The UK government has announced a strategic partnership with Google Cloud in a bid to modernize “ball and chain” legacy IT systems and upskilling 100,000 civil servants in digital and AI by 2030. The situation in the UK right now is that 25% of public sector systems are running on legacy technology. This figure rises to 70% in some police forces and NHS trusts because of decades old contracts which means they’re stuck using old servers that are vulnerable to outages and cyber breaches.
Peter Kyle, the UK’s Tech Secretary has told other tech companies that they can bring their best ideas, best tech, and their best price to try and secure other deals to address the UK’s tech woes.
With this partnership the government and Google are focusing on a whole range of areas that can be modernized including the NHS, local councils, tax returns, bin collections, and other services. By choosing Google Cloud, the government hopes to transition from “locked-in” contracts to “secure-by-design” cloud technology. The potential savings are estimated to be £45 billion for the public sector.
Aside from what has been mentioned, Google DeepMind will work with technical experts in government to help them deploy new emerging technologies, such as AI, to boost efficiency across the public sector. It won’t only affect things like time saving, the government said it will also include accelerating scientific discovery.
This deal will also see as many as 100,000 civil servants trained in AI and digital over the next five years through a new Google Cloud training program. Prime Minister Starmer has a goal of making 1 in 10 civil servants tech experts so that the delivery of the Plan for Change can be sped up; the training Google is offering will help to achieve this goal.
Artificial intelligence holds immense promise for boosting the efficiency of the public sector. Last month, the UK government reported that AI was able to save each civil servant about 26 minutes per day, freeing them up to do other work. It also announced an AI breakthrough for slashing planning delays to deliver more homes.
The government also announced that Google Cloud will explore the development of a single platform that can monitor and respond to cybersecurity issues across the government. The pair will also work together to explore new technologies for public sector use, such as quantum computing.
Image via Depositphotos.com
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