BRITISH ARMY how the Army can use data to its advantage , while also working with key international partners , commercial organisations , as well as the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force .
“ It ' s a massive challenge . And I don ' t underestimate how big it is . I think we ' ve got a long way to go , but we are on the road , which is a really good start ,” says Brig Crossfield .
“ We ' re in a fourth industrial revolution . It ' s very emergent , there ' s an agility to it . THEIA in terms of delivering transformation is about getting to a tipping point . So THEIA ’ s not about getting to the end of the road , it ' s about getting to the tipping point – maybe that is a better way to look at it .”
Digital transformation was forced upon the world during the COVID-19 pandemic , and the Army was no exception . Brig Crossfield outlines how they were able to drive admin activity online to improve processes for “ our people . And that means they can get back to doing the job they want to do – the reason they joined the Army .”
THEIA is of course much more than removing friction from admin tasks like claiming expenses – it is about artificial intelligence , machine learning and autonomy . It ’ s about quantum computing , cyber insecurity , synthetic environments , but also augmented reality . And lastly , analytics .
“ We ' ve got a lot of data out there to play with ,” says Brig Crossfield . “ If you begin to put it on a pedestal or in some way , treat it differently , I think we missed the point . Yes , it ' s the new oil , yes it ' s the new black gold . In an operational sense , helping commanders make the right decisions at the right time with the right amount of information is the way to win .”
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