What’s Really Holding Back Public Sector Transformation? Our Key Takeaways from Excellence in Central Government

At the Excellence in Central Government event, our team joined senior leaders from across government departments to unpack the real challenges behind digital transformation.

From legacy technology and siloed data to human resistance to change, the conversations were candid, insightful, and deeply relevant to the work we do at CloudSource.

Here are three major themes that stood out.

Change Management: The hardest part isn’t the tech

If there’s one thing agreed on at the event, it’s that technology isn’t the hardest part of transformation; people are. Government departments are still operating with legacy systems that have shaped how teams work for decades.

The UK Supreme Court’s transformation programme was a standout example of a user-led change model, involving employees at every stage in delivering 46 new services on time and on budget.

We understood that successful transformation is about more than just software, it’s about people, process and purpose. What sets us apart is our deep domain expertise, which allows us to guide clients with clarity and confidence. At the event, we showcased how we tackle change management head-on, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.

Case Management: A significant challenge across the public Sector

Omnichannel Case management is a game-changer for public service delivery when implemented successfully, but sadly remains a shared pain point for departments. It directly impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of public services across a wide range of areas, including social services, justice, and regulatory enforcement. Despite the availability of digital tools, many organisations are still weighed down by fragmented, manual, and outdated processes, and we’ve seen it first-hand.

It was encouraging to hear that many of the ideas we discussed, like intelligent triage and contextual automation, are already being considered by government teams. After more than a decade of working closely with the UK public sector, we understand exactly what makes a great case management platform.

 Data: The untapped asset

Data was a recurring theme throughout the event. From HMRC to the Valuation Office Agency, leaders acknowledged that while data is abundant, it’s often inaccessible, unstructured, or siloed. The rapid push to modernise and reduce technical debt has left organisations with vast amounts of information, but without a clear strategy to manage or use it effectively.

We shared how we solved this challenge by migrating entire IT estates to the Microsoft stack, consolidating up to ten systems into a single, unified platform. We also showcased how we utilise tools like Microsoft Fabric to build data lakes that clean, deduplicate, and validate data, thereby transforming complex datasets into trusted insights.

We know that data is the foundation for what comes next with AI. While many organisations have laid strong foundations through Digital, Data, and Technology (DDaT) strategies, the next step is to build on that with intelligent, ethical AI solutions.

How can CloudSource help?

The conversations at the event highlighted a growing urgency across government: the need for smarter systems, better data, and transformation that creates impact. Whether it’s change management, case resolution, or data strategy, the challenges are real, but so are the opportunities.

We’re committed to helping public sector organisations tackle these challenges. To help you take the first step, we offer a complimentary one-day Inspire Workshop, where we’ll review your current operations, identify transformation hotspots, and map out what your future organisation could look like.

If you’d like to speak to one of our experts or would like to secure your spot for the free one-day workshop, get in touch with us today.

Email: rob.bragg@cloudsource.uk.com Teams: +44 (0)203 998 9003