London Transformation Day Recap

The UK government‘s recent shift to Cloud Native has inspired new emphasis on adapting workflows to take full advantage of the cloud. To support public sector organisations in this initiative, we hosted our first-ever AWS Transformation Day for the Public Sector in London where we welcomed over 350 government officials, IT and Business Executives, and developers from across the United Kingdom.

Teresa Carlson, Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector at AWS, delivered a keynote focused on organizational transformation, cultural transformation, and improving citizen services. She asked the crowd, “What is stopping your best innovators from moving fast?” She encouraged organizations to make sure that their people have the skills they need to be successful. She also encouraged resetting old policies and building a culture of innovation. By allowing people to build and to fail, it gives them the room to innovate and iterate.

Technology is often at the root of organization and cultural change. For example, technology is improving existing services and creating new services from transportation to public safety to health. Teresa was joined onstage by three UK organizations using technology to transform their missions.

• The Institute for Cancer Research: The Institute discussed how their research on adaptive radiotherapy has been impacted by cloud technology. By using the AWS Cloud, they are enabling real-time access to data, speeding their time to results, and lowering the cost per patient in labs and treatment facilities.
• Aylesbury Vale District Council: The Council talked about how their move to cloud has solved many business pain points. Now, they can scale up and down, pay only for what they use, and have a flexible working environment. This frees up assets and reduces infrastructure costs. By using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), they are able to deliver smarter services to revolutionize interactions with its constituents. For example, they just launched Alexa skills, allowing customers to access their accounts using the Amazon Echo.
• UK Met Office: Accurate weather forecasts allow farmers to predict when to plant crops, let airlines know when it’s safe to fly, and help governments plan for transportation hazards. Making data available to the public via AWS Public Datasets, can spur economic development and create a network of innovation.

Following the keynote presentation, attendees chose from a management or technical track to help guide them along their digital transformation journey. Within the sessions, they received technical insights on hot topics such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, IoT, and Industry 4.0, and were able to ask questions about AWS architecture, cost optimization, services, and features. Throughout the event, attendees benefited from a 360-degree view of what the cloud can do for their organisation.

We also had 12 APN partners sponsor the event. Thank you to our Platinum Sponsor, Intel. Together, we have developed a variety of resources and technologies for High Performance Computing, Big Data, AI, and the Internet of Things. Learn more here.