Beyond the hype: Can tech truly revive the UK public sector?
Emma O’Brien, Founder and CEO of people-first business transformation consultancy, Embridge Consulting, talks technology and how it should be resetting the UK’s stagnant and sluggish public sectors
It would be reasonable to assume that public services run more smoothly after Covid-19, given that lockdown prompted the urgent adoption of remote organisation technology. Recent data from the Office for National Statistics seems to suggest otherwise, however, revealing public-sector productivity levels 6.8% lower than 2019.
With 2024 Q2 figures likewise 2.6% lower than the same period in 2023, it’s clear we’re dealing with an efficiency crisis.
A worrying disparity
The National Health Service was hit hardest by the pandemic, which has left doctors and nurses scrambling to deal with escalating waiting lists and increased public health requirements. Despite the government’s best efforts to tackle this – including a 30% increase in allocated resources according to Reuters – output has only risen by 6%, leaving us with an overall 8% decline in productivity and a concerning disparity in pressing need of address.
Indeed, the year before last, the British Social Attitudes survey reported the lowest NHS patient satisfaction levels since records began in 1983 – with figures falling as low as 24%. This represents a 29% decrease since 2020, marking an unprecedented plummet in public satisfaction.
A 2024 Ipsos survey further confirms this worrying fall, revealing that just 28% of the British public believe the NHS is providing good service. It’s clear, then, that the country needs more effective ways of boosting efficiency – with resurrection strategies centred around solutions that don’t cost the earth.
A catalyst for change
In the pursuit of enhancing public sector productivity – and by proxy, public satisfaction levels – the government has introduced ‘Humphrey’: a suite of AI tools designed to improve efficiency within the civil service. Consisting of several different AI applications, this collection of tools aims to reduce bureaucratic delays, decrease reliance on external consultants and enhance data sharing – all elements that align with Labour’s broader aim of modernising public services.
While Humphrey offers promising advancements, several limitations must be addressed. An overreliance on AI to resolve all public service challenges could lead to public fear and rejection, for instance, with traditionally human-driven sectors requiring more nuanced technological approaches. Then, there’s the issue of energy consumption, with many AI systems like Humphrey threatening government net-zero targets because they can be energy-intensive.
Finally, implementing AI in sectors like healthcare involves handling sensitive data, so privacy measures and ethics alike must remain a key priority.
Digital transformation
Rather than relying solely on AI to turn things around, then, the government must also turn to organisations specialising in digital transformation to ensure success. Though it may seem counterintuitive, with digital solutions at the fore, it’s important to take a ‘people-first’ approach, where new technologies are implemented in ways that empower public teams rather than overwhelming them.
A key failing of many government-led technology turnarounds so far has been the assumption that implementing things like AI will automatically resolve deep-rooted structural inefficiencies. In reality, productivity gains depend on a combination of cultural change, training and digital systems that integrate seamlessly into existing workflows.
By implementing tailored Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, public sector organisations like the NHS can unify their operations in a secure, reliable way, improving everything from financial management and HR functions to service delivery – without the cost and disruption of completely overhauling existing systems.
This approach proves particularly vital in healthcare, where outdated IT infrastructure often creates admin bottlenecks responsible for hundreds of people still waiting for appointments. The same goes for patient record management and workforce planning – both of which are easily held back by legacy tech.
Of course, when used strategically, intelligent automation solutions can also reduce the administrative burden on frontline workers. Rather than replacing staff with AI, employees’ time must be freed up to focus on high-value tasks, as repetitive, time-consuming processes are left to be streamlined by the machines. This balance guarantees that technology enhances service quality, rather than hinder.
An issue of trust
Another key concern surrounding AI-driven public sector reform is trust. Large-scale AI rollouts risk alienating both staff and the public if they are perceived as opaque, impersonal or imposed without inclusive consultation. The problem becomes particularly entrenched when technology is introduced without adequately warning and preparing employees for the impact to be expected on daily roles.
A successful Digital Transformation strategy must therefore prioritise transparency, ensuring that employees are active participants in shaping future implementation rather than feeling like passive recipients – or worse still, feeling replaced. By involving staff members early on in the process – through consultation, feedback loops and pilots – organisations can build the confidence required in their digital reforms to make them efficient.
Ultimately, even the most advanced technology is of little value if employees feel ill-equipped to use it. Change management strategies are equally as fundamental as the technologies themselves, preparing public sector teams with the skills they need to integrate digital solutions in a non-disruptive, cost-light way. A structured training programme can go a long way towards ensuring knowledge and technical expertise remain in house.
Smarter investment
The Labour government has taken a critical step towards revitalising the public sector with technology. But the focus must shift from AI hype to human-centred pragmatism if we are to see success. Investing in tailored solutions – like ERP systems, intelligent automation and strategic consultancy – will deliver more meaningful, measurable improvements, ensuring the tables are turned and we start to see a tangible return in investment: a rise in satisfaction on par with government spending on AI.
Mark Yeeles, VP, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric UK&I
Digital Forum: Liquid cooling technology to address heightened heat generation and AI demand
Expert Insight: Mike Hoy, CTO, Pulsant
Deep Dive: Chris Osian, Product Manager at Starline, a brand of Legrand
VIDEO: Driving business growth by improving customer experience
Zurich Insurance Group was founded more than 150 years go. It has individual customers and businesses all over the world which use its insurance services. It is prioritising customer experience and transforming the customer journey through data, AI and human-centred design to drive tangible business results. Conny Kalcher, Group Chief Customer Officer of Zurich Insurance, spoke to Intelligent CXO about how the customer is at the heart of everything the company does. She also discusses changing customer expectations and the technology which will stand out in the future.
Can you give me a brief overview of Zurich and the services it offers?
Zurich is a global insurer, and we insure both individuals and companies around the world. We serve 75 million individual customers and 320 businesses. We insure most of the big brands and companies in the world, and we have a broad portfolio of insurance products.
How have customer expectations changed within the insurance industry?
I think there was a time where you could say that your industry was special, but that doesn’t exist any longer. No matter what industry you’re in, you’re being disrupted by customer expectations going up. The customers are used to dealing with companies like Netflix and Amazon and companies which can react very quickly on their demands and queries, and the rest of us in other industries, we just have to live up to that.
Have you noticed that change quickly?
I think the industry has been a little bit sleepy for many years. The banks were faster to cotton on that they needed to change. But the financial industry has been a bit slower in changing. I’ve been in the industry now for a little bit more than five years, and I’ve seen radical change in expectations in those five years. Every insurance company around the world is going through this process of upgrading systems, tools and processes, because we have a lot of legacy systems in the industry that we need to replace with newer systems. And that’s a journey that takes maybe 10 years, and some industries have been on that journey far earlier than us.
How is Zurich transforming the customer journey?
In our corporate strategy, we have three priorities; customer focus is one, simplification is the second and innovation is the third. Transforming a company that’s been around for 150 years, and it’s a bit of a supertanker into more of a speed boat, that is arranged to serve customers rather than to sell products is a big journey. The strategy was done in 2016 and then I joined and created the customer officer in 2019 and since then, we have been really transforming everything from the customer value proposition: Who are we? Why are we here? What is our purpose in life to the visual identity and the tone of voice? How do we speak with our customers? How do we look in communication?
Insurance used to be formal and not really relevant to customers of today. We’re working through different elements in order to make the brand more relevant for customers. It’s not just the standards, it’s also how we digitalise the experience and how we train our people to serve our customers in the right way. We do a lot of capability building, empathy training, so we move away from selling what we have on the shelf to understanding customer needs.
Can you tell me more about how Zurich is embedding customer focus into every level of the organisation?
We do it with capability building. We also do it with implementing processes that help people act their way into a new way of working. You can’t just tell an organisation, ‘Now you need to be customer-focused’, and then everybody understands what that looks like. They really don’t.
And that’s why we defined an ambition for what our customer experience should be, which is about building meaningful relationships. It’s not about interactions. It’s about every time you have a contact with a customer, you need to use that opportunity to get to know them better, service them better, understand them better.
We also look into how we how we segment our customers and address them in the selling and engagement process, depending on what kind of needs they have and what kind of segments they belong to.
We also have it in our customer KPIs. People are getting rewarded based on how well our customer KPIs are performing. The Transactional Net Promoter Score has gone up seven points from 2022 to 2024 and we will soon be clear what happened in 2024 as well. So you can see that if we measure satisfaction and we take actions based on what customers are saying to us, we not only improve the experience, we also improve the score.
The other thing we measure is brand consideration, which is all about measuring whether the Zurich brand is relevant for our customers when they look to buy insurance. We want to be up in that top five set, so that we have been considered.
And finally, we’ve been measuring net new customers. So how many new customers are we attracting? We’re turning that into something called NRR, which is a financial measure of how well we are loyalising our customers.
How do you see customer experience evolving within your industry?
I think it’s a key differentiator in the industry that the people who get this right will be the people who win in the future, because by getting the CX right, you can demonstrate to your customers that you can serve them on a more individual level, you can satisfy their needs and you can do it in a way that is seamless and engaging. You can even do it in a way where if you want to be serviced digitally and do your claims fully on WhatsApp, then that’s your choice. If you want to talk to an agent, that’s your choice. It needs to be more of a customer choice, not forcing everybody to do the same journey. We know, since we’re in a low touch industry, 45% of our customers we don’t even talk to during the year. So the more we can provide services, help prevention and better service when it matters, when something has gone wrong, the more loyalty we can we can earn from our customers, because they can see the value we’re providing.
How do you serve those customers who don’t make a claim?
What we’ve started to do in some markets is to do cuddle calls, so even if they don’t have a claim, we will call them, hear how they’re doing, whether they are getting the right service from us, whether they need additional things or need changes in some of the policies we have with us and just a simple thing like that proves valuable.
We’re building in more preventative services into our value proposition as well. We’re just working on a weather alert app, for example, in Italy. In the customer app we have, which is called Zurich One, you can actually sign up for getting weather alerts. If a hailstorm is coming or a flood is predicted, you can take caution and you can take action to prevent things from happening.
Which technology will stand out this year in transforming customer experience, and why?
We all talk about Generative AI. We have areas of the business which uses Gen AI and it’s really powerful. For example, in the process of redefining the brand, we also redefined the tone of voice. It’s not good enough just to change the way we speak in adverts if we then send people letters they can’t understand. We defined a policy, which is all about being much more simple and direct, to not use jargon. For that policy, we have created an AI tool that the business units can use when they transform all the written communication that we have today. They can put the existing communication, for example, an offer letter, into the tool, and then the engine will give them back a new version of that based on our principles. And then they can edit it.
