UPDATED 13:15 EDT / MAY 17 2019

CLOUD

Q&A: AI, machine learning help UK public sector streamline services

Moving to the cloud can be beneficial for most agencies and industries, but it can also be challenging. Amazon Web Services Inc. is all too familiar with both the benefits and challenges associated with moving to a cloud-based platform. For the past 13 years, the company has been helping enterprises digitally transform via its on-demand cloud computing platforms.

While the cloud benefits industries by saving them both time and money, it also presents technological aspects that may be difficult to understand at first, according to Chris Hayman (pictured), general manager of the UK and Ireland public sector at AWS.

Hayman spoke with host Dave Vellante (@dvellante), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during theCUBE’s special coverage of the AWS public sector portfolio at the company’s London headquarters. They discussed how cloud systems can improve the handling of big data and assist in the healthcare industry, as well as how many large-scale agencies are transitioning to the cloud (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

[Editor’s note: The following answers have been condensed for clarity.]

Vellante: How do you balance the cost of healthcare? How does AWS in the cloud help solve this problem?

Hayman: One of the things organizations are trying to do is reduce that large legacy footprint of infrastructure and really deliver against the mission, whether it be patients or citizens or whatever. A good example in the case of healthcare is we’re working with part of the NHS called the Business Services Authority, and they have a large call center. That was a costly experience, having a traditional call center set up.

They’ve now used our Connect platform, our call center platform, and some voice technology called Lex. And they were able to reduce their call volume by 42%. So, they got the computers to answer some of the easy queries, which of course meant that some of the tougher call center queries went to actual humans and the call center handlers. So, I really think those sorts of things impact the bottom line for the NHS and save some costs but really help them to innovate as well for their patients and citizens.

Vellante: Data becomes increasingly important, but the problem that most traditional companies have is their data is locked in silos. It’s hard to get into an application, and so how are you guys attacking that problem? What do you see as trends in the customer base in terms of being able to have sort of a unified data model, and what role does the cloud play there?

Hayman: There are several things that we’re doing. First, we’re very passionate about public datasets, so we host several public datasets. And, fundamentally, we believe that data has gravity, so if we were able to host and provide this data at scale for researchers and so on, that has tremendous benefit. But you’re right about public sector organizations and those silos.

We’ve worked with Transport for London. Obviously, if you want to get in and around the city of London, typically you go to tfl.gov.uk, which runs on AWS, and you’ll say you want to get from Farringdon to Liverpool Street. That’s all kind of running on top of AWS, but the cool thing is they’ve opened all that information so they don’t have to develop those apps themselves or effectively crowd source the development on those apps.

They’ve got some 4,000 developers now working against all this data. Deloitte recently did a study. They reckon its going to generate economic benefits of 130 million pounds per annum just by making this real-time data available, so you’re gaining unique business insights, but not only that. You’ve got organizations like Citymapper that can commercialize that data, develop apps, and sell those apps on behalf of the community and so on. You’ve got that double bubble of SME engagement, but also the public benefits as well.

Vellante: The CIA deal in 2013 was a seminal moment for just the cloud and AWS specifically, but increasingly you are seeing innovation. It’s still very difficult because you get turnover, but what are you seeing in terms of those trends? Are you seeing public sector organizations leaning in or modernizing? What role does the cloud play there?

Hayman: It unifies in a sense. We were moving mission systems to the cloud with our customers. We worked with the Driver Vehicle Standards Agency. So, they’re responsible for making sure our cards are roadworthy in the U.K. They migrated their entire platform, which supports some 30,000 small businesses to AWS in 10 weeks, so it’s amazing what public sector organizations can achieve with the pace of the cloud, and a lot of it starts with experimentation.

That’s the great thing. You can try something, and if it doesn’t work you can turn it off and you haven’t lost anything. But that pace of being able to move even mission systems to the cloud is happening in the public sector across the board.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AWS Public Sector event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the AWS Public Sector event. Neither Amazon Web Services Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE

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