Technology

Posted on April 11, 2018 by staff

British Army to transform how it shares critical information

Technology

The British Army has recruited a digital transformation specialist to improve the way it shares critical information needed to prepare its forces for operations.

Germany’s Software AG is set to lead a multi-vendor consortium that has been tasked with “improving the Army’s understanding of the readiness of its troops and equipment before any deployment”.

The British Army, like many organisations, is saddled with a number of overlapping legacy technologies, with information siloed in different systems and databases. This can lead to long delays in gaining access to data and making changes to the application functionality.

Software AG has been chosen to spearhead the Army’s digital transformation strategy and create an Application Programme Interface (API) management platform that will securely connect systems and data and enable integration with legacy systems.

“Without effective data and services, it’s very difficult for planners to understand our forces’ state of readiness, or to create much-needed services for our soldiers; this is where the Software AG API suite is adding real value,” said Lt Col Dorian Seabrook, head of operations at Army Software House.

He added: “We have been very impressed by Software AG from the very beginning: they have a thorough understanding of the challenges we face, and in just three months have delivered a platform which enables us to break down information silos and share information quickly, effectively and, most importantly, securely.

“We are starting to understand the definitive services and data, and this is proving invaluable from both an operational and organisational perspective.”

Clive Freedman, head of UK public sector and alliances for Software AG, said: “Like many public-sector organisations, budget cuts mean that the Armed Forces are being asked to do more with less. The British Army has looked at how businesses in the private sector are using technologies such as Master Data Management and APIs to improve data sharing and visibility, save money, and boost effectiveness.

“We tend not to associate the armed forces with apps, but they are just like other large organisations in the information challenges they face. There is an additional security challenge, of course, but our compliance and assurance team has worked closely with the Army to secure data and access, while also providing penetration testing and ongoing technical expertise.”