WASHINGTON \u2014To achieve a digital advantage in the future, the British military must change how it architects and buys systems, according to the British Army\u2019s head of information exploitation and chief data officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking during the DSEI defense show, Brigadier Stefan Crossfield said the military is focusing on setting standards from the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRather than reengineering and refactoring later, we want to work with you up front to help you with that,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a result, we now have a chief information architect, an information design authority. \u2026 That is a massive step forward for the army. We\u2019re here to help have those conversations early.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crossfield also noted the importance of data in the future. To be successful, he said, the data must be in the right place and easily accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about the technology, it\u2019s not about the data, it\u2019s about an organization moving from an industrial-age posture to an information-age posture where we turn to the data first,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to do that, we\u2019ve got to get the data right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sentiment was seconded by Charlie Forte, chief information officer for Defense Digital within UK Strategic Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt the moment, no one\u2019s really got a clue what data actually exists across defense,\u201d he said during the same conference. \u201cOne of the core things we need to get our arms around is actually getting data transparent and visible and whichever stovepipe it\u2019s currently sitting in <\/b>and then begin to think about how do we make the metadata available that allows people to understand what we got \u2026 and ultimately get most of it onto a cloud-based platform that gives us the ability to do something with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crossfield said the army is working to get enable secure, democratized access to this data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both officials stressed the importance of cooperating with the private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe only have one choice if we are going to compete and win. And that choice is that we need to completely overhaul our ambition in the application of game-changing digital and information technologies,\u201d Forte said. \u201cTo do this to its maximum potential, we have to embrace the notion that this is a team sport. It requires us to work together in very, very different ways than we have in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One critical area is software. Forte said the service needs to shift from a platform-centric view to the integrated systems-centric view that is mostly software enabled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forte also vowed to be a better customer for industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI need to recognize that if you want to have world-class partners, you need to be a world-class customer and we are not yet,\u201d he said. \u201cMy commitment back to industry is that we will continue to drive to put ourselves in the position of being world-class customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, Crossfield said the military needs to be more transparent about available opportunities, acknowledging officials haven\u2019t been as open in the past as they could have been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Officials from the British military want better access to data and to harness the power of software.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":83,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,29,83,33,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3336],"class_list":["post-17686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-dsei","category-home","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"USXX23I2UFDB5NTDNQ7KHZNTDE","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/14\/british-military-looks-to-change-approach-to-technology-data\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n