Defence equipment and support in the digital age

As the UK and allies face increasing threats to our security and way of life, it’s critical that our armed forces have the means to continue to provide the highest levels of protection. The role of DE&S is to deliver world class equipment and support services to the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force and Strategic Command, making sure the frontlines have the right kit at the right time. As the procurement arm of the Ministry of Defence, DE&S also negotiates, awards and manages defence contracts on behalf of UK Armed Forces, while providing critical services to support operational outputs such as defence munitions sites across the UK, the British Forces Post Office and Salvage and Marine Operations. Grant Powell MBCS spoke to Gioacchino Musmeci, Head of Digital Service Integration, and Daniel England, Digital Solutions Architect to understand how the power of digital transformation, cloud computing and AI has enabled DE&S to supply and support our armed forces and allies at a time of heightened global tensions.

How has digital transformation and tech innovation enabled DE&S to deliver world class support and equipment?

Gioacchino: In the past few years the corporate IT capability across DE&S has been totally revolutionised. This has included the optimisation of digital record management — the moving away from information primarily stored as hard copy to best in class, secure digital repositories. Vastly improved data accessibility coupled with end user tooling has allowed us to take DE&S business intelligence and operations to the next level. The changes have helped support the dynamic delivery of programmes and projects through better collaboration between DE&S, its partners and suppliers. This digital transformation, followed by a rigorous and continuous programme of tech innovation, allows our services to be delivered with increased accuracy and speed to those who need them.

Daniel: In terms of the actual systems we utilise, the introduction and maturity of numerous cloud compute offerings, environments and capabilities across the IT industry has enabled this migration away from traditional ways of operating. This has come about through service offerings such as, but not limited to, Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). At DE&S we now adopt a cloud first policy and make full use of cloud native digital services with a move away from reliance on traditional on premises infrastructure. The result is increased real time availability and collaboration across DE&S, and the configuration of solutions in alignment with robust cyber secure design.

How is tech helping you to find a solution to the challenges you face?

Gioacchino: The global threat environment is ever evolving, requiring us to deliver digital services at a rapid pace to our DE&S customers. But we’re not immune to challenges, with the restrictions on civil service recruitment in recent years meaning we have been focusing on making maximum use of the resources available to us. For example, the use of collaborative IT Service Management (ITSM) tools and an increased move towards automated digital services is helping us deliver greater value to our customers through improved service integration, where the orchestrated management of suppliers and tech innovation delivered plays a key role in supporting both Information Technology (IT) and Operation Technology (OT).

Daniel: Our ‘secure by design’ systems can now provide greater defence in the face of increasingly targeted cyber attacks and also bring significant cost savings due to the potential to scale up or down enabling quick applications deployment, to meet front line demand, which cloud infrastructure makes possible. Yet the move towards the use of these systems required a culture change across DE&S to fully embrace the move away from a more traditional waterfall IT development approach towards Agile ways of working, which is becoming an important approach as part of our new operating model. Alongside changing the mindset around the vast benefits of cloud computing, it was also necessary to address some of the apparent stigma and myth around AI. This included fears around its potential to replace human resource, as well as unfounded data security and access concerns. AI has the power to deliver many efficiencies across DE&S and to the front line, so getting human buy-in was vitally important.

In which areas might further advances in IT and technology bring potential?

Gioacchino: Obviously, AI and cloud computing will continue to play an important role for the foreseeable future, following which we can expect quantum computing to provide many benefits such as faster decision making and shorter time to market. Such existing and emerging technologies offer so much potential to transform and enhance our ways of working and will support productivity at scale by offering IT service solutions which would otherwise take much longer to deliver.

Daniel: Yes, I think with AI, and specifically Large Language Data Models (LLDMs) there is a great deal of ongoing potential. It would be fantastic to see a concerted effort to develop an IT capability that can be easily configured and trained with large data sets. Beyond this, I think we’ll see a continuing effort to mature cloud capabilities and to simplify the adoption and migration away from traditional infrastructure hosting services towards cloud native solutions.

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What were your own paths of progression, and what advice do you have for someone looking to succeed in this industry?

Gioacchino: IT is a vast industry with an ever increasing number of opportunities, covering multi-disciplines that range from deeply technical to management roles. I personally started as an IT consultant working in IT operations. As my career developed, I focused on service management where I could practice design, build and delivery of IT services and ultimately explore the complexity of service architecture. Each role within IT has its place, fundamentally contributing to value co-creation and the completion of a complex jigsaw. Both technical and management paths have patterns of progression where capable individuals can aspire to fulfil multiple roles. I would say to focus on a subject matter you believe is in your path and look for an organisation, such as DE&S, which supports you on your career journey and offers relevant opportunities to dedicated professionals.

Daniel: There is a wealth of literature and reading available around the latest IT industry best practice across the web, but I would suggest that anyone interested in an IT career should commit time to reading about and understanding the latest technologies, such as cloud computing, AI and quantum. Consider looking to develop knowledge within an area of IT where you have the most interest and aim to become as skilled and knowledgeable about that area as you can. This can be done through personal study and seeking to gain formal qualifications. I personally started as a junior business analyst, developing my knowledge and skills to become qualified, then spent time as an IT service delivery manager and then a software testing manager, before taking the leap into the world of solution architecture. My current role represents the culmination of 20 years of skills and knowledge within the IT industry. If you want a career that encourages continuous personal development and continues to be both interesting and rewarding, then go for a career in IT and tech.