Blogs

 

Our thought leaders are experts in their fields. In our latest blog posts, they share their perspectives and shed some light on today’s most important issues.  

 

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| Omon Fagbamigbe

Unlocking the Future: The transformative role of Augmented Reality in public safety
Augmented Reality has potential to support across numerous sectors. Find out how it could be transformative within public safety.

How Low-Code No-Code platforms can bring greater diversity to the technology sector

Organisations can start to close their skills by gaining access to more applicants and a more diverse array of talent by employing Low-Code No-Code platforms. Read more on how they can bring greater diversity to the tech sector.

| Giles Colborne

The right way to share security and policing data across organisations

This blog explores the importance of having a systematic, thorough, and end to end human centred approach to bring about a coordinated, efficient joined-up approach.

| Gary Craven

AI isn’t the only answer to your organisation’s problems
Organisations are rushing to embrace this next generation technology. But to see real benefit, they need to be discerning in the problems they are trying to solve. And to do that, they must understand how they harness the data on which AI relies.

| Ian Rowe

Zero Trust Architecture: Building resilient services for today's threats
In this blog, we explore Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and its role in strengthening an organisation against modern cyber threats, to improve resilience and increase the flexibility and ability to respond to changes in both threat and risk profile.  

| Craig Minter

Achieving Net Zero: effective supply chain engagement and collaboration

Businesses need improved access to more reliable data, as well as much greater collaboration with suppliers throughout the supply chain ecosystem. We outline the critical steps to achieving both of these objectives.

Sopra Steria: The Value of Banks for Vulnerable Citizens
In times of hardship like today’s protracted cost-of-living crisis, the role of banks in supporting vulnerable citizens by prioritising their financial wellbeing is perhaps not spoken about enough.

| Mark Kibby

Safeguarding your supply chain in today's dynamic landscape

In a time where supply chain threats are on the rise, the need for robust safeguarding has never been more critical. Read more to find out how to ensure security within your supply chain through four important steps.

| Avinash Lunj

Integrating digital technologies to deliver environmental benefits through Smart Mobility Solutions
The world is at a critical place where the transition to net zero isn’t a lofty aspiration, it’s a need. The road to net zero is a journey we’re all in together.

| Dr Kevin Macnish

Exploring the trust divide in our latest research
Access via digital technology is rising, but to have a good experience online you need to trust the service you are using. Read more about the results of our latest Digital Ethics Outlook.

| Omon Fagbamigbe

Embracing AI: a step forward for Diversity and Inclusion

Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a critical role for organisations in the Diversity and Inclusion space. Read more on how AI is helping us move forward towards a more inclusive future.

| Joanna Finlay

Onboarding vulnerable customers in banking - challenges at the first hurdle
We surveyed 100 IT and Customer Service decision makers within banking in the UK to find out how the shift to digital is impacting the customer onboarding experience, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances. Find out where the challenges lay.

| Tom Staley

Cloud: The foundation for innovation
Cloud computing isn't just a trend- it's a strategic imperative. Read more about the foundation for innovation and the advantages of migrating to the cloud.

How could common data revolutionise crisis response and prevention in Criminal Justice?
What’s exciting when thinking about the Common Data Model's application within public sector settings, is how this data can empower individual front line staff with data. Read on to learn more.

| Andy Hepworth

Our heritage in driving positive change

Andy Hepworth explains exactly what social value means to us as an organisation; why we’re doing even more now, than ever; and why it’s important to us that we’re a business driven by purpose.

| Tom Staley

The power of Open Innovation
The concept of innovation has taken on a pivotal role in determining an organisation's success. In this blog, we discuss the forces behind innovation and our research.

| Tom Staley

Open Innovation: key trends across Europe
We surveyed over 1,600 startups and organisations from the public and private sector across 10 European countries to find out how the corporate-startup collaboration phenomenon evolving.

| Zaydali Kesvani

How to overcome the biggest and most impacting challenges faced by Business Analysts
Business Analysis as a Service (BAaaS) is an effective model with the aim to alleviate some of the most impactful problems organisations face.

| Dr Kevin Macnish

Pick me! The importance of ethics by design in procurement

Failing to consider ethics in the procurement process is a recipe for disaster, leaving companies at risk of reputational harm or even negligence. In this blog, we discuss the importance of of ethics by design in procurement. 

| Vince Spadaro

Big Data London 2023: Navigating the World of Generative AI and LLMs
At the Big Data London 2023 conference we heard about the potential of Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) and explored the current challenges they face. Read more about Vince's findings from the conference here.

| Vivek Seth

Democratising Innovation: Empowering Progress through Generative AI
Innovation, the driving force behind progress in our ever-changing world, has the power to ignite breakthroughs, propel industries forward, and tackle complex challenges. 

| Richard Thompson

Streamlining digital interactions: how digital identity can change the citizen and consumer experience
In today's increasingly digital world, identity verification is a fundamental aspect of our daily lives. We discuss how digital identity can change the citizen and consumer experience.

| Lorri Smyth

Navigating complexity through service design
Service design plays a crucial role in transformation by supporting people to navigate the complexity of the world around us. Here are some ways that service designers navigate complexity.

| Ted Morris-Dawson

The one-team mindset: keeping transformation on track
Ted-Morris Dawson shares his top tips for using Agile collaboration to support large-scale transformation programmes.

| Richard Thompson

Unlock the power of digital ethics to build and maintain trust in digital identity adoption

Digital identity adoption is rapidly transforming the way individuals interact with technology and access services online. But to ensure widespread adoption and foster long-term trust in digital identity systems, it's essential to prioritise digital ethics. 

| Hannah Hughes

Resilience and human centricity in design teams

How might we use a human-centred design approach to creating a thriving workplace, one where employees feel valued and supported? Find out in this blog post. 

How trauma-informed is your chatbot?
Building continuous ongoing user research into services, facilitating routes across multiple channels, and designing services around citizens rather than agency structures, will be critical to overcoming some of the ongoing digital and emotional barriers in accessing justice.

| Sam French

Ethical considerations for digital lasting power of attorney
Find out how incorporating digital ethics into the redesign of the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) application process will build citizen trust and provide greater assurance that risks will be avoided.

How to unlock your Estate Management data to drive meaningful change
In this blog, we address topics such as leveraging data to improve patient outcomes, enhancing operational efficiency, and driving strategic decision-making.

| Chris Taylor

Building confidence and resilience – the principles of our Secure by Design approach
In this blog, we explore our secure by design principles which are designed to improve business resilience, provide leaders with an awareness of information security risk, and enable our practitioners to take pragmatic decisions.

| Gethin Leiba

Empowering data-driven insights in highly secure environments
We understand the significance of data in ensuring safety, efficiency, and compliance within highly secure environments. However extracting valuable insights can be complex and time-consuming.

| Neil Anderson

The power of data- unlocking success in digital transformation

Data is everywhere you look, and the amount generated keeps increasing and from novel sources such as satellite and Internet of Things sensors. It's emerged as the new currency to transform the way businesses operate.

| Wiktoria Kulik

Keeping up with financial service regulation

Financial services organisations are facing a number of new, complex regulatory challenges that will either directly or indirectly affect the way firms will use data and technology for decades to come. 

| Claire Willmington

Addressing threats to the UK’s digital homeland

Threats to the digital homeland are evolving, as criminals leverage technological advances to find new ways to do harm. Unprecedented growth has propelled information advantage to the forefront of the national agenda.

| Wiktoria Kulik

The UK AI regulation white paper: The case for digital ethics adoption

Wiktoria Kulik, Sopra Steria’s Senior Digital Ethics Consultant shares her thoughts on the UK government’s proposed approach to regulating AI, and the role of digital ethics in delivering digital services.

The Customer Centricity Model
Through a series of webinars, the cxpartners team outlined how each of the different customer centricity dimensions are important in growing your business’ customer maturity.

Government Data Summit: Discussing automated decision-making

The Government Data Summit hosted in London on 11th May, will bring together Civil Service Data leaders with their US, Canadian, Australian, and European counterparts for a day of interactive sessions.

| Brian Moss

Making a case for rigour in user research
User research is critical to successful service design. It ensures services are designed to the needs of users and without it, services will fall short of achieving their goals.  

How can we make working in our Justice System, workable, in times of increased demand?

As prison populations are forecast to increase over the coming years, adopting a mixture of both tactical and strategic activities will be critical to supporting the existing and future workforces. 

| Emily Horgan, Nicola Pritchard

Is impact mapping a service designer’s secret weapon?
Impact mapping is a key enabler of collaboration – supporting teams in gathering around a common goal and breaking it down into achievable steps. Find out how it delivers better outcomes for our people and teams

| Caroline Williams

Considering the growing digital divide when delivering successful service design

When creating digitised services, it’s critical to fully consider the growing digital divide amongst users in the UK and across the world. Digitising services is often a great way to achieve delivery at scale.

| Tim Tomlinson

Research: Consumers lacking awareness of debt support

We asked 1,000 UK consumers (representative of the population by age, gender, region and socio-economic status) a range of questions about their current financial situation, as well as how they might react if things changed.

The forgotten pillar: putting frontline officers at the core of transformation
The ‘people’ element can all too often feel like an unloved relation to ‘process’ and ‘technology’. Yet it’s those who will determine whether transformation is successful. So, when it comes to transformation, how can officers be more involved?  

| Aakash Yadav

Trust in Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The path to a true and complete XAI has just begun. However, we must initiate questions around the ethics of artificial intelligence and where its faults lie.

| Tim Tomlinson

4 ways lenders can prepare for navigating a perfect storm
Rising interest rates and the ensuing cost-of-living crisis is leading to many customers falling into arrears. Lenders who are proactive in their approach will be better placed to handle the increase in demand for support. 

| David Rose, Dr Kevin Macnish

Digital Ethics and Policing: A way to re-build trust
Digital technology plays a central role in policing in the UK. It has the potential to revolutionise policing and drive improvements across the force, leading to better outcomes for citizens and resulting in increased levels of trust in the police.

| Beth Stephens

Blended Supervision could accelerate data-driven intelligence application in the Probation Service
Blended Supervision, as it stands, is showing real potential as an effective delivery process, and could be the key to the Probation Service dramatically accelerating its data success story. 

Digital Ethics Summit 2022
Taking place on Wednesday 7th December 2022 at the techUK office in London, Sopra Steria sponsored the Digital Ethics Summit 2022. A number of Sopra Steria colleagues joined other industry leaders to assess the impact of recent regulatory developments on the role of ethics.

| Omon Fagbamigbe

Data - a strategic asset

Data is one of the most untapped and valuable assets that organisations are sitting on. Data exists all around us. But what does this mean for businesses? And what actions do organisations need to take to truly understand data as a strategic asset? 

| Siva Niranjan

Our pledge to ‘Be the Change’. Green Finance in action
Recently, Siva Niranjan (Head of Climate and Environmental Sustainability), and John Moran, (Director of Corporate Finance), took part in One Carbon World COP27 'Be the Change in 2022' podcast, hosted by writer, adventurer and UK TV presenter Ben Fogle.

| Tom Kouloumas

Roads for a connected Britain

Recently, we had the pleasure to attend the Highways UK' Roads for a connected Britain' conference. It was great to meet with peers from the transport industry and enjoy some excellent and insightful sessions around innovation, sustainability and investment. 

| Siva Niranjan

Best in Class: Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability
We look at how Sopra Steria Group has become a sector leader in Climate and Environmental Sustainability by incorporating good principles and recognised standards of sustainability into all aspects of our business.

| Sally Newport

Celebrating National STEM Day
Today we celebrate National STEM Day, which was established in 2015 with the intention of encouraging and inspiring students to be more involved in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

| Dr Kevin Macnish

Government Technology, Ethics and Sustainability
When governments speak of sustainability, they should be considering not just low-carbon futures but also sustainable, and therefore ethical, technology.

| Teresa Fox

Strategic workforce planning
Strategic workforce planning is key in a successful and well-operating organisation. Discover the 4 key actions you can take now to plan your workforce planning strategy today.

| Mark McAlpine

UK Consumer Attitudes Towards Debt
We commissioned a survey into the preferences and attitudes of consumers and their debts.

Digital Banking Experience Report 2022
Our Digital Banking Experience Report 2022 outlines the key trends shaping banking across the globe in this hyper-connected era.

| Tom Staley

Crossing International Borders
To get an insight into what service users think about interactions at the border, we conducted a survey of 1,020 representative UK citizens. Take a look at our infographic to discover the key results.

Sue-Ellen Wright is elected to techUK’s Defence & Security Board

We're delighted to announce that Sue-Ellen Wright, Managing Director of Aerospace, Defence and Security at Sopra Steria, has been elected by industry peers and fellow members to join techUK's Defence & Security Board.

| Christopher Suss-Francksen

Sopra Steria ranked seven amongst the UK’s top Defence Software & IT suppliers

Sopra Steria ranked seven amongst the UK’s top Defence Software & IT suppliers and recognised as the fastest growing top 10 supplier in the UK Defence Software & IT Services (SITS) market in the latest report published by TechMarketView.

| Christopher Suss-Francksen

Proud to be Gold Sponsors of Team Forces, providing social value & support to our Armed Forces community
Team Forces is delighted to announce that Sopra Steria and SSCL will be supporting Team Forces on their mission to create wellbeing through sport and physical activity for our armed forces personnel.

| Dr Kevin Macnish

Government Technology, Ethics and Innovation

Technological innovation can benefit society, but only with the correct guardrails in place, and those regulatory guardrails must walk a fine line. Too lax and harms arise. Too stringent and beneficial innovation is stifled. 

| Dr Kevin Macnish

How trusted digital twins can unlock the UK’s sustainability efforts
Virtual replicas of real-world assets can play a significant part in achieving the country’s net-zero ambitions. But this won’t happen without the willing involvement of the public.

| Dr Kevin Macnish

Ethics in technology - a public expectation

Technology is often used for good, to make life better and easier. However, without the careful consideration of ethics, technology can be discriminatory, exploitative and violate privacy. It's crucial we take the time to seek and understand public expectations and values when it comes to technology. 

| Raj Sangha

4 ways energy and utilities companies should prepare for increasing consumer debt
Energy and utilities organisations who take the time to revisit their existing vulnerability and debt management methods will be better placed in today’s turbulent and rapidly changing environment.

| Charlie Cox

How putting the needs of citizens at the heart of policing is critical to transforming police control rooms

Taking a citizen-centric approach to control rooms can help police forces address their most pressing challenges.

Inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers and tech experts at the Cheltenham Science Festival 2022

Our team enjoyed the opportunity to engage with the next generation of scientists and engineers, experimenting with tech and exploring careers within the exciting worlds of cyber, digital and tech.

| Joanne Johnson

Sopra Steria’s Aerospace, Defence and Security teams raise £16,000 for Walking With The Wounded
On Saturday 14 May, 8 teams from our ADS business laced up their walking boots to fundraise for ‘Walking with the Wounded’.

| Tom Staley

6 key considerations for digital identity service design

Good service design is critical to service success and adoption. Let’s take a look at six considerations for digital identity design that have been shaped by our experience.

| Dr Kevin Macnish

Digital twin adoption: success lies in understanding the ethics

Digital twin project managers must be aware of the ethical challenges, or risk failure and reputational damage. Here are some of the considerations around the ethics of digital twins, building on the Gemini Principles.

| Gabriella Sharp

Royal Marsden: The power of the pause in improving patient care

We worked with Royal Marsden to define a vision for their future ways of working, including leveraging the opportunity to integrate digital innovation and explore new solutions through a collaborative and user-centric approach.

Reflections on PASA’s ‘Rip it up and start again’ annual conference
Following a year without a conference, it was great to meet up with industry peers and service providers to discuss the hot topics surrounding pensions, with the theme based on ‘rip it up and start again’.

Creating member-centric experiences for pension savers
To be genuinely customer-centric, interactions must be simple. Here we explore the balance needed in delivering a digital-first customer experience, with the all-important human element.

Delivering a seamless end-to-end citizen centric experience in policing
We’ve been delivering mission-critical command and control technology in policing for over 25 years. We’ve now partnered with Salesforce, the global market leader in CRM, to build a truly seamless end-to-end citizen experience.

| Paul Bergin

Digital innovation and cloud migration, without the disruption: a case study with Cleveland Police Force

Sopra Steria worked with Oracle to develop a pragmatic, structured methodology for migrating the Cleveland Police Force operations onto Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), with minimal risk and disruption to key operations.

| Kerry Nicolaides

The post-pandemic pensions landscape

It’s time for the pensions industry to harness innovations, navigate the new social landscape and meet the growing demands of pension savers. Here are the key enablers for digital transformation.

| Faye Wall

Employee wellbeing takes centre stage
At Sopra Steria, employee wellbeing takes centre stage. So, we're delighted with our ranking among the top organisations in the first-ever UK's Best Workplaces™ for Wellbeing 2022 by Great Places to Work UK.

Golden nuggets from the National NHS Estates conference
We explored the latest capital investment strategy and best practice policies related to the building of new purpose-designed hospitals, as well as learning more about the NHS data journey. Here we share our key take aways from a very insightful day.

Paul Bergin elected to tech UK’s management committee for Justice and Emergency Services

We’re delighted to announce that Paul Bergin, Head of the Public Safety Group at Sopra Steria, has been elected by industry peers and fellow members to join the techUK’s Justice and Emergency Services Management Committee (JESMC).

Let’s make 2022 the year of truly collaborative teamwork

At Sopra Steria, we take working in partnership seriously and have recently achieved the internationally recognised ISO 44001 status. But what is ISO44001, and how will it shape our relationships?

Smart asset and Estate Management: for a greener and smarter future
The highlight of the week for our Estate Management team was attending the Smart Asset & Estate Management conference in London.  Hosted by GovNet, the focus was on ‘Transforming the Public Estate for a Greener and Smarter Future’.

Building Social Value into Estate Management strategy

Social Value is becoming an increasingly important part of day-to-day life. In simple terms it’s about how we can create value for society, to provide the services we need and deliver support for businesses and communities to thrive.

Mags Moore announced as new Chair of the Open Identity Exchange Board
Moore brings her experience alongside her current role as Director of Citizen and Devolved Government Services at Sopra Steria UK, to support the development of digital identity best practice in the UK and globally.

| Gareth Brown

Insights from this week’s GPA Strategy Event
Without doubt a highlight of this week was to learn more about the technology ambitions of the Government Property Agency (GPA) directly from the team at the TechUK GPA Technology Strategy event. 

| Tom Staley

Open Identity Exchange (OIX) Identity Trust Conference
We attended the OIX Identity Trust Conference last week, where the key theme was the importance of building trust in order to promote the adoption of digital identities by organisations.

Creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, fairly treated and respected

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, fairly treated and respected. So, it goes without saying, that we want to improve and support gender balance across all of the industries we work with.

| Tom Staley

Identity week round up

Identity Week is back! Here’s a summary of the key themes explored during the event: Security, Design, Re-Use and Inclusion.

How Sopra Steria can help organisations to improve the performance of their real estate portfolios by working collaboratively to design and deliver a data driven strategy
Many organisations are facing new challenges when it comes to their real estate portfolios. From achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, to understanding how existing portfolios need to be adapted to support the future of the workplace.

| Lynsey Cochrane

Empowering women to Lead Digital Transformation

The Scottish Government and ScotlandIS have conceived an amazing course to nurture future female talent in the IT industry titled, Empowering Women to Lead Digital Transformation (EWLDT).

 

| Charlie Cox

Empowering a local council to generate data-driven insights: using PowerBI at Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council wanted to make it easier for staff to use data so we worked with the council to develop a power BI solution.

| Jackie Smith

Put on your virtual cape and use your skills to help others

It has been another strange and difficult year for so many, but through these challenges we have glimpsed the heroes, those who keep going, help out others and find new and inventive ways to support the community around them

 

| Sue-Ellen Wright

We all stand to benefit from work cultures that help military-leavers to thrive

This Armed Forces Day, Sue-Ellen Wright, Managing Director of Aerospace, Defence and Security at Sopra Steria, shares an insight into her journey from military to civilian life and tips for those making the leap.

| Mo Ahmed

A long overdue celebration - Recognising the outstanding achievements of military veterans in second careers

As a veteran who served in the RAF for 33 years, Mo Ahmed shares what it means to him to be asked to judge the British Ex-Forces in Business Awards and how he approached selecting winners.

The Digital Traveller: the next leap forward in international travel
International travel is experiencing transformational change. The way we all cross international borders will look and feel completely different in five years as contactless, seamless and frictionless travel becomes the norm. 

The Ben Kinsella Trust and Sopra Steria – steps forward in the fight against knife crime
It was a day to mark the opening of The Ben Kinsella Trust’s second anti- knife crime exhibition in the UK, as well as Sopra Steria proudly announcing their strategic partnership with the charity, along with their joint ventures SSCL and NHS SBS.