Collaborating to enable digital Scotland

In our panel sessions led by journalist John Morrison, in the Q&A sessions with members of the Scottish public sector and among visitors to our stand, one question came up more than any other; “Why are Capita and Commsworld working together?’.

Our answer can be found in Scotland’s Digital Strategy where, in the foreword written by Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Trade Innovation and Public Finance, it states “Our commitment to work together remains as strong as ever as we work to put this strategy into practice.” In both Capita and Commsworld we’re taking this call to heart, working together to help Scotland thrive in a digital world.

After Commsworld’s successful bid for North Lanarkshire Council’s transformative digital infrastructure and connectivity programme, Capita was quick to reach out and extend the offer of support. As these discussions developed, it soon became clear that there was an opportunity for both organisations to collaborate on future projects – developing something that could be transferrable and valuable across Scotland. This common purpose, creating repeatable outcomes and transferrable benefits through collaboration offers greater value to the people we support and the vision for Scotland (A Changing Nation). By working together, we can jointly achieve more citizen-focussed outcomes in an affordable and sustainable manner.

This is much more than just a technology play. While fibre connectivity remains vital as an enabler of digital transformation, it is the citizen-focussed outcomes that are the key to unlocking even more significant benefit. To achieve these, behaviours and mindsets must shift from the traditional “build it and they will come” approach to network infrastructure, to instead understanding the needs and priorities of the people of Scotland, ensuring we are inclusive in our endeavours and purpose-led in what we deliver.

Rather than questioning where and how quickly can we deliver fibre, we must consider how we can use it to deliver benefits to citizens, focussing on the introduction of services that can be readily understood and adopted from the outset. Through wider collaboration we are able to understand where other communities have achieved similar results and how these can be leveraged to support our towns, cities and communities.

This approach is difficult to maintain in a competitive environment, but Capita and Commsworld will demonstrate that, through collaboration and communication, every connectivity project delivered across Scotland could be completed to the same standards while also delivering additional nuanced and citizen-focussed outcomes.

By sharing our experiences and insights as part of a partner ecosystem, every project - no matter the partner that led the delivery - can contribute to a truly digital Scotland.

Capita and Commsworld are individually trusted with connecting many public sector organisations, and are both leaders in this field. Working together, this new collaboration will better enable digital Scotland.

We’re both excited about the opportunity to show you more, so please watch this space.