Our commitment to Central Government

Our new director of Central Government, technology and transformation Edward Pikett discusses our commitment to Central Government and reflects on the importance of our core Hitachi values.

It is the end of my first month at Hitachi Solutions, so I thought I’d share a few reflections. Before joining I had spent the last 10+ years in Civil Service digital, data and tech teams creating products, campaigns and services for citizens and businesses. Importantly for me, I’ve stayed focused on the public sector, trying to help solve the many complex problems we face every day.

For those who do not know too much about Hitachi, we are one of the world’s largest engineering and technology companies – most of you probably think of trains or the energy sector. Less known is Hitachi Solutions, the rapidly growing digital, data and technology division. Built on a powerful partnership with Microsoft, we are a global leader in data, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Power Platform specialists. If you do not know much about this, and fancy spending a few moments dreaming about the art of the possible feel free to reach out to me direct.

A few days ago, I was chatting with my onboarding team, and was asked ‘why did you join Hitachi Solutions’. I said that I wanted a new challenge having been a civil servant for 12 years and that it was a great opportunity to join the public sector division of Hitachi Solutions, building on the momentum over the past 12 months. The work Hitachi Solutions have delivered to central government, local authorities, and housing associations has been inspiring and bringing my expertise and understanding of central government adds a new dimension to the team. The idea of being a home worker with complete flexibility really appealed and the company has a great reputation built on the founding principles of Hitachi for doing things properly not just joining the race to the bottom.

Hitachi’s vision is to „contribute to society through the development of superior, original technology and products.“ If you dig into their ethics, it makes for pretty great reading. I’ve added some of it below: 

„We will contribute to resolving social issues by promoting innovative solutions, accelerating collaborative creation with partners and stakeholders, and further integrating social and environmental responsibility into our business activities.

We will strive to develop technologies that contribute to social development and use them with due consideration of their impact on society.

We envision a low-carbon society, a resource-efficient society, and a harmonized society with nature. To this end, we will endeavour to reduce CO2 emissions, use water and other resources efficiently, and minimize impacts on natural capital throughout our value chain.

As a corporate citizen, we will make efforts to build rapport with communities and contribute to their development by working together to resolve social issues.“

I was listening to Malcolm Gladwell on the radio this week talking about his new book ‘The bomber Mafia’ and referencing the need for tech companies to think differently about the role they play in society. And clearly, this has never been a more prevalent issue, with a high-profile social media boycott over the weekend. I am not suggesting Hitachi are perfect, but in a world where many corporates and technology companies put profit ahead of society, it’s good to be a part of one with a ‘founding spirit’ of Harmony, Sincerity, and Pioneering Spirit. I reckon in 2021 we could all do with a little bit more of that in our lives.

Social Value is a growing area of government partnerships and Hitachi Solutions has this in its DNA. I’m fortunate to be given the opportunity to help flex a bit of muscle here. When you add this to Hitachi Solutions’ experience in areas where Government needs support – data standards, CRM, case management, grants and ERP it makes for an exciting prospect.

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