DXC Q&A: The Best Way to Unlock Public Sector AI Potential

As General Manager for the UK & Ireland at DXC Technology, Derek Allison leads one of the company’s most strategically important markets.

His role involves driving efforts to help major public and private sector organisations modernise mission‑critical infrastructure, accelerate cloud and AI adoption and deliver measurable business outcomes. 

Under his leadership, DXC focuses on building secure, scalable and innovative technology solutions that turn digital transformation ambitions into tangible impact.

DXC itself is a global enterprise technology and innovation partner, enabling organisations across industries to operate with greater efficiency, resilience and agility. 

Acting as a strategic guide in the digital transformation journey, the company helps clients modernise legacy systems, strengthen security and harness the power of AI to thrive in an era of rapid technological change. 

With deep expertise across Managed Infrastructure Services, Application Modernisation and Industry‑Specific Software Solutions, DXC plays a critical role in modernising and managing some of the world’s most complex technology estates.

In this Q&A, Derek shares his perspective on the cultural and technical barriers to digital transformation in the public sector and how modernisation, collaboration and AI‑driven innovation can help organisations deliver smarter, more resilient public services.

What are the biggest barriers to digital transformation in the public sector today? Is it cultural rather than technical?

Both cultural and technical factors are shaping the pace of digital transformation in the UK public sector – and progress depends on addressing them together, not in isolation.

From a technical standpoint, many organisations are still constrained by complex legacy estates.

These environments are costly to maintain and difficult to integrate, creating fragmented architectures that increase operational risk, limit data interoperability and reduce the effectiveness of AI and analytics solutions. 

At the same time, rapidly evolving technologies generate many innovative ideas, but transitioning these from proof-of-concept into scalable services remains a significant challenge. 

Legacy platforms also restrict real-time insight and end-to-end process visibility. 

Culturally, barriers are just as material. 

AI and digital adoption remains uneven, decision-making is frequently siloed and there is an ongoing digital and data skills gap across many departments. 

While there is a strong appetite to innovate, scaling transformation requires stronger governance models, shared standards and workforce capability development.

Our experience shows that successful transformation happens when modern platform engineering, cloud and AI adoption are delivered alongside operating model change, skills uplift and cross-agency collaboration – closing the execution gap between ambition and impact.

How can public sector organisations modernise legacy systems without disrupting critical services?

Public sector organisations can modernise legacy systems safely by using a phased, low-risk approach rather than large one-time replacements. 

Increasingly, transformation is moving towards more agile techniques – where change is continuous rather than a one-off event – and systems are upgraded in manageable increments, with old and new platforms running in parallel and services migrated in controlled waves. 

This includes creating more modular systems and moving away from the monolithic solutions of the past, building for the future rather than just today’s requirements. 

Hybrid and cloud architectures help isolate risk and minimise downtime.

Automation and AI can be introduced gradually to handle repetitive operations and strengthen service resilience during transition.

With cross-functional teams, clear ownership and iterative delivery, organisations can modernise core systems while protecting critical services – an approach widely applied by partners such as DXC Technology.

What does effective public-private collaboration actually look like? Where does it most often fail?

Effective public-private collaboration relies on shared outcomes, transparent governance and coordinated, long‑term investment. 

It requires government and industry to work side by side from the outset, collaborating on solutions, aligning on standards and maintaining open communication throughout delivery.

Transformation is a team sport and when high-performing agile teams are formed with aligned objectives, organisations are able to create true partnerships rather than transactional relationships. 

The most successful partnerships prioritise flexibility, continuous learning and a commitment to delivering measurable public value rather than simply completing a contract.

Collaboration most often fails when incentives are misaligned, programmes are over‑specified or delivery is siloed, leaving little room for innovation or adaptation. 

How should public sector leaders balance innovation with security, risk and public trust?

Public sector leaders can balance innovation with security, risk and public trust by embedding secure-by-design principles, transparent governance and continuous risk assessment into every stage of the innovation process. 

It’s important to recognise that early-stage innovation often focuses on developing technical capability alone – moving innovation into scale requires additional layers of technology, process and people, supported by clear accountability and operating models. 

Rather than slowing innovation, security should act as its foundation, ensuring data is protected, models are evaluated and decisions remain accountable. 

As AI becomes more autonomous, maintaining human oversight and clear accountability is essential to sustaining public trust. 

The pace of emerging technology is accelerating, but success will rely on modern governance, ethical frameworks and a culture that sees AI not as an add-on but as a catalyst for better public services.

In five years’ time, what will most change the way digital public services are delivered in your opinion?

In the next five years, the biggest shift in digital public services will come from AI agents augmenting human tasks across both front- and back-office services, making interaction with AI the norm. 

Organisations will increasingly see a direct correlation between business performance and the health of the IT estate through observability. 

Cyber threats will continue to increase, with security agents countering threat-actor agents, while advances in computing power challenge existing encryption technologies.

Sovereign-based solutions will become a more prominent part of hybrid estates to address data and national security risk, deep fakes will require active mitigation and end-user experience will become persona-based and adaptive, delivering more positive and tailored citizen services.