Transforming Data Analytics in the UK Public Sector with Synthetic Data: NIAXO’s 10-Week Success Story

In today’s data-driven landscape, public sector organisations in the UK face the unique challenge of extracting valuable insights from their data whilst navigating stringent security protocols. When sensitive information is involved, innovation can be hindered by compliance hurdles and tight deadlines. But what if there’s a way to accelerate data analytics projects without compromising security?

The Challenge

A UK public sector client aimed to re-imagine their data analytics process to improve decision-making and operational efficiency. However, the highly sensitive nature of their data posed a significant obstacle. Collaborating on their systems and premises was impractical due to extensive compliance requirements, threatening project deadlines and resource allocation.

NIAXO’s Innovative Solution

Tasked with building a new data analytics proof-of-concept (PoC) platform without accessing real data, NIAXO turned to synthetic data generation.
  • Complete Data Isolation: NIAXO synthesised complex datasets without sampling from live systems, maintaining an air-gap between real and synthetic data. This eliminated any risk of contamination.
  • Realistic Data Simulation: The synthetic data replicated multiple client data feeds, including detailed narrative records and coherent case files that users would recognise.
  • Mirroring System Architecture: Data was distributed and fragmented to reflect the client’s real system architecture, ensuring the PoC was as authentic as possible.
  • PDF Rendering: For added realism, NIAXO rendered data into representative PDF formats adhering to customer templates, exercising the need to parse PDF sources.
By utilising synthetic data not subject to stringent security constraints, NIAXO could leverage their own team, platform, and technology efficiently. They deployed BPSS personnel with UK nationality and used their cloud infrastructure, which is part of their Cyber Essentials Plus (CE+) scope.
At the core of NIAXO’s solution was Elastic, a powerful search and analytics engine that enabled handling large volumes of data efficiently and securely.

The Results

  • Rapid Deployment: NIAXO built the entire PoC system, complete with synthetic data, within 10 weeks.
  • User Engagement: The project culminated in a workshop where the client’s users interacted with the system as if it were operating on real data, providing specific recommendations for improvements.
  • Security Compliance: NIAXO facilitated the transition of the customer’s highly classified data to synthetic data, which was handled at ‘Official’ as agreed with the client’s security team.
  • Resource Optimisation: By avoiding the need to handle sensitive data, they reduced compliance overheads and accelerated project timelines.

 

Conclusion

NIAXO’s 10-week journey with the client proves that with the right approach and technology, it’s possible to transform data analytics in the public sector without compromising security or efficiency. By embracing synthetic data and powerful tools like Elastic, they turned a significant challenge into a success story.

Ready to transform your data analytics capabilities?

Contact NIAXO to discover how they can help you achieve your goals.