It’s crucial to foster a mindset open to risk and fast-paced development. Process is also important to support people and ensure they’re covered by the organisation. However, large organisations like ours can become process-heavy which isn’t as much of an issue for SMEs.

I aim to raise people up so they can be the best they can be and deliver transformative technology.

Skilled staff will assess existing processes, identify suitable solutions and implement them effectively. The NHS has a history of digitising paper-based processes without optimising them for technology which limits efficiency gains. Investing in people ensures that technology is deployed in a way that maximises its benefits.

It’s about prediction. It’s about classification and once you understand the kind of building blocks of what AI can actually achieve, it’s a lot less scary. Humans are fantastic at multitasking and juggling all sorts of complex problems while AI at the moment is not really good at that

As you build on top of what you’ve already got, if your data isn’t consistent underneath, then AI won’t work. Data, I think, is at the heart of that chain. But I think you can use the automation, processing power and AI to actually improve the data. That’s a kind of starting point.

The hackathons have really brought out a bunch of organic use cases, some that we didn’t even know existed and, I think, that’s part of the journey as well. People then start to realise what it can do and then how it can be used to achieve great outcomes.

It’s crucial to foster a mindset open to risk and fast-paced development. Process is also important to support people and ensure they’re covered by the organisation. However, large organisations like ours can become process-heavy which isn’t as much of an issue for SMEs.

I evaluate each technology based on its ability to simplify operations, reduce risks and free up time for my teams.

Smart, well-trained individuals will write processes, analyse lessons learned, procure the right technology, run the technology, and improve and tune the technology. The great mistake in our industry is thinking that a tool will be the silver bullet. It’s not. It’s the combination of all three.

Employees are naturally resistant to change, especially when they’ve been using the same systems for over 14 years. They tend to revert to familiar ways of working, even with guidance. Breaking these habits requires strong sponsorship from leadership, a comprehensive adoption roadmap and clear organisation wide communication.

It’s about continuous learning and refining processes so that adaptability becomes second nature. So if a new type of AI or another curveball comes our way, we should have the ability to flex and respond.

I think you have both teams frustrated with each other. IT is saying security can give them more work in a day than they can finish in a year, and then you have the security team frustrated because the only way they can see to get any work done is to always have to escalate to the CIO and CISO in the organisation.

It all goes back to leadership, ways of working and culture. None of this is technology-based yet, but you have to have the technology in order to be able to realise that vision. But without the right people working in the right way, your technology is left in a sort of stagnant state.

The best security tools mean nothing without skilled, well-supported professionals to operate them.

Cybersecurity often feels intimidating. People feel like they need to ‘go up the chain’ just to talk to someone in that department. It reminds me of how people feel about legal, like it’s an ivory tower. That perception needs to change.

The focus should be on adapting to change. Automation often addresses today’s problems but we need people to anticipate how risks and technologies evolve.