David Parkinson - CEO, Brave and Heart, who reflects on a busy 2025.
Reflecting on 2025, what would you say were the standout moments or milestones for Brave and Heart?
This year we gave a talk at the DigiGov 2025 Expo on our view of the future of AI in the public sector, covering the huge potential that AI’s transformative abilities have, but also the potential pitfalls.
Our presentation created a genuine mic-drop moment when we demonstrated our AI voice tool using a voice model of our CEO which was asked a question in English and responded in fluent Chinese. The faces of the audience showed us that we had built something special.
What key challenges did you face this year, and how did you and your team navigate them?
2025 has been the year of outsourcing and AI role handoffs. Many companies have sought to lower costs, and potentially quality, to sustain or increase profits. This has been a key challenge for us as a company that remains focused on local talent and ensuring high quality service in everything we do.
Navigating this context has been tricky, but having been in this business for over 20 years we know this is cyclical. As soon as a new CIO or FD comes in that refocuses their teams on quality, companies like ours will need to be on hand to support and develop their offerings.
2025 has been a transformative year across industries how did Brave and Heart adapt or innovate to stay ahead?
AI, AI, AI. As you can imagine the current technology poster child has been an incredible focus for us.
However, we will always approach AI from the angle of what is beneficial for our clients, and have focused on the use of AI to supplements teams, expertise and knowledge, rather than replace it.
We have built our AI offering looking at this specifically and have made great inroads to the reality of AI and how we can harness the LLM’s out there for maximum benefits, the fruits of which will come to the fore in 2026.
Were there any particular projects, partnerships, or campaigns in 2025 that you’re especially proud of?
A large focus for us in 2025 was to increase our offering to the public sector.
This has been challenging, as the frameworks available and the realities of competition on those frameworks is complex.
However, we’ve persevered and look forward to the opportunities on G Cloud 15 and Digital Outcomes and Specialists 7 (DOS7).
How did your company culture evolve this year, and what initiatives helped strengthen your team’s connection or creativity?
As well as continuing to establish our internal values and our focus on both B-Corp and the Real Living wage initiatives, we have continued to emphasise the importance of training.
Our complete development team, including the CEO, are now fully qualified Agile practitioners, an initiative that has changed the way we develop for the better.
Looking to 2026, what are your biggest ambitions or goals for Brave and Heart?
We have always said we are not a company focused on growth for the sake of growth.
We think of ourselves as a speedboat vs the many slow and plodding cruise liners out there that cater for every need and end up delivering on none of them.
In 2026 we will retain this edge and focus on optimised growth. Be that people, skills, customers or ideally, all three.
Are there any exciting launches, collaborations, or strategic shifts on the horizon that you can share with us?
From our side we remain focused on our clients exciting work and supporting them though careful and agile ideation and delivery.
We have several AI products coming in 2026 but as we have always said, these innovations MUST be focused on real world value and team support rather than shiny toys for the sake of it.
How do you see the broader market or industry changing in 2026, and what role do you hope Brave and Heart will play in that landscape?
The key change we see in the industry has been the use of offshoring and AI to replace UK jobs.
In a world where cheaper doesn’t mean best we aim to stand out with local talent at a fair price that delivers quicker and more focused on our partners outcomes.
2026 is focused on ensuring we are still here in 2027 when clients realise AI is not delivering real benefits beyond low level optimisations and that offshore work is effectively more expensive, with less delivery.
Sustainability, community, and purpose continue to be major talking points – how are these values shaping your future plans?
With the world heating up and the number of AI datacentres only adding to this we will be looking at some work we started back in 2024 around Digital DeCarbonisation and how we can help companies monitor, measure and improve their footprint.
In 2025 it’s still more expensive to be less carbon efficient than it is to put in the processes to even measure your carbon effect, and we need to reverse this trend.
Finally, what message would you like to share with your clients, partners, and supporters as you step into 2026?
The obvious one is always a great thank you to those that trusted us with their delivery and dreams.
We are here to make our clients lives easier and richer by delivering real and tangible results.
To those that get that, and will continue to get that in 2026, we salute you.
www.braveandheart.com