including tours in Joint Operations , Defence Digital and latterly leading the charge for Army digital Transformation as its Chief Data Officer .
The most important commodity in Defence is its People , says Dooley . Salesforce puts them at the centre of everything it does and views the Whole Workforce end to end as it seeks to support Defence transformation . Salesforce looks to challenge the way Defence attracts and retains cadets . Also how to improve the selection of the best career path for those joining the services dependent on their psychological and emotional strengths . Once in Service assist with talent management throughout their career and then finally guidance and training into valued employment in the private sector or re-imagined into a different part of the public sector as they leave the Armed Forces . Salesforce calls this End to End People . Sustainability is crucial if Defence is to play a meaningful role in the Government ’ s commitment to be Net Zero by 2050 . Dooley explains , “ the MOD has to embrace solutions that are less carbon intensive . This seems counterintuitive when you think of heavy armour , fast Air and of course Space . However , Defence currently accounts for 50 % of UK government emissions .” From Dooley ’ s perspective , access to data to inform better decision-making is key . “ The complexity of MOD operations and the size of the supplier ecosystem require sustainability data being given equivalence to operational and financial data . This is where platforms like Salesforce ’ s Sustainability Cloud can help inform enterprise Decision-making ”.
The Defence Support area is an enormous transformational challenge , says Dooley . It starts with its people , but then rapidly spins out to take its vast legacy in service data sets and incoherent view of the Support Truth . End to End asset management is a real strength of Salesforce .
It is no coincidence that much of the Defence Industrial base uses its software and one of Salesforce biggest customers – Unilever relies on its software to complete its 2 billion transactions per day to its global customers .
Finally – we must do more with the tracking of our Research and Development funds – matched to Key Performance Indicators and then the sale of these Knowledge Assets globally . Defence is currently falling short in both these areas at present and there is much that can be done to bring it up to the standards enjoyed by the best of the Private Sector .
The transformation of Defence brings with it many challenges and opportunities , which , Dooley says , will only be tackled through long-term partnerships based on trust , innovation and mutual success . “ Defence has made great progress , but there is a long way to go ,” he points out . “ Support transformation , Multi-Domain Integration , new technologies like zero trust networks ; the list of opportunities for Defence to embed gamechanging digital transformation is endless .” He concludes : in my experience there are lots of pieces that need to come together to deliver enduring digital transformation . Partnerships that bring to Defence ‘ best-of-breed ’ capabilities , innovation and new ways of thinking will help keep Britain ’ s Defence ahead of its adversaries .
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