NHS Resolution’s Niamh McKenna discusses her role as CIO and the challenges of security and digital transformation in the public sector.
Niamh McKenna is the chief information officer (CIO) at NHS Resolution, a central government body of the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care that provides expertise to the National Health Service (NHS) on resolving concerns and disputes fairly.
Prior to joining NHS Resolution, McKenna spent a number of years at Accenture, where she held senior roles in various departments across multiple countries.
These roles included leading the company’s mobilisation and transition team for UK and Ireland, director of operations for the health and public sector in Japan, and leading the health and public sector technology consulting business for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Niamh McKenna. Image: NHS Resolution
As for her current role at NHS Resolution, McKenna was appointed to the newly created position of CIO in August of 2020, as the body began a major programme to enhance its tech capabilities.
“I’m responsible for delivering our large transformation projects which include a replacement of our case management system and driving our journey to cloud,” McKenna tells SiliconRepublic.com.
Building on legacy
One of the biggest challenges that she’s tackling at the moment is the difficulty of modernising legacy technology architecture, which she says is not always easy to do “in a straightforward way”.
Legacy tech refers to old technologies and systems still in use that are outdated when compared to current standards. This is a common frustration in the world of tech, with a survey published last year revealing that nearly one-third of European businesspeople considered quitting their jobs due to legacy or poor workplace tech.
When it comes to the issues that arise when modernising legacy systems, McKenna highlights the challenge of striking a balance between business demands and the time and cost pressures of the process. “And, as we all know, the business change element is often the hardest part,” she says.
As for security challenges, McKenna says that a big focus is addressing the “human side” of cybersecurity and cyberthreats, stating that there is a lot that can be done to mitigate harm that results from the human element of cybersecurity, such as “preloading links before people click, filtering out messages, stopping people from re-using credentials etc”.
Another cyber topic that she highlights is the importance of supply chain security, which is growing in importance in the cybersecurity world, and will be affected by a significant component of the upcoming Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which will come into effect in Europe in January.
“I also think that we need to extend our worry list to the full supply chain in the sector – not just our own organisations but those key suppliers and partners and making sure they meet (or beat) our standards.”
Tech transformation
The subject of digital transformation always comes into play when discussing modern business strategies, and McKenna says that the public sector often gets a “bad rep for digital transformation”, but that it’s sometimes done quite well in the sector.
“Of course, there are constraints, and we always have to be mindful of our obligations to spend taxpayers’ money wisely – but that shouldn’t hold us back,” she says. “I can see massive opportunities to leverage advances in technology solutions to provide better, smarter and more effective services in the sector.”
Specifically, McKenna points to the advent of AI as a “gamechanger”, which she says will have massive benefits for the healthcare industry.
“I think I am most excited about the opportunities it brings in terms of helping with the massive datasets we have in healthcare. Having AI/machine learning to help collate, curate and work through the data headaches we have will be truly transformational in the sector.”
Despite the opportunities that tech offers in her sector, McKenna recognises the importance of keeping sustainability in mind, such as through working with key suppliers and partners.
“We have an important obligation to ensure we consider sustainability in our procurement decisions and ensure that we are acting responsibly for the long term.”
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