Today I took part in the launch of Policy Exchanges' Technology Manifesto. As part of the event i gave the short speech below on why technology should be front an dcentre of parties' ideas for the 2015 election. 14 years ago I started a new business. The initial idea for YouGov.com - as it was then known - was formed in the heady days of the dot com boom. The late 90s was a time of great transformation. The Internet was ripping up business models and e-commerce looked like it would destroy the traditional idea of a bricks and mortar shop. Of course 2 weeks after we launched YouGov.com the dot com bubble burst and we quickly found that no one would talk to a company called anything.com! Wind the clock on 4 years or so and we had web 2.0. The rise of user generated content through sites like YouTube and Flickr which then led to the rise of Social Networks. These new web 2.0 applications combined with the rollout of broadband resulted in a higher level of expectations from users of online services. A higher expectation on design, and a higher expectation when it came to user experience. And today we’re in the world of mobile, access to information and services regardless of where you are. The entire world in your pocket, brought to you by a web browser, or increasingly through apps. Thanks to 20 odd years of Internet evolution, people today expect a couple of things when it comes to digitally interacting with an organisation or service For it to look nice For it to work first time And that’s about it. Now, Policy Exchange’s Tech manifesto raises some important points about the number of people that still aren’t online. However the rise of mainstream Internet access over the past 20 years has resulted in a very important fact. In 2015, those people who will be voting for the first time have only ever known a world in which the Internet existed. For them digital really is the default. As far as they’re concerned the idea of sending a letter rather than an email is ridiculous, and for those that will be voting by 2020, the idea of sending an email rather than an iMessage, a WhatsApp, a Twitter DM, a Snapchat a BBM - if they still exist by then - or a short message sent through any number of other services, let alone the idea of making an actual phone call will seem archaic. For the incoming generation of public service consumers if you can’t find it online, buy it online or interact with it online then as far as they’re concerned it doesn’t exist. And this goes for the members of Generation Y as well. Anyone under the age of 30 will have spent their entire adult life with access to the internet. The Internet and technology is shaping the way everyone interacts, transacts and reacts, and has been doing so for at least a decade. Well, everyone that is except Government. Now it’s always easy to bash government when it comes to technology, after all the Civil service doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to implementing IT projects. Until 2010 what had been lacking was a default mindset around how we use technology to interact and transform processes and the user experience. But with the creation of the Government Digital Service that has all changed. Most people think that they’ve just been tasked with putting a new front-end on government facing websites. And whilst gov.uk has provided a modern look and brought nearly all of government under one roof, that isn’t GDS’s only task and that isn’t the real point of gov.uk Their other task has been to push forward the digital by default agenda, to use newer, more modern methods of software development and to improve the user experience when people interact with government. A good example of that is Tax Discs. The gov.uk site currently contains a beta version of a new tax disc renewal application. It’s simple, quick, and attractive. In short it fulfils the expectations people have about web applications.There’s no need to physically present yourself and your papers at the post office, or to post in a form with a cheque to pay. You just do it all online in 3 quick steps. And thanks to the deregulation bill we’re even taking away the final paper element and digitising the entire process. If all goes to plan then from October you’ll no longer even receive the paper tax disc. Taxing your car will be a purely digital exercise. GDS’ successes has shown that transforming consumer facing services is as much about the right people as it is the right mindset. Technology skills are vital and that’s why I strongly welcome the new Computing GCSEs and the government’s focus on technology skills, it’s also great to see Policy Exchange picking up on this vital area in their manifesto. There’s so much more you could say on the area of government and tech policy. How do we ensure the funding stream to create the Silicon Valley beaters? How do we protect IP rights in such a fast changing world, How do we deliver the connectivity infrastructure our businesses and consumers need? But the title of this event is “Why technology should be at the centre of the parties’ ideas for 2015”. For me it has to be because Government has to reflect the population its serving. That population are only going to get more tech savvy, have higher expectations from digital public services and have more avenues to communicate their displeasure when we don’t reach - let alone exceed -those expectations. Digital isn’t going away, whoever forms the next government, and I obviously expect it to be us, will have no choice but to put tech at the heart of their plans.