The European Union referendum in 2016 sparked a mammoth review of how the UK’s relationship with its neighbours will change. While much of the media coverage has focused on the Irish backstop, fundamentally borders and border technology have been at the heart of this debate, and are considered by most to be the constraint to delivering Brexit.
Brexit has highlighted the crucial role that borders play in maximising UK trade, managing the flow of people and goods, and keeping the country secure. An unprecedented opportunity arises to reimagine our border experience to deliver a better set of outcomes for trade, people and for the government.
The UK’s borders have evolved organically over the years, exploiting technology to solve particular problems as they emerge. Whether it’s for revenue, security or immigration, the systems have been altered and adapted incrementally to serve the needs of the UK as it has traded and built relationships with other countries.
As a result, there are many silos across the UK’s border systems and the processes involved have been fossilised into the technology systems, creating key challenges when changes are needed in border capability. The silos extend to people, process and technology, and fuel inefficiencies across many government departments.
We have a golden opportunity to transform our borders and use technology to enable them in different, more efficient and powerful ways
Disruptive though it may be, Brexit presents an enormous chance for the UK to remove the silos and fossilised processes, and holistically reimagine the border experience with collaboration at its heart. The government has already taken steps towards this vision with the cross-government Future Borders programme, but more can be done.
“We have to reimagine the process first,” says Simon Daykin, chief technology officer at science and tech solutions company Leidos UK. “Technology is rarely the constraint and isn’t the answer either, but it can support the delivery. There’s now a very real prospect of creating a truly joined-up border experience.
“We have the rare chance to really rethink our borders across all the different modes and approaches. In the same way the digital age has seen us reinvent the way we shop or get food delivered, we have a golden opportunity to transform our borders and use technology to enable them in different, more efficient and powerful ways.”
No single organisation or government department has the answer, so the government must foster a way of working that brings experts together from across the public-private divide and from across departments which have had traditionally differing motivations. An open, sharing mindset is needed from all parties.
Leidos is active in government working groups and plays a key role in breaking down technical silos to help deliver, for example, the Single Trade Window. This aims to create a single, coherent service for organisations trading across the border that improves the experience through maximising data, policy, regulatory and legislative framework-sharing, and enables a joined-up approach to UK border management.
As well as collaborating with government and partners to understand how best to bring ideas to fruition, Leidos also has a large portfolio of border security products, including scanning technologies to see inside vehicles at non-stop borders, non-intrusive tools to scan for illicit items and biometrics to speed up crossings through automation.
“We have the technologies to support reimagining the border experience, but we have to make sure it’s not technology for technology’s sake,” says Mr Daykin. “This is an amazing opportunity to have the fastest, most efficient, high-performance and secure borders in the world, whichever way Brexit goes. But to really make a success of it, we need to collaborate and integrate the technology into the mission and business process.”
For more information please visit Leidos.com/uk
