For the UK to ‘build back better’ following the pandemic, it needs infrastructure and business applications that are primed to maximise technology innovation and drive efficiencies in some of the nation’s most critical sectors.
This week marks a major milestone on the journey towards that growth. At SAP, we’re delighted to announce the launch of SAP UK Data Cloud as part of a major quarter of a billion Euro investment that will not only develop new talent in vital industries but will see increased spending with the nation’s social enterprises.
At the heart of this commitment is the creation of a cloud offering that will provide secure in country services across the UK and is tailored to supercharge innovation in the public sector.
Organisations increasingly need cloud services that ensure their data is managed and stored in the country. Using our hyperscaler partnerships – such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud – with UK data centres, SAP’s in-country cloud will be primed to meet the tight regulatory requirements of the public sector and support the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure in areas such as healthcare, transport, education, policing, central and local government, and utilities.
Benefitting from its experience working with NS2 SAP will deliver a highly secure cloud service where personal and data all resides within the UK for the public and commercial sector. With the capability of handling Official Sensitive data and going live in early 2022 it will offer SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Success Factors, SAP Business Technology Platform and SAP Analytics Cloud at launch then expanding across our portfolio.
Especially suited to the public sector, SAP UK Data Cloud will also fulfil the requirements of regulated industries across the UK and those organisations who are looking to be close to their secure data at all times.
What SAP UK Data Cloud Means For Citizens
The impact of this for public services can’t be overstated. By modernising and transforming systems through cloud transformation, time after time we’ve seen services simplified, unnecessary costs removed and capacity created for staff, such as frontline workers, freed up to carry out crucial roles – without being waylaid by cumbersome and time-intensive administrative systems. In addition to driving significant efficiencies, harnessing public cloud with sensitive data will facilitate better insights, driving faster and improved decision making to transform citizen services.
These new, in country SAP cloud services will improve the lives of UK citizens by enabling all parts of the public sector with the ability to quickly rollout essential digital solutions to meet the needs of our fluctuating world. Last year, we worked with the German government and Deutsche Telekom to launch the Corona Warn App, which focused on decentralised and anonymous infection tracing – meaning that there wasn’t a trade-off for citizens to have to choose between their health and their data privacy.
We also partnered with The Royal Volunteer Service to ease the burden on the National Health Service by providing vital non-medical care services to those self-isolating due to Covid-19 across the UK. Through using our technology the 600,000 who offered their support were provided with automated expense claims, to ensure they were reimbursed quickly.
Why SAP?
Organisations will uniquely benefit from both SAP’s innovation and our hyperscaler partners such as Microsoft, Google and AWS as they bring new services and capabilities online in the future.
Our platform is also designed for integration, openness and interoperability. This plays out in our partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, where RISE with SAP business processes have been integrated into Teams – which is used by the majority of public sector organisations – so that users have access to a simplified experience that can organise meetings, see business insights, report and plan, all without having to switch applications.
On top of that, we are primed to enable end-to-end business transformation and facilitate new business models. This means that we are able to complement the public sector’s existing digital transformation, that to date has extensively taken place in the front office, with back-office capabilities – and then integrate the two in order to deliver true end to end business process transformation. Our recent acquisition of Signavio is a perfect example of how we can bring business process intelligence to an organisation and allow them to understand their existing systems, and how they can be enhanced, all without using a sticking plaster in between.
Measuring The Real-World Benefits
What do these developments mean in the real world? Well, the impact of these innovations could have a major impact on the way that public services are delivered.
At a time when public sector organisations are under pressure to streamline costs and resource, while at the same time citizen demands are continuing to increase, having the digital tools to enable greater efficiencies and declutter services could be truly transformative.
Secure Public Cloud enables organisations to more effectively put this data to work facilitating integration, collaboration and best use of public assets and facilities. It can be as simple as being able to identify where a school bus service has low capacity and could be used to support patient transport when ambulances are used but not necessary. It could significantly improve the management and training supplied to teachers across the country or simply and importantly giving police offices more time to be on the beat over completing paperwork.
The ultimate goal of this offering is to empower people with the capacity to fundamentally improve the level of service the public sector can deliver to citizens. Industry has been reaping the rewards of public cloud with its sensitive data for many years. Today’s launch will be a catalyst for the public sector to deliver citizen services that will enhance the nation’s health, education and security.
For more detail on our public sector work, read here: SAP UK Data Cloud
Satpal Biant is head of Public Sector for SAP UK&I.
