Introducing Richard Grove –
Bringing Large Language Model
experience to Pivotl
Following on from my blog welcoming Paul Kearsey to the team, I said 2024 was looking like a wonderful time to scale a business. Well, due to the power of positive thinking and hard work, that’s coming true!
I’m delighted to welcome Richard Grove to Pivotl. Richard is the Managing Director of our Central Government Practice, and he comes with nearly two decades worth of experience in the Public Sector.
Richard joins us at a crucial moment, as we move into the Data and AI age. He brings a wealth of digital and AI knowledge, which added to our data focus, strengthens Pivotl’s leadership team to help our clients achieve their goals as an organisation, delivering brilliant services to users: faster, better and cheaper.
Richard Grove, MD, Central Government
“He’s someone who clients love to work with, and internal teams love to spend time with”
It’s fair to say Richard brings additional energy, positivity and even more fun to the company. He’s someone who clients love to work with, and internal teams love to spend time with. This is really important – digital transformation over the past 10 years has been tough, emotional and fraught. Things are going to get even tougher as we move into the data and AI revolution as more challenges arise, so having experts like Richard, who are approachable and give people confidence when they need it the most, is key.
Speaking of AI, Richard is one of the first people in the UK to launch a public facing Large Language Model in the public sector and he’d agree when I say, it’s not a silver bullet.
There’s still so much hype around AI but it’s not something new and it’s not something that’s going away. AI is something that will improve existing and future services beyond belief but only if organisations have their reason why they want to utilise AI right, their culture is ready and their governance flexible enough for it. Achieving digital transformation meant implementing new skills and capability, tools, governance, funding and finally changing the organisations themselves.
It’s fair to say based on Richard’s hands on experience, in terms of AI delivering change, the savings and improvements are real and do look on track to come true.
I cannot emphasise enough though, that AI is a technology which will make things faster and cheaper, but it is still just a tool within a full toolset.
To be able to utilise AI you must have clear strategic reasons why it’s going to help, along with clear services and a strong data pipeline, otherwise, it just won’t work at scale. This is where Pivotl comes in, as one of the few companies who can provide all three in one place.
“Based on Richard’s hands on experience, in terms of AI delivering change, the savings and improvements are real and do look on track to come true”
“you must have clear strategic reasons why it’s going to help, along with clear services and a strong data pipeline”
My personal predication for AI – it’s a threat to those who don’t have it, as much as a benefit to those who do. This isn’t scaremongering, this is experience and evidence. Private sector companies have been investing in AI for years with investment and hands on implementation in their existing services.
This will raise the expectations of users throughout the country, in the same way Digital investments did in the early 2000s. The UK is one of the leading countries in terms of digital in the world, at one point it was recognised as the best in the world. The public sector must invest in implementing data and AI in its public services today, otherwise the gap between private and public will be huge, and that gap is where dissatisfaction lies.
That’s all avoidable, with people like Richard helping the public sector to thrive and using his years of experience at GDS and on the 2012 Olympics, to shape incredible services for the future.
