Planning, managing and implementing an IT transformation programme

Challenge

The CIO of our prominent provider of individual wealth management, asset management and related services had commissioned an independent review of the IT department in order to assess its ability to meet the growth ambitions of the business. During this piece of work, we identified the fact that there had been a high number of issues classified as ‘major incidents’ resulting in outages to business operations – affecting revenue, productivity and end-user satisfaction. Additionally, the current model for providing IT services was not scalable, despite the fact that costs were continuing to rise.

We were therefore asked to lead a programme to address these issues and help transform IT to meet the business’ expectations.

Solution

Our initial engagement had identified that significant effort was being expended on high volume, repeatable tasks (such as password resets), there was duplication of effort, and the existing IT service management (ITSM) toolset – which managed incidents, requests, and changes – was outdated and could not provide reliable information. All of this was resulting in an inefficient service – hence the perception of unreliability and the high costs.

Mason Advisory designed a programme to transform IT delivery by improving governance and resource management; embedding clear processes, and introducing automation to create a scalable platform for growth.

First, we assessed the organisational design and operating model in order to restructure the department and allocate resources to higher value tasks. This was linked to capacity modelling for the ‘plan’, ‘build’ and ‘run’ functions. We also developed and (in conjunction with the HR department) implemented a competency framework for IT to ensure clear roles and responsibilities were embedded in the team.

In parallel, we designed, documented and implemented new ITSM processes aligned to ITIL, but tailored to the client. Using outputs from the process design work, we identified that a new ITSM toolset would drive change and improve delivery of support services. This included automating key processes such as incident and service request handling, changes, and configuration management, allowing IT service delivery to scale with the business while controlling support staff costs.

We then created a request for proposals (RFP), working closely with the IT leadership team and a core group of users. We ran and governed the RFP process, including developing the evaluation criteria, supporting the evaluation, and making a recommendation regarding the preferred supplier: ServiceNow. We also helped the client select an implementation partner to undertake the detailed configuration of the tool.

We managed the implementation, using stage gates to ensure monitor progress. We attended and supported all programme steering meetings, chaired by the CIO, where all initiatives in the portfolio were governed, allowing us to provide advice and guidance on major issues and risk mitigation strategies.

Finally, our team co-ordinated the configuration, user acceptance testing and training, and we developed a communications strategy, working with the IT team managers to make sure they understood the new environment and could cascade updates and benefits to their staff. We concluded by leading FAQ workshops and drop-in sessions over a four-week period to deal with any concerns or queries after launch of the new system.

Outcome

Ultimately, we delivered an ambitious project on time and under budget, meeting a tight deadline while also minimising disruption to the business.

Specifically, the transformation programme delivered:

• a more cost-effective department with better governance, clearer ways of working
• a better quality of service for business users
• a scalable ITSM toolset to help manage incidents and requests as the business grows, freeing up staff time for higher value tasks
• a more cost-effective model.

The restructuring and automation will deliver significant cost avoidance savings in the near term, as well as an annual 20% P&L run-rate reduction thereafter.

The improvement in processes also means the client has seen a 30% reduction in major incidents, and the new toolset will almost halve the number of direct IT requests, facilitated by an automated request portal and better self-help knowledge articles.

“Mason Advisory is very client focused, while still providing a good level of challenge – the team wants to do what’s best for the business. The enthusiasm and professionalism from the whole team was outstanding. It was a tough target to deliver that level of change in a year. Despite this, the team delivered to scope, on time, to quality and under budget. It was delivered in under 12 months, which was an incredible achievement.”

Chief Information Officer, representing our client

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