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Scotland, of course, could
not possibly avoid the recent global IT outage along with the rest of
the planet. Trouble is, another one could be coming round the digital
horizon. It is clear organisations, of all sizes and in the sectors in
which they operate, must conduct a digital readiness check as a matter
of urgency. Apparently none more so than the public sector.
Unfortunately, we should all expect and anticipate more global glitches
from software bugs in the system. Millions upon millions of over-wrought
tourists became stranded at Scottish and innumerable other airports,
patients experienced disruption to often vital hospital and GP
appointments, one couldn't even complete a bank payment.
Crowdstrike, the Austin Texas-headquartered cybersecurity specialists
responsible for the glitch, readily apologised but it took some time to
return our lives back to some normality. In what was described as the
planet's first "Digital Pandemic", you know it's actually uncertain if
we are in the same digital place as before.
Scotland's leading digital transformation specialists, Edinburgh's
Exception have devised a quite unique, timely also free digital
readiness online tool which Managing Director Alasdair Hendry describes
as a "critical step" towards a more efficient, innovative and digitally
ready public sector.
Public Sector Lags Behind
It aligns with the four principles of the recently announced UK
Government's Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO), enabling greater
validation and a more robust digital evaluation.
On completion of the check an immediate digital readiness score is
calculated to provide an instant snapshot of digital readiness. A
detailed custom report identifies areas where an organisation excels but
where critical areas require attention.
CDDO's digital and data roadmap has revealed the country's public sector
lags behind in digital capabilities compared to the private sector.
Often resulting in slower, less efficient services. This must change.
CDDO's four principles involve:
ensure clear, simple and unambiguous rules
assume digital delivery by default
plan for interoperability, sharing and reuse of data
use existing, common infrastructure
SOLID - SOcial Linked Data
Our digital lives are caught up in a tussle over which we have very
little control. If any at all.
In one digital corner are online purists headed up by World Wide Web
creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee pressing for more discipline and security on
the net.
In the other are free-for-all advocates led by the likes of Meta and
Tesla trumpeting a metaverse virtual social/entertainment digital
playground.
For the past decade Sir Tim has been working with Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) on a new web infrastructure called "SOLID"
- SOcial Linked Data - a decentralisation project aimed at radically
changing the way web applications work.
The aim is to achieve true data ownership for all with what's been
termed Web3 described as the next evolutionary stage of the net.
Levelling out the current haphazard, uneven and unsafe distribution of
data ownership.
This directly clashes with those behind the nascent metaverse aimed to
wrest control of key - and highly lucrative - parts of the web. Using
various techniques headed up by AI along with AR and VR to manage,
exploit and harvest our identities.
Rise in Privacy and Ethical Online Threats
Also, of course, making eye-watering amounts in the process of what's
become labelled as the "Metaverse Economy". Promising monetisation
unequalled to date with forecasts putting this as much as almost $13
(£10) trillion by 2030.
Such commercial pressures come with them tremendous cost to our online
privacy and with it growing ethical threats.
Furthermore, some beleaguered businesses have had it up to here with an
increasingly toxic internet that threatens to cripple if not but bring
an enterprise down.
It's also cold comfort to learn the so-called "Dark Web" is an estimated
three times the size of the everyday net the vast majority of us is well
used to.
Unfortunately, endlessly confronted by an ever-rising risk of being
assaulted online by a combination of commercial bullying, malicious
phishing scams and copies of key products illegally sold on the market.
No one is immune from cyber-attack and some firms are seriously
considering quitting the net for good. But how?!
Something has got to digitally give. Let's earnestly hope Sir Tim's now
famous claim of the Internet that the "genie is out of the bottle" can
be somehow reversed.
In the meantime, it's the wise organisation that ensures it is
thoroughly digital ready for what may be coming round the next global IT
corner... |
