Each month we chat to transformation leads across the public and private sectors to understand a little about their digital journeys and to (hopefully) extract some best practices. This episode we chat cloud technologies, conversational data and working to a flat IT structure across the Chelmsford City Council organisation. Enjoy!

Digital Transformation across the Public Sector is widespread, varied... and not without its challenges. There are so many lessons to be learnt from those doing transformation well. We include Kay O'Flaherty in that bracket, and it was fascinating to hear how Kay is driving Wrexham County Borough Council's digital adoption; and how her most recent journey differs from her previous Local Authority roles. Enjoy!

We caught up with Dorset Council recently as a part of their digital network initiative; a monthly gathering of council team members and external technology providers that examines best practices in digital transformation, and explores the art of the possible. This month was all about AI, automation and robotics, and we managed to chat with Lisa Trickey, Digital Strategy and Design Service Manager, Penny Syddall, Senior Communications Officer, and Laura Hall, Digital Manager. Here are the best bits!

This week, we chatted to Dave Vincent, Chief Digital Officer Tourism Northern Ireland.  We're keen to learn more about their mission to build the value of tourism in the local economy and how technology plays a part in this. We talk about the success story of tourism in Iceland (having grown considerably in economic significance in the past 15 years) and how Ireland has mirrored this with their successes using emerging technologies such as AR & VR. We ask Dave what the main challenges are within Tourism Northern Ireland and which technologies are helping to combat these challenges as well as which tech is currently falling short. We ask all of our guests which resources they use to enhance their digital transformation knowledge. Daves' top picks are WIRED, Gartner and Forrester as well as events such as Digital Tourism Think Tank.  As always, we love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, so please send your questions/ requests/ feedback to us via the Anchor.fm app directly or using #thebotcast on any of our social channels listed below. You can also find us at ⇢ wbb.ai or email us at [email protected]. Twitter - @webuild_bots Instagram - @we_build_bots Facebook - @webuildbotsai Linkedin - @webuildbots

The Botcast is one year old! During the best bits part two, we highlight our conversations with the following guests … Michael Sage, Head of Digital Transformation, Chelmsford City Council. We talk about the top challenges he's faced working within local authorities with the rise of digital. Karen Cawte, Digital Transformation Manager at West Lothian Council. We talk to Karen about their contribution to setting up the Local Government Digital Partnership along with 31 other Scottish Local Authorities plus much more. Alex Cousins, Business Development Director at Capita. Alex offers a fantastic birds eye view of 20 years in transformation. Steven Kyle, Transformation Programme Manager at Dundee City Council. We discuss what their transformation model looks like in relation to service design, how they're approaching digital transformation as a whole. Lee Jones - Head of Contact Centre Newport, Lucy Parton - Head of Transformation and James Harrison - Head of Robotics and AI at Lloyds Banking Group. We talk about Lloyds £3 billion investment in technology and staff to improve digital services, how they're planning to better engage with their 14 million digitally active customers. Jenny Nelson, Digital Newcastle Programme Manager at Newcastle City Council. We talk about how Jenny’s tackled imposture syndrome, the adoption of their adult social care bot, how Newcastle is set to become the UK’s leading Smart City plus much more! Paul Ward, Head of ICT & Digital at Coventry City Council. Budget cuts are a challenge faced across the board so we talk about how they're using technology to help make savings as well as drive innovation. Natasha Bhambhra, Senior Strategy Advisor at Government Digital Service. We talk to Natasha about the GDS Academy, DDaT Fast Stream programme as well as their Emerging Technology Development Programme. Derek Hobbs Interim Director of Business Development and Digital Transformation at Careers Wales. We discuss Derek’s highly praised Carer’s Allowance Digital Service which has an impressive satisfaction score of 90% and a take-up of over 70%! Aaqib Usman, Founder & CEO at Midwest Immersive. We wanted to know how the public sector could use immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) to better engage constituents. Let us know your favourite episodes and top takeaways using #thebotcast on any of our social channels listed below or via Anchor.fm. You can also find us at ⇢ wbb.ai or email us at [email protected]. Twitter - @webuild_bots Instagram - @we_build_bots Facebook - @webuildbotsai Linkedin - @webuildbots

The Botcast is one year old! And in celebration of it’s first birthday, we thought we’d throwback to some of the best bits and top takeaways over the past year! There are so many, so here is part one where we highlight our conversations with the following guests … Julian Harris, Head of Technology Research at CognitionX. We discuss Digital Autonomous Organisations (DAO’s), how London has just emerged as the AI Capital of Europe and how to harness the power of AI in business. Dr Zara Nanu, CEO at Gapsquare. The World Economic Forum have said that it’s going to take 217 years to close the gender pay gap. Dr Zara Nanu and her team are aiming to do this in under 20 years so we talk about how she’s planning to achieve this. Lisa Matthews, CEO at HellyHolly. Lisa is building a personal organisation chatbot called 'Our Canary' which takes all spheres of life into consideration - not just your calendar. We also discuss opportunities within voice and what it's like being a minority in the tech industry. Pete Gatenby, Chief Strategy Officer at B60. We talk to Pete about how companies can embrace digital transformation, the importance of testing and celebrating failure and how slow and steady no longer wins the race. Kane Simms, Host of VUX World. We find out what Kanes learnt from chatting to voice specialists over the past 6 months. We also talk about voice search becoming the new organic search and whether voice search will be the death of SEO. Emma Jackson, Digital Programme Manager and Abigail Barton, Communications and Engagement Manager at Monmouthshire County Council. We talk about the launch of their new chatbot Monty and how it’s helping them better engage with constituents. Cindy Rose OBE, CEO at Microsoft UK. Microsoft publicly commit to re-skilling people already working in the tech industry in areas such as the Cloud and AI - specifically in the public sector so we wanted to know what this looks like and how Cindy see's AI impacting the Government as a whole. We also talk about how with the potential of AI often comes unintended consequences and lastly we touch upon how AI is being used to address broader societal issues. Alison Hughes, Assistant Director of ICT Strategic Partnerships at Wigan & Bolton Councils. Alison was voted #2 Female Gov Tech Leaders 2018 and Top 30 Women In Tech Manchester. We chat to her about the challenges they face at Wigan and Bolton and their decision to outsource IT in a £47m contract in 2013 and how they go about storing and effectively utilising the data of 600,000 citizens plus much more! Kieron McGhie, Strategic Transformation Workstream Lead at Barking and Dagenham Council. Kieron has helped generate vast savings by integrating 2 major councils with digital solutions resulting in them offering services online as well as being an influencer and significant contributor as part of 2 major digital platform roll outs with 2 large local authorities. We were excited to understand Kieron's birds eye view perspective on councils across the world in order to really understand challenges across the board. Let us know your favourite episodes and top takeaways either via the Anchor.fm app directly or using #thebotcast on any of our social channels listed below. You can also find us at ⇢ wbb.ai or email us at [email protected]. Twitter - @webuild_bots Instagram - @we_build_bots Facebook - @webuildbotsai Linkedin - @webuildbots

This week, we went international and caught up with Chicago based Aaqib Usman, Founder & CEO at Midwest Immersive. In July 2016, Aaqib set up Midwest Immersive which is an interactive technology studio that works with brands and agencies combining new media art forms and emerging technologies to create one-of-a-kind consumer experiences. They’ve worked with a number of major brands including Nike, Adidas and Cadbury as well as won multiple awards for innovation.  Aaqib tells us about some of the most interesting and exciting projects he’s working on including the creation of a Snapchat lens that gained 24,000 views in just four hours as well as working on a project with Adidas during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.  I wanted to know how the public sector could use immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) to better engage constituents. Aaqib came up with some great examples so if you’re looking for ways to better engage your community, grab a cup of tea and take half an hour to listen to this episode.  We ask all of our guests which resources they use to enhance their digital transformation knowledge. Aaqib’s top pick was a podcast called AngelList where you learn investing from experienced angels and VCs. As always, we love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, so please send your questions/ requests/ feedback to us via the Anchor.fm app directly or using #thebotcast on any of our social channels listed below. You can also find us at ⇢ wbb.ai or email us at [email protected]. If you'd like to be a guest, you can contact our host directly ⇢ [email protected].  Twitter - @webuild_bots Instagram - @we_build_bots Facebook - @webuildbotsai Linkedin - @webuildbots

We're interviewing Digital Transformation specialists across the country to find out how they're approaching their digital transformation process and how the use of AI, automation, machine learning and chatbot technology can help councils to save money, increase efficiencies and improve customer service.  This week, we chatted to Derek Hobbs, Interim Director of Business Development and Digital Transformation at Careers Wales. Derek started his digital transformation journey with the DVLA where he was taken on to market the new online car tax system. He then held a number of interesting roles within digital transformation, including Head of Operational Digital Services, Digital Efficiencies, Channels and Customer Experience (CX) at the Department for Work and Pensions not to mention setting up his own digital transformation consultancy. Derek introduced RPA (robotic process automation) into the Department for Work and Pensions so we discuss what made him pivot towards automation and how RPA was received internally as well as externally. He then tells us about the highly praised Carer’s Allowance Digital Service he developed using agile methodology which has an impressive satisfaction score of 90% and a take-up of over 70%! We also talk about Dereks role as Head of Strategic Marketing at the pensions regulator where he was hired for the role out of automated enrolment as well as his objective to make DWP paperless internally by 2022 - a huge task with considering they have 90,000 staff! We ask all of our guests which resources they use to enhance their public sector digital transformation knowledge. Dereks top picks were whitepapers, podcasts such as Tech Tent, Trending and McKinsey as well as a book called The Best Service Is No Service by Peter Massey.  As always, we love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, so please send your questions/ requests/ feedback to us via the Anchor.fm app directly or using #thebotcast on any of our social channels listed below. You can also find us at ⇢ wbb.ai or email us at [email protected]. If you'd like to be a guest, you can contact our host directly ⇢ [email protected].  Twitter - @webuild_bots Instagram - @we_build_bots Facebook - @webuildbotsai Linkedin - @webuildbots

We're interviewing Digital Transformation specialists across the country to find out how they're approaching their digital transformation process and how the use of AI, automation, machine learning and chatbot technology can help councils to save money, increase efficiencies and improve customer service.  This week, we caught up with Natasha Bhambhra, Senior Strategy Advisor at Government Digital Service. GDS is a team within the Cabinet Office tasked with transforming government digital services. Responsibilities include building GOV.UK, making sure that people can sign into government services safely and easily, choosing the right technology for government, improving the way in which the government buys digital services plus much, much more! We talk to Natasha about the GDS Academy, DDaT Fast Stream programme as well as their Emerging Technology Development Programme which offer training in subjects like artificial intelligence, virtual reality and biotechnology. This leads us on to discuss the importance of growing your own talent in order to combat the skills gap.  Lastly, we discuss which new technologies Natasha thinks will impact the government most and how the likes of AI, machine learning, chatbots, voice technology and data capture will continue to transform the way the government operates over the coming years.  We ask all of our guests which resources they use to enhance their public sector digital transformation knowledge. Natasha's top picks were Wired Newsletters and Digital Leaders Blog.  As always, we love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, so please send your questions/ requests/ feedback to us via the Anchor.fm app directly or using #thebotcast on any of our social channels listed below. You can also find us at ⇢ intelagent.ai or email us at [email protected]. Twitter - @webuild_bots Instagram - @we_build_bots Facebook - @webuildbotsai Linkedin - @webuildbots

We're interviewing Digital Transformation specialists across the country to find out how they're approaching their digital transformation process and how the use of AI, automation, machine learning and chatbot technology can help councils to save money, increase efficiencies and improve customer service. This week, we caught up with Paul Ward, Head of ICT & Digital at Coventry City Council who has worked at Coventry for almost two decades and therefore seen huge evolution in this space with the rise of digital. Budget cuts are a challenge faced across the board so we talk about how they're using technology to help make savings as well as drive innovation. Coventry's contact centre covers a huge range of topics including general enquiries, payments, council tax appointments and queries, housing benefit and housing services plus much more. We wanted to find out how they're looking to streamline their contact centre and improve the customer journey using automation, AI, chatbots and data capture. We also talk about their biggest challenges, how they're approaching digital transformation and which technologies they see having the biggest impact on local authorities in the future.  As always, we love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, so please send your questions/ requests/ feedback to us via the Anchor.fm app directly or using #thebotcast on any of our social channels listed below. You can also find us at ⇢ intelagent.ai or email us at [email protected]. Twitter - @webuild_bots Instagram - @we_build_bots Facebook - @webuildbotsai Linkedin - @webuildbots