Q&A: Senior Account Director For Qodea Talks All Things Public Sector

We recently won two Google Cloud Partner of the Year awards for our work in the Public Sector and for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) at Google Next ’23 in San Francisco.

Having been recognised for our work in the public sector, we sat down with Alison King, Senior Account Director for the NHS & UK Government at Qodea, to talk about the award, and some of the great work that Qodea are doing with public sector organisations.

We work with a number of government and not-for-profit organisations in education, charity, healthcare, local and central government on projects that drive positive changes to society as a whole. Our Google Cloud experts have helped central governments digitise projects, local governments do more with their data, equipped school children across the country with learning devices, and even automated healthcare processes to give doctors more time to focus on patient needs. Let’s dive into some of the great work that Qodea are doing with public sector organisations with Alison King, Senior Account Director for the NHS & UK Government at Qodea.

First of all, what does winning the Google Cloud Public Sector Partner of the Year award mean to you?

It’s a great achievement and having won this award previously, it highlights the sustained value we are delivering to our public sector customers.

What are the biggest challenges being faced by public sector organisations at the moment, and how is Qodea helping them overcome these challenges?

The urgency the pandemic created brought great innovation across government, but the post-covid era is seeing a snapback in the desire for innovation during times of diminishing budgets. At Qodea, we’re helping support keeping innovation alive in the public sector by offering sponsored innovation Workshops and Hackathons to help organisations keep up the momentum of digital transformation.

Can you tell us a little bit about the kinds of projects Qodea supports public sector organisations with?

Qodea’s work in the public sector is extremely wide ranging! Whether that’s implementing GenAI innovation in healthcare, carrying out high velocity migrations, supporting teams with change management, or data projects to deliver new insights – we’ve helped a range of organisations on a national scale. Qodea’s Googly culture of collaboration also helps our customers to work iteratively and with the flexibility for adjustment along the way as required to suit their individual needs.

What do you enjoy most about helping public sector organisations transform and do more with their data?

Knowing that access to good, reliable data in a secure and timely way will ultimately benefit society. Whether it’s for speed of action or the precision of giving help where it is most needed at the right time, public services can only be improved both in their delivery but also their operational efficiency through data.

What is your biggest piece of advice for public sector organisations looking to make the move to Google Cloud?

Break from the business as usual! Embrace change and challenge, explore the unknowns – entertain the notion that doing it a different way may be a better way for the future around the corner.

Can you tell us about any emerging key trends you can see happening when it comes to digital transformation in the public sector?

Data analytics and AI are going to play a huge part in the emerging key trends for public sector organisations. Improving data quality and security has been the driving force of many projects in recent years and looking to the future, using GenAI to take this further will be key. Using clever analytics and automation will help the public sector gain better cost control and operational efficiencies so they can keep improving their service to citizens up and down the country.