Modern Technical Architecture
Client Context
Northumberland County Council was embarking on a strategic change programme to identify council-wide savings of £20m per year, while radically rethinking the way local public services are delivered in support of its primary objective to reduce inequality in the county.
Like many large organisations, the council had adopted many different ICT systems over time and this had grown into a complex technical architecture costing around £6m a year, not all of which was visible to, or supported by, the corporate ICT & Digital team. In some cases, different departments had contracts with the same ICT suppliers and, even where different systems were used, there was often overlapping functionality, leading to duplication of costs, operational inefficiencies, data incompatibility and fragmented customer experiences.
Our Approach
Working with the council’s ICT & Digital team, we undertook a comprehensive assessment of the as-is operating model and developed a strategy for the future direction of travel:
Analysed current and historic spend on ICT using transaction-level data from the council’s finance system to establish an authoritative spend baseline.
Benchmarked the council’s spend and applications profile against comparator organisations to understand its relative complexity and cost base and what savings might therefore be achievable.
Assessed options for technical solutions across ERP, CRM, digital services and productivity suite requirements.
Measured the costs of pilot projects by the in-house digital team to assess the case for a make-vs.-buy strategy.
Evaluated the effectiveness of existing governance arrangements for technology decisions and highlighted examples of best practice from comparator organisations for senior leaders.
Outputs and Outcomes
A radically streamlined technical architecture, eliminating the need for several hundred legacy applications and making the council’s technology estate cheaper and easier to manage. This identified savings of £1m over three years.
A new digital service engine to build online services that are accessible and easy to use for customers. This was supported by a single CRM system that brings together customer journeys and customer data that was previously spread across many different systems.
A simplified information architecture, creating a more consistent approach to storing documents, data and information and make it easier to extract key information such as performance data on demand.
A business case for investment in the council’s digital team, enabling the council to design and build its own services on a common technology platform. Based on pilot initiatives, the payback period for building rather than buying new software applications was demonstrated as 2.5 years, allowing the council to eliminate ongoing licence costs after year 2, with the wider benefit of being able to attract, retain and develop digital skills and talent in Northumberland.
Enhanced governance in the form of a Technical Design Authority to oversee make vs. buy decisions and ensure savings are delivered alongside improved customer outcomes and the operational, technical and information security benefits of the programme.
About Us
Human Engine is a leading management consultancy with specialisms in strategy, transformation, digital, commercial, procurement and projects.
Founded in 2018, we have partnered with more than 50 local authorities, central government, NHS organisations and national charities to help transform their strategies, operations and cultures.
Our mission is to help individuals and organisations to do the best work of their lives. We do this by blending first-hand, practical experience of the problems we help our clients solve with award-winning consulting expertise and an approach based on trust, collaboration and partnership.