of working or groups of people so there isn’t a manual and you can’t just issue a set of instructions. In this environment, you need people who are ready to take ownership of finding solutions to particular parts of the problem. Ownership doesn’t mean that you have to do it on your own or that the ideas have to be yours, just that you will coordinate efforts and persevere until you have a good answer. When interviewing for ownership, it is good to ask about cases where people solved problems and understand how tenacious they were and how ready they were to adopt ideas and take help.
   3. ‘Have a go’ approach.
      Digital projects usually use Agile methodologies which champion ‘fail often and fail fast’. Like Edison’s lightbulb, things that don’t work help you to find solutions that do but most people feel uncomfortable with failing. At Arcus, we look for people who are prepared to ‘have a go’ and risk failure and we try to provide a ‘no blame’ culture and a relaxed working environment so that they feel OK with taking risks.
   4. Artisan approach.  
      My grandfather was an artisan who took pride in his work and created things that did the job and were made with care. Once you have a solution, it is important to get the detail right and to finish the job – people who take pride in their work do that naturally.
   5. Learning.  
      It’s my fiftieth birthday today and I’ve worked in the IT industry all my life but I love learning new techniques and technologies and I look for people who feel the same way. If you’re keen to learn you will try new approaches and that openness and willingness to experiment can really improve results. I gained a blackbelt in a martial art that requires you to teach what you have learned in order to improve your own understanding so I try to encourage people to both learn and teach each other – sharing what they have learned and improving their understanding in the process.
   6. People.
      It is really important that people engaged in digital transformation like people – if you like people you will want to listen to their needs and issues rather than assuming that you know the answer;  you will want to create things to help them and you will feel good when you solve their problems. However technical the role, the best candidates always care about people.

Our lively discussion broadly covered the following areas with the key area of focus being around the concept of change management.

People
It is a common view that digital transformation is about technology but crucially it’s about people, those implementing, those taking decisions and those affected by change, in short all stakeholders.  Organisations undergoing digital transformation have to appreciate, and be mindful of their current culture and how well it supports or undermines what is needed for digital transformation.

Leadership
A lively discussion was held on the role of leadership and how organisations often take on the personality of a leader. It was also recognised that leaders or champions can exist at all levels in organisations and that lasting change cannot just be led from the top.

Crisis
Crises can be great for gaining commitment to change but they can also undermine change because people under stress tend to get tunnel vision and not be open to new ideas and new ways of working. Public sector employees tend to look to the private sector for new ideas but shouldn’t feel disempowered by this – wherever you get your ideas it is implementing that makes the difference.

Radical thinking
Digital transformation is not about simply changing a paper form into a digital one.  It’s often about changing the whole focus and culture of an organisation: Airbnb did not arise from hoteliers, Uber doesn’t own cabs and in the public sector transformation is often about taking power and choice from within the organisation and giving it to the citizen. But be careful; being radical exposes yourself to failure, this is particularly true of those who are elected.

Communication
Effective communication is essential and can be particularly challenging in large organisations. Ensuring that key stakeholders understand and support digital transformation and other changes through good communication is fundamental.

Listening to issues
People worry when change is happening and it is not enough to push them to support it. Making the time to listen to concerns and to help people to realise that their reactions are often mixtures of emotions, some positive, some negative, can be really helpful in enabling them to feel more comfortable and adapt more readily.

Pilots
The biggest block to digital transformation is having to implement radical change at the same time as continuing with the day job.  Change often evokes fear and one way to address fear is to start small and pilot change within a small area so that the people involved in the pilot can then reassure their colleagues and encourage them to change.

The post It’s not all about technology – the role of culture in digital transformation appeared first on Digital Leaders.

There is also the question of jobs and fewer people being needed in every organisation, but AI also brings opportunities for new products and services. To tap into the opportunities, we need skills combined with better business ecosystems that nurture innovation and technological advancement.

Digital Leaders Week included three discussions on Artificial Intelligence. These events took place in London, Yorkshire, and the East of England. The highlight of the week was the Annual Lecture in Leeds given by Rob Wilmot.

The Annual Lecture took place in the stunning Salem Chapel in Leeds, with a presentation from Rob Wilmot, followed by a panel discussion. The panel included Chair Tom Riordan, CEO of Leeds City Council; Sarah Burnett, Vice President of Research at Everest Group; Chris Williams, Technical Leader IBM Watson Group, and Professor David Hogg, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Leeds. The panel shared their thoughts on the opportunities and and threats AI brings our lives and modern society.

In London we also heard from Capita representatives including Stewart Davison, Head of Business Development for Housing; Alex Brennan, Product Manager, Digital Solutions and Dave Kearns, Technical Solutions Manager, Digital Solutions. The speakers discussed the use of Chatbots in the Public Sector, offering practical advice on what to consider and best support for the user journey. Read Stewart Davison’s blog about the event here.

Capita also hosted a day of interactive workshops for ‘the next generation of digital leaders’ in Wiltshire. Designers, developers and staff from Capita worked with primary school children to explore the impact of digital technology, highlighting the extent to which digital surrounds everything we do and how AI delivers information individuals need in innovative and user-friendly ways. Read Tom Osborne’s recap of the event here.

In Cambridge we heard from lead discussants Nigel Lomas, Business Development Director at Arcus Global, and Kat Sexton, Digital Services Architect at LGSS (DL100 finalist) on Artificial Intelligence in the public sector. Speakers discussed how AI helps improve customer experience and user needs, and the ways services are delivered in the public sector and the workplace.

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Epos Now is a firm part of the vibrant and growing tech community in the East of England, with the company winning a number of national and international accolades, including the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

CEO, Jacyn Heavens founded the business on the belief that all businesses, regardless of their size should be able to leverage the power of technology to enable them to thrive. This customer focused strategy has propelled huge growth, with Epos Now ranking as the 46th fastest growing company in Europe, as recognised by the Financial Times.

Employee engagement has proved an essential part of Epos Now’s growth strategy. By creating a dynamic company culture that fosters innovation and celebrates success, we can secure the most talented and driven individuals to develop pioneering products for our customers.

Epos Now has a close working relationship with the University of East Anglia, offering tech internships to students needing an insight in a working tech company. Many of the software team are UEA alumni with 52% of the team being part of our graduate programme. The team play an active role representing Epos Now at regional tech events such as TechEast, Sync City and NorDEVcon. The team actively embrace these professional development opportunities, leading discussions and offering insight into their specialties.

With technology taking an increasingly dominant role in our lives, encouraging people to pursue rewarding careers in technology has never been more important. Epos Now regularly goes out to schools, colleges and job fairs to highlight the excellent prospects in the sector. We also partner with My Tech East, an event run by Inspired Youth for young people wanting an insight into the technology sector..

Epos Now’s Norwich headquarters are undergoing an exciting transformation with a £10m investment refurbishing the building with a key focus on creating engaging recreational areas. The plans boast large open planned office spaces with a games room, and an elaborate outdoor area complete with a tiki bar and outdoor kitchen. By creating collaborative work spaces we can generate a better working environment which allows our team to work together to create and develop innovative technology.

Epos Now continues to grow, going from strength to strength having launched their US office in January 2016. Jacyn drives the company forward with a tireless ambition to ensure Epos Now is the name synonymous with EPOS excellence and he does this by investing in employee wellbeing. Each member of the team is a stakeholder in the company’s success.

The post Being a part of the vibrant tech community in the East of England appeared first on Digital Leaders.

• Cyber Resilience Innovation of the Year
• Digital Charity of the Year
• Digital Leader of the Year
• Digital Public Service Innovation of the Year
• Digital Skills or Inclusion Initiative of the Year
• Mobile Innovation of the Year

Once again you have the opportunity to support the East of England’s local initiatives, organisations and individuals which have delivered a measurable impact towards Digital Transformation.

To nominate, visit digileaders100.com/categories– let’s celebrate leading Digital Transformation in the UK!

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