Finalist Q&A: Capgemini, UK IT Industry Awards
"Across industries, organisations are looking to modernise critical services while reducing risk and maintaining trust."
The UK IT Industry Awards celebrate and promote the organisations, teams, projects, technologies and individuals who are shaping the future of IT, our industry and digital society.
This November, the UK IT community comes together for the largest event in the calendar: The UK IT Industry Awards. Winners will be announced at a live awards ceremony on Wednesday, 11th November in London.
Capgemini is a finalist in Cloud Technology of the Year category.
We caught up with Paul Haggerty, Vice President & Head of Energy Transition & Utilities at Capgemini UK, to learn more about the company's biggest challenges and achievements over the past year.
Paul leads the sector across consulting, applications, infrastructure, BPO, and engineering services. A former mechanical engineer with over 20 years' consulting experience, he has led major transformation programmes across the utilities sector. Paul specialises in combining consulting and technology capabilities to help clients realise the value of next-generation digital solutions. With more than 23 years at Capgemini, Paul brings deep industry expertise and a strong track record of delivering business transformation and innovation.
What prompted you to enter the UK IT Awards this year?
At Capgemini, we're always looking to showcase projects that demonstrate the real-world impact that technology can have when it's applied to complex business challenges. Our work with DCC and AWS Outposts is a great example of that. Together, we've helped modernise part of the technology platform underpinning Great Britain's smart metering network, combining cloud innovation with the resilience and security required for critical national infrastructure.
What would winning this award mean to both your people and your customers/partners?
Recognition like this is ultimately a reflection of the people behind the programme. It would be a fantastic acknowledgment of the expertise, commitment and teamwork shown by colleagues across Capgemini and DCC.
For our customers and partners, it would reinforce the value of a collaborative approach to transformation. Large-scale technology change is rarely achieved by one organisation acting alone. The most successful outcomes come when organisations combine their strengths, challenge each other and work towards a shared objective.
What would you say is your company's proudest achievement over the past year?
One of our proudest achievements has been helping clients move beyond experimentation and turn innovation into operational reality. Across industries, organisations are looking to modernise critical services while reducing risk and maintaining trust.
Our work with DCC is a strong example of that approach in action. Together, we've helped establish a cloud-enabled platform capable of supporting a critical national service, proving that innovation, resilience and security can coexist. For us, that balance between ambition and operational excellence is something we're incredibly proud of.
What lessons has the industry learned, and what changes does it still need to make?
The industry has learned that transformation is no longer about simply moving to the cloud or adopting the latest technology. Success comes from combining technology, data, AI, people and business objectives in a way that creates measurable outcomes. Looking ahead as an industry, we should continue to invest in skills, modern engineering practices and stronger ecosystem partnerships to ensure innovation can be delivered responsibly at scale.
What have been the biggest challenges of the current year so far, and how have you overcome them? How have your people and partners helped?
The pace of technological change continues to be both an opportunity and a challenge. Organisations are under pressure to modernise faster while ensuring security, resilience and regulatory compliance remain uncompromised. We've overcome that by staying focused on business outcomes rather than deploying technology for technology's sake. Close collaboration with clients and partners has been critical. By embracing shared ownership and a clear common vision, we have been able to navigate complexity and deliver meaningful results without losing sight of operational requirements.
What do you see as the main opportunities for the industry in the coming 12 months? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?
The biggest opportunities will come from the convergence of cloud, data and AI. Organisations now have access to technologies that can fundamentally improve operational efficiency, customer experience and decision-making.
At Capgemini, we're focused on helping clients move from isolated proofs of concept to enterprise-scale adoption. That means combining deep sector expertise with strong technology partnerships and proven delivery experience. Whether it's modernising critical infrastructure, accelerating digital transformation or preparing organisations for AI-driven innovation, we'll continue helping clients turn technology potential into business value.
The UK IT Industry Awards will take place on 11th November in London. Click here to view the shortlist and here to book your table.