NetApp’s Managing Director, UK & Ireland, Chris Greenwood had the following to say about the Government’s digital investment plans  as announced in today’s budget :

“We warmly welcome the Government’s continued investment in science and technology – especially in our public services and capabilities. Making it easier to share more, higher-quality data across government to inform policy, evaluation and more is an invaluable decision. However, the budget is only the first step. Over the coming months and years we will be looking to the Government and our Civil Service to make informed decisions on how they go about unifying and digitising their service offerings. Not only must this integration be secure and frictionless, each system must be carefully selected and architecture for each use case – hasty investments in order to appear ‘digital’ will hamper long term growth and returns.

From our own studies, we already know that in the NHS for example, 75% of trusts have appointed themselves a leader for AI, but two thirds of them are struggling to access the data and resources needed to make it a success. Establishing ourselves as leaders in fields like artificial intelligence in the long-term would see the UK become a hugely attractive investment prospect in a post-Brexit, highly fraught trade environment. But it all starts with the having the correct hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure. Effective digital infrastructure could boost productivity, create altogether new, disruptive services, and empower UK businesses to better compete at a global scale.”