Cloud computing and police digital transformation: Making progress on the journey

Emergency services digital transformation is often a complex journey, and one which – as with many other organisations in the public sector – has plenty of twists, turns, and the occasional pothole along the road to success.

Given the nature of the role, and the sensitivity of the data handled, policing often finds itself facing more bumpy rides than most; so when it comes to the move towards cloud computing, regarded by many as a crucial element in leveraging the greatest benefits from digital transformation, it’s encouraging to hear an expert view that policing is, in many ways, ahead of the game.

That’s the opinion of Hexagon’s Ian Holmes who believes policing reached a “pivot point” around 18 months ago, driven in part by the experiences during Covid.

“Previously, when we were talking to police about cloud capabilities, everyone was saying ‘Oh it’s still a bit risky, we’re not quite sure we’re ready yet’,” explained Ian. “And then suddenly every request for information, every discussion with a police force, was focused on ‘we’re really interested in the cloud’. It was like the penny had finally dropped.

“UK policing is actually doing a good job at the moment with exploring options for the cloud. I think the delivery of the Microsoft 365 platform into policing as part of the National Enabling Programmes (NEP) has helped, with police forces realising ‘Oh hang on, this is in the cloud and it’s secure and it doesn’t go down and it’s always there and up to date, and it gives us this flexibility to expand and contract as we see fit’.

“I know mission critical systems are different, but it’s definitely been a good stepping-stone for them to get confidence in the cloud. Obviously, cloud technology advances and evolves over time, and while there may not have a been a dramatic change in the last couple of years, the confidence in it among UK policing has definitely grown rapidly in 18 months.

Ultimate flexibility

However, as previously mentioned, that pathway to acceptance has not always been straightforward Hexagon’s Klaus Dalgaard has witnessed some of the rollercoaster ride around police digital transformation, and shares Ian’s confidence around the current attitude towards cloud computing.

“I think earlier in the journey, back at the start of the 2000s, policing was ahead of the game,” explained Klaus. “And then gradually everyone just exhausted their old systems, to the point where maybe five or six years ago, we probably had the oldest fleet of command and control platforms in Europe.

“But now people’s interest in digital transformation has regenerated, for example in areas such as mobility and analytics, and as Ian says, policing is now a little bit ahead of the game, particularly with a few forces going fully cloud native.

“The decision to go full cloud probably hasn’t trickled down all the way through in police systems or organisations – I think framework and governance processes are probably lagging a little bit behind – but things are certainly moving forward.”

One reason for the increased enthusiasm for a move to a ‘pure cloud’ approach may be the greater understanding of the benefits that cloud computing can bring, particularly around the ‘intangibles’.

That process of understanding has again been driven in part by outside influences such as Covid, and the widespread roll out of Microsoft 365, which have helped forces to grasp some of those benefits, as well as recognise the trade-off between price and greater flexibility, resilience and security.

“I think the understanding is coming in that the cloud can bring you that ultimate flexibility in terms of performance, scalability – the fact you can have instantaneous elasticity in your system – along with built-in disaster recovery,” explained Ian.

“I hate to use the buzz word ‘non-cashable savings’, but I think agencies are now realising the full benefit of those ‘intangibles’. And that’s what we’ve been able to help explain to the forces where we’re rolling out a true cloud ‘software as a service’.

“When we put all those things together, along with zero down time updates, no hardware changes or maintenance, no adding licences – and the ability to reallocate staff resources onto more critical policing operations – when you look at all of that together, both the costs and the operational benefits start to look very attractive.”

Security and resilience

These and other benefits – particularly around collaboration and interoperability between systems – make a strong case for forces to move towards cloud-based computing as part of their digital transformation process.

But all organisations have concerns when it comes to change. Most often, the issues raised are around security and resilience.

“The reality is your data is safe in the cloud – certainly safer than with a third-party consultant walking around your office with a memory stick and then leaving it on the Tube!” said Klaus.

“Microsoft, Amazon, and others invest billions a year in security; that’s their business, it’s the core of what they do. So, by using the commercial cloud, you are collaborating with the best of the best.

“One thing that is lacking though is for UK policing to have a security assurance standard – a minimum criteria or level of compliance around security assurance that any supplier needs to demonstrate – so that police forces don’t have to come up with their own set of security protocols and criteria.

“If there was something in place, perhaps issued by the Police Digital Service or someone similar, that sets out the security assurance criteria and asks suppliers to demonstrate those compliances – whether it’s around the security of data at rest, or data in transit, or system connections – that would be really helpful for both forces and suppliers.”

When it comes to resilience, the answer is just as straightforward, as Ian explained: “People will say to us, ‘oh, our connection to the internet went down the other day, what do we do if that happens to the cloud?’.

“That’s just down to resilience – it’s as simple as having a secondary network connection.”

Seamless connection and collaboration

So where will cloud computing take us from here – and what does the continuing policing pathway look like? For Ian, the opportunities around collaboration, and the end-user experience, will be key to that progression.

“Something that we’re quite bullish about is that moving forward in public safety – and in policing particularly – it’s about having a platform. It’s not about having various systems; the end user in a police force shouldn’t need to look at logging into one system to get this information, and then into another system to do a different bit of work.

“For them it should be: ‘I have this platform that enables me to do my job, and it’s seamless’. It’s what we call a single pane of glass. Under the hood it could be two or three different systems, but actually it’s one platform.

“That’s something the cloud promotes, because you haven’t got systems talking to systems, it’s not just ‘we do this application’, it’s about ‘we have a public safety platform that enables this single piece’. And that comes down to your collaboration on all of those services that are available.”

That seamless collaboration between both systems and organisations is something that is already built into Hexagon’s own HxGN Connect, a shared platform and collaboration portal which can aggregate the data from critical systems like CAD and others from multiple agencies.

The data is then made available to those agencies on a ‘need-to-know’ basis so they can – in the same view, at the same time – see and agree the response needed and follow the audit trail of actions taken by each agency.

“This seamless collaboration is definitely the right way to go – and probably the only way to go,” said Klaus. “And we shouldn’t underestimate the expectations of officers and staff themselves.

“When officers and staff join a force or an agency, they will be used to wandering around – as we all are – with smart phones and tablets, and incredible access to a vast range of systems and software. Coming into work in a bluelight environment and feeling like you’re taking a step backwards in terms of technology and connectivity shouldn’t be the reality.”

“But all of this is a journey,” added Ian, “and you do need to let forces go at their own speed; it is a long or a short journey, depending on their appetite, but it’s not a case of one size fits all.

“For example, it’s not cloud or nothing. If an agency wants to have this sort of system in place today and keep it on premises that’s great; it looks and feels the same so you can train all your people, they all get used to it, and then when it switches over to the cloud, the users don’t know any different, it’s just behind the scenes.”

And what about the wider journey around digital transformation overall? “Digital transformation in UK policing is multi-faceted,” said Ian. “It’s not just about looking at the technology, but how forces do things, how they can leverage digital capabilities to enhance their processes, and also review how they currently do things today. Inspecting the whole electrical system may be necessary before upgrading the equipment in the building. If a breaker switch keeps tripping, a licensed electrician may be hired.

“Technology and IT changes can sometimes be a case of, ‘well this is what we do today, how do we do it with a different label on a newer machine?’. But digital transformation is much more than that. It’s about looking at your processes, looking at how you operate and also the changing needs of policing.

“Policing is a different thing now than it was 20 years ago, even 10 years ago – the demands from society, the accountability, the transparency and the expectation as well. From the collaboration perspective, it’s about working not just between forces but across other services.

“It also encompasses technology such as assistive AI, so that instead of information overload on staff across all these sectors, you’re giving them more information at the right time, in the right way, to enable them to make a more informed decision. All of this fits into digital transformation – it’s not just about replacing your IT!”

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