In this Member Spotlight we hear from new Gold member, Mason Advisory, on its work advising public sector and the challenge of awareness and security around AI.
Who is Mason Advisory and what do you do?
Mason Advisory is a digital, technology, and business consultancy.
Our people work with organisations of all sizes, across industry sectors including Financial Services & Insurance, Government, Energy, Retail, FMCG, Public Safety, Education and Professional Services.
Our clients trust us to help set their strategy and then deliver on those decisions. We use our skills in operating model & organisational design, sourcing, architecture, service management, and cybersecurity to build, protect and support sustainably successful businesses.
Tell us something unique or interesting about your organisation.
Inspiring people to work better, share ideas, and prosper, our culture creates consulting teams that stand out for their commitment to clients. Clients get exceptional performers at all levels in our teams; we don’t take work where we can’t make a difference; and we are emotionally invested in what happens to the people we help.
Since launching in 2014, we have experienced huge growth in revenues and staff numbers, with offices in London and Manchester, working with clients across the UK and beyond.
What is your biggest achievement as an organisation?
We are privileged to have provided strategic advice to the public sector over the years, whether that be in support of the Cabinet Office in improving IT across government, supporting the rollout of the UK Covid Pass App or in supporting critical public safety services across Police, Ambulance and Fire & Rescue. More recently, we won an industry award for the work we did to support Northumberland County Council in rolling out high-speed fibre broadband across their rural communities.
Alongside this, we have gained industry recognition through a range of work we have delivered across private sector industries including large Financial Services firms, global life sciences organisations and leading professional services firms to help them transform their businesses.
What prompted you to become a member of ScotlandIS?
We are very proud to have worked with numerous clients across Scotland since our early days and continue to support them in growing the Scottish and UK economy. We believe in making a difference for our clients through sharing our expertise and the synergies with ScotlandIS are obvious. We are excited to add our voice to the ScotlandIS ecosystem and bring our knowledge to bear on subjects such as Business and Technology transformation and Enterprise Resilience amongst others.
What do you see as the main challenges for the tech industry in the UK and Scotland?
Where to start? We see a number of varying areas that still bring challenge to the tech industry and what it needs to do to thrive further and best serve its customers. Lets break it down into a few areas. Firstly competition is fierce, for example the explosion in the number of firms offering AI solutions and FinTechs meaning differentiation is a key factor. Secondly, building out AI awareness; there are lots of solutions but do customers really know how to embrace it. We also need to ensure we keep our customers safe – whether that be through improved cybersecurity protections and/or ensuring compliance with AI governance, data protection, digital compliance. Infrastructure still requires significant investment given that high speed fibre broadband is still not fully rolled out across the country. A final area to consider is building, developing and maintaining the skillsets required in the tech industry and maintaining them within the regions; what will the workforce of the future look like as AI proliferates further and how do we continue to build in diversity?
Many challenges ahead, however in delivering against these the future looks exciting.
Get in touch if you’d like to find out more at contact@masonadvisory.com or visit masonadvisory.com.