Should we resist the automation of public services and the replacement of civil servants by ‘robots’?
Not at all – as robots will be designed to have time and even ’empathy’ to help both colleagues and clients, if we do it right.
That’s the view, at least, of a leading public sector IT supplier who should know – Patrick Stephenson, Client Managing Director, Central Government at Fujitsu UK.
“I see robots as potential trusted co-workers – not rivals,” he told an audience mainly composed of public sector tech professionals at last week’s successful Think Smarter Working For Public Sector 2018 event in Westminster.
Stephenson gave his perspective as part of a special panel debate on ‘technology and the future of smart working’ in the public sector, which featured a wide range of views – not all as positive as Stephenson’s.
“Greater automation could mean losing a lot of control of our working lives,” cautioned Jessica Figueras, for example – a scenario, the Chief Analyst for Public Sector at analysts GlobalData, joked “wasn’t mildly dystopian at all”.
But maybe we don’t have that much of a choice, pointed out their fellow panellist, One Team Gov’s Morgan Frodsham.
Frodsham reminded the panel – and delegates – that, “We’ve got to stop re-inventing the wheel in central government and start building on the knowledge of the collective.
“‘Smarter working’ is in some ways kind of just a brand, but really it is fundamentally about letting adults be adults in the workplace.
“We have the technology but are not embracing it. But now is the time in Whitehall to be allow ourselves to be different.”
