Interview with Julia Beresford

Ahead of our Client and Partner Day, we spoke to another of our speakers, Julia, Head of Technology Services at MoJ.

Julia currently heads up Technology Services for the Ministry of Justice. She has over 20 years’ experience in IT and her career background includes roles in software development, project management and supporting live services in both the private and public sector.

Can you share with us your favourite example where technology has made a big positive change in MoJ?

The deployment of laptops, Windows 8.1 and remote working through the TW3 programme has had a hugely positive impact on the way our staff can work, allowing them to work flexibly from multiple locations. In terms of the digital services we’ve delivered, Money to Prisoners is a great example of how we can positively impact the citizen. It’s cheaper to send money, saves thousands of hours of citizens’ time and will allow the MoJ to realise efficiencies .

What are your thoughts on the next transformation in MoJ tech?

This will be investment in our application estate. We care about the software that runs the justice system at all levels, with moving to public cloud being the ultimate goal. We’re also looking to invest in people and capability through further establishment of technical professions.

The MoJ has been one of the biggest adopters in cloud technology with over £183M spend on G-Cloud alone. What are some of the benefits you are seeing?

We’re seeing a faster pace of change, allowing us to react to new legislation and new policy changes in a timely fashion. Furthermore, by moving to cloud we’re able to hire software engineers and technologists who know they’ll be able to work with the latest technology.

 

Big thanks to Julia for these insights. We’re looking forward to hearing more on her views later this week.