Alex Osborne

The public sector has perhaps faced the biggest challenge of any industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. Like many organisations, public institutions and agencies are dealing with a dynamically shifting situation, as science and government advice fluctuates with each stage of the crisis. Yet they have done this while being on the front line of the pandemic response. Indeed, the reality for the public sector is that, for all the talk of the ‘return to work’, many of their employees have never been at home. Given these circumstances, it might be a surprise to find out that public sector executives believe that the pandemic has actually created an environment for innovation. And ServiceNow’s recent Work Survey shows exactly that.

How do you keep a near 400-year-old organisation relevant today? How do you maintain and develop services that serve the broadest possible range of people across the entire country? These are the constant challenges facing the UK’s Post Office. Of course, these challenges are similar to those of other public institutions, but as a government-owned commercial business with a social purpose, the Post Office also faces additional complexity. The Post Office operates the UK’s largest retail network with more than 11,500 branches – 99.7 per cent of the population live within three miles of a Post Office and 97 per cent of branches are run on a franchise or agency model by retail partners.

When it comes to saving lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, every moment counts. For doctors and nurses, that means making split-second decisions about treating desperately ill patients. For our political leaders, that means having the right information at the right time to make the right decisions, such as lifting lockdown restrictions and reopening economies while continuing to contain and control the virus. But all of that depends on having data you can rely on, safeguarded by robust and resilient technology, and developed in partnership with those you can trust to deliver. At ServiceNow, we continue to play a key role supporting the NHS across the UK. England and Scotland launched new test-and-trace systems at the end of May.

The UK is facing unprecedented challenges. Self-isolation, social distancing, shielding and ‘lockdown’ have left an indelible mark on the nation’s collective consciousness. Nowhere has the crisis been felt more acutely than in the NHS. Acting as the tip of the spear in the battle against Covid-19, our National Health Service is being stretched in ways previously thought unimaginable. London’s new NHS Nightingale Hospital, a 4,000 bed, temporary facility housed within the ExCel convention centre, has been brought into operation in record time. According to the hospital’s COO, Natalie Forrest, it will become one of the largest medical centres worldwide, split into more than 80 wards.

Earlier this year, Britain’s departure from the EU finally happened. Amid all the debate about Brexit’s impact on UK businesses and citizens, what is not talked about as much is the effect the split from Europe will have on the civil service and government departments. Potential trade tariffs and regulatory reforms loom large in post-Brexit planning, but the procedural restructuring involved in Brexit may disrupt the public sector before anything else. It goes without saying that the day-to-day functioning of most government departments is heavily reliant on processes that have for years been defined and managed by the EU. HMRC, the Home Office and Defra, among others, will be affected by the UK’s exit.