The Digital Services Factory Way: Faster, Smarter, Simpler digital citizen services

High Commissioner, British High Commission in Cyprus

Mr. Stephen Lillie CMG was appointed British High Commissioner to Cyprus in April 2018. Previously he served as Director, Asia Pacific from July 2013 until April 2017. Stephen served as British Ambassador to the Philippines (2009-13); Head of the FCO Far Eastern Department (2006-2009); Director of Trade and Investment at the British High Commission New Delhi (2003-2006) and British Consul-General at Guangzhou, China (1999-2003). Previously, Stephen has also served in the European Union and Middle East Departments of the FCO and at the British Embassy Beijing. Stephen is a Chinese speaker, having studied the language in Hong Kong and London. He has a degree in Modern Languages from Oxford University.

Stelios D. Himonas was born in Athens, Greece, on May 2, 1962. He received the BE, MS and PhD degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA in 1985, 1986 and 1989, respectively, all in electrical engineering. From 1989 until 1997 he was an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the New York Institute of Technology, USA. Also, from 1994 until 1997, he was collaborating with the Multimedia Communications Research Group of Bellcore’s Applied Research Division in Morristown, New Jersey, USA. Dr. Himonas has published numerous research papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings in the fields of detection and multimedia communications. Also, during the period from 1989 until 1997 he served as a reviewer of research papers submitted for publication to Transactions of the IEEE and Proceedings of the IEE, as well as to various conferences in the field of communications. Currently he is the Permanent Secretary of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy. Prior to this position he was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order and the Director of the Department of Electronic Communications of the Republic of Cyprus. Also during the period from 2000 to 2003, he served on the Board of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority. From 2006 until 2013, he held chairmanship and vice-chairmanship positions in European electronic communications committees. Since October 2012, he has been appointed by the Council of Ministers as the Digital Champion of Cyprus. Dr. Himonas is a member of the Sigma Xi and Eta Kappa Nu honor societies and the New York Academy of Sciences. He is listed in the Who is Who in the World, the Who is Who Among Human Services Professionals, the Who is Who in the East and the Who is Who in American Education.

Αndriana Achilleos is the Director of the Department of Information Technology Services (DITS), at the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, since 15 October 2020. She has been working in the DITS department since 1986. She served from different positions in DITS and participated in several strategic projects for the implementation of IT. She holds a BSc degree in Biostatistics, a Master degree in Computer Information Systems and an MBA. She is also a member of Cyprus Computer Society (CCS) and British Computer Society (BCS), as well as a board member of CYNET (Cyprus Research and Academic Network).

Chariclia Olymbiou is an IT Officer A’ at the Digital Services Factory (DSF) of the Cyprus Government. She has the role of a Product Manager and collaborates closely with the DSF team to drive the successful delivery of products and services that align with the vision of the Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digital Policy for Digital Transformation.

She has actively contributed to the delivery of the first public-facing services that were built using the Service Standard and agile methodologies, including the Child Birth Grant, the Voter's Registration and the Update my Details service. Presently, her focus lies in managing the development and delivery of a new service to meet the requirements of the National Solidarity Fund.

Previously, she has worked as a coordinator and consultant for numerous government projects under the Department of Information Technology Services of DMRID. Her focus has primarily been on strategic management, where she made significant contributions in designing, developing, and implementing national and European Union strategies, methodologies and standards and managing the allocation of the state budget for Government IT requirements.

In June 2020, she was assigned the role of the project manager for the CyprusFlightPass (CFP). CFP was the first online platform which was built at a European Level, during Covid, to support the needs of the Passenger Locator Form set by International Civil Aviation Organization and to facilitate the required travel arrangements of passengers to Cyprus.

Chariclia recognises that passion, a collaborative mindset, dedication to understanding user needs, and commitment to delivering exceptional user experiences serve as fundamental pillars in providing user-centric services that truly meet users' needs and increase satisfaction.

She has been working for the Cyprus Government since December 2001 and is a member of the Digital Services Factory since July 2021.

David Swordy is a senior product manager within the Government Digital Service (GDS) international team. David leads product teams in the delivery of products and services, and provides support and capability building to product managers and other digital practitioners we work with. Previously, David has worked as a senior product manager and consultant across a range of products and services within the UK government’s Department for Education and Ministry of Justice, covering the full agile product lifecycle from discovery through to live. As a certified scrum product owner with a background in quantitative research, policy and business analysis, David blends user-centricity, technology and organisational strategy to prioritise and define product roadmaps for delivery.

Anna studied Computer Science at South Bank University, in London and she is an IPMA certified. She is an IT Officer in the Department of Information Technology Services (DITS) since October 2001.

She worked in database design, development, testing, support, and system analysis and design in Governmental systems according to user needs (such as the Ministry of Health system and e-Procurement system for the Treasury of the Republic). She was also the Project Manager of ARIADNI Platform till 2015, and also managed the citizens support and training of governmental users, related to ARIADNI systems.

Based on her previous experience and skills, she is holding the role of the User Researcher for the Digital Services Factory (DSF).

Paloma is a senior User Researcher with 6 years experience in public service. She began her UX career in the Australian federal government, working to ensure the digital Australian Census experience is fast, simple and easy to complete for all users. After moving to London, Paloma now works in the Government Digital Service’s International team. She works with government agencies all around the world helping to share the value of user research, as well as working with international governments to embed user research practises in all services. She is a strong advocate for the users, despite locality, circumstances, language or abilities. Paloma sees user research as an important means for the user’s voice to be heard in the development of effective and user friendly Government services.

Yiota Andreou holds the role of the Service Designer for the Digital Services Factory (DSF). Yiota has 20 years of experience, as a programmer analyst, consultant and project manager within the Cyprus Government’s Department of Information Technology Services and the private sector, supporting the Information System of the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance, covering the full product lifecycle from discovering user needs to implementation and deployment.

As a certified scrum master, Yiota combines her prior experience and her soft skills to understand users' needs with empathy, transform them to user stories, create a journey map and finally produce a simple design for a user centric service that will positively impact citizens.

Laurence Berry is a service designer at GDS International. With 9 years experience of design in the public sector, he’s helped to deliver the Digital Marketplace procurement platform which changed the way the government buys, increasing transparency and the inclusion of small and medium enterprises. He’s also worked on GOV.UK and GOV.UK Verify digital identity programmes. Laurence now works with the GDS International’s partner organisations sharing what the UK has learned about delivering user centred services and to build capabilities in user centred design. He is a big fan of long cycle rides when the weather is nice and like to draw and try out different artistic techniques when it’s gloomy outside.

Theodoros Demetriades is the Standards Lead & Service Designer for the Digital Services Factory. He joined the Department of Information Technology Services in 2003, with a degree in Information System Management - Computer Networking from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and was assigned the development of websites and web content management systems for various departments of the Cyprus Government.

He was then transferred to the Nicosia General Hospital in 2005 and up to 2012 he was responsible for the Systems Administration and Network Infrastructure of both Nicosia and Famagusta Hospitals as well as the Medical Centres throughout the country.

In 2012, with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Cyprus, he was assigned the Project Manager position for the Help Desk System which provides technical support to all civil servants in Cyprus and abroad.

Theodoros now holds the dual role of Standards Lead and Service Designer for the Digital Services Factory assimilating the agile methodology to design, build and deliver fast, simple and user-friendly services as well as to assure that all services will follow the guidelines of the Cyprus Service Standards.

Tony Richards is the primary advisor on digital and technology standards for Government Digital Service International. As Standards & Assurance Lead, Tony’s role is to provide advice and consultancy in the creation of standards and their role as enablers of digital transformation within assurance and governance structures. Tony is an advocate of user centred design and knows first hand the ability for the standards to create fantastic services, Tony has worked as the GDS Standards & Assurance team since 2018, and as GDSI’s dedicated lead on the subject matter since 2019. Tony has first hand experience in how Service Standard’s can be enablers of digital transformation both the UK and around the world. Moreover Tony is capable of identifying how to mitigate risk in digital delivery projects by applying user centred design techniques. In addition Tony has spent the last seven years working in government both within digital delivery and policy across the following departments: HM Treasury, Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Exceptional Individuals (Private Sector Secondment).

Sarah Crandall is the International Engagement Manager with the GDS International team, leading on connecting the UK government’s digital experts with our counterparts in partner countries. She supports Cyprus’s Business Relationship Manager, planning and communications and coordinating with key stakeholders. Sarah has over 13 years of experience working in central and international government engagement. Before joining GDS, Sarah worked with the Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales Offices as well as with the UK Houses of Parliament’s Overseas Office. She holds a Masters in International Security and volunteers with the Parliamentary Outreach Team, advocating Parliamentary engagement to academia and professional sectors.

George Papacharalambous is an IT Officer in the Department of Information Technology Services (DITS) with more than 25 years of experience in the field. George joined DITS in 1994 and worked as a developer, systems analyst and since 2011 as a team manager responsible for the operation and support of the information systems for the Civil Registry and Migration Department at the Ministry of Interior. He is currently a member of the technical architecture team working collaboratively to establish the technical foundation of the newly formed Digital Services Factory.

A coder turned architect from the early agile web development scene in London passionate about leveraging modern tech to make government work better for citizens. Ben’s role as a Technical Architect involves helping leaders understand how they can better make use of technology within their organisations and helping delivery teams create digital products in line with an organisation’s strategy. Current interests; anything and everything public sector digital transformation! Modern applications, software development teams and practises, organisation design, low code, cloud, commodity IT, data sharing/ exchange in government, contemporary open data exchange formats, and modernising public sector digital procurement.

Constantinos Evangelou has worked as a consultant, developer, business analyst and project manager for the last 17 years. He joined the Department of Information Technology Services in 2011, supporting the information systems of the Department of Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver.

As a certified Prince2 project manager, Constantinos also worked on collaboration projects with the European Patent Office and the European Union of Intellectual Property Office, including the implementation of the Front Office for Trademarks and the development of the Online Trademarks Register.

He now combines his experience with front end development and project management, to provide a unified and friendly experience to the users as an Interaction Designer and analyse the performance of the services against the user needs as a Performance Analyst.

Liz Lutgendorff is the International lead Insight and Analysis Advisor at the Government Digital Service within the Cabinet Office. Liz represents the Government in international forums on digital government and providing research and insight on digital transformation. She leads the analysis and insight function, supporting both the UK Government and partner countries on best practices in digital transformation. Previously she has held various other positions at Government Digital Service, such as the Senior Programme Analyst for both the GOV.UK and GOV.UK Verify Programmes. She has been with GDS since January 2012 and was a member of the team that launched GOV.UK.