In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the influence of AI is undeniable. As it becomes integrated into nearly every aspect of our lives, the insight of our subject-matter experts is more valuable than ever. Our AI leaders are grounded in years of experience, and focused on shaping the future. Let's meet Gary Craven, Head of Data and AI Consulting - Delivery at Sopra Steria Next UK.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what your day-to-day looks like
My name is Gary Craven and I’m Head of Data and AI Consulting at Sopra Steria Next UK, focusing on the delivery and operations of the practice. What I love most about my job is the variety it brings. Working with clients across different
sectors to help solve their diverse and complex problems. Engaging the market and partners to keep developing our strategy and services to meet demand. And building teams of expert consultants to deliver quality and value that delights
our clients and builds our practice credibility to become the management consultancy partner of choice.
What is your background and what was your pathway into the technology sector?
My technology career started 16 years ago when I made the decision to move from recruiting IT professionals to becoming one, when I joined the HP Consulting graduate scheme. Fast forward and I’m now a chartered Management Consultant and Technology
Business Leader with a forward-thinking company that prides itself on the social value it delivers. Along the way I’ve worked with leading consultancy firms like Accenture, delivering technology transformation, modernisation, and business
change for major public and private sector clients. I pride myself on becoming trusted advisor with my clients, that includes everything from driving on a 600 mile round trip overnight with a secure hard drive to keep a datacentre migration on track,
to providing expert witness testimony at the High Court.
What do you see as the main challenges facing organisations today when it comes to adopting AI?
Whilst analysts are predicting significant growth in AI, and companies can see the advantages it presents to their businesses, right now there’s a nervousness with executive boards to properly invest. They don’t want to be left behind,
but they want confidence that this technology will deliver the value thats been predicted.
Start with the Data! Data is the lifeblood of any company, so doing the spadework to sort out data quality and management is the right place to focus initial investment. Get the foundations in place first!
Then accelerate! Adopting true agility should be the mentality. Deliver fast, iterative and incremental change, demonstrating RoI early against clear business outcomes will have that snowball effect with investment committees building confidence
and momentum.
Couple this with the cultural shift organisations are facing. With the pace of AI evolution, and innovation now democratised across the whole workforce, the companies that harness this early, investing in the culture, skills and creating an organisational
model that nurtures this wave will have an advantage. And importantly will have employees who are empowered and bought into it.
How do you think emerging technology will impact people’s lives?
It’s a gamechanger. My daughters will grow up in a world very different from the one I grew up in. The permutations through our society are endless and exponential. It will change the way we interact with each other, the jobs that we
do, and the services we use, and the way these services are provided. We all have a responsibility to ensure they are applied, designed and used in ways that protect the values and the ethics we hold important in our society.
How is Sopra Steria Next different from other companies in the industry?
Every day I see colleagues who are committed to delivering responsible AI to our clients. By responsible I mean, ensuring that technology will meet business objectives, ensuring it meets their user’s needs, ensuring these solutions are ethically
led and ensuring they deliver lasting improvements to our clients. Sometimes this can we mean we challenges ourselves, each other and even our clients to make sure we’re doing the right things and making the right decisions. Excitingly,
we’re adopting these AI tools to deliver better consulting services and evolve how do we transformation for our customers. Living and breathing AI!
What is your vision for the future and how would you like to shape the experience for our customers?
The potential and impact of AI innovation is at the tipping point, which means we have a fantastic opportunity to get it right first time. Helping our customers spend their money right, to improve their employee and customer experience, produce their
product/services more efficiently, and start to predict future trends so they can grow in the right direction, ethically and sustainably. I see a future where AI allows us to spend more time doing the most valuable things in business –
Richer human interaction, which will mean better insights, better decisions, and companies and people that prosper.
Who is your inspiration? Who has changed the way you think about the future?
I’m finding the perspective of Mustafa Suleyman really interesting with his book The Coming Wave, which goes back to the theme of responsible AI and ensuring we have the guardrails in now to keep control of AI to harness it ethically for the benefit
of society and business. Having a young family has definitely given me a different perspective and changed the way I think about the future. With the advent of the step change AI will bring to our society, I want to be able to play a role in
shaping it as a positive legacy for them.
Connect with Gary on LinkedIn to discuss more about our Data and AI practice.