From Trailing Edge to Leading Edge

1. From Trailing Edge to
Leading Edge
DELIVERING LASTING TECHNOLOGY CHANGE FOR A
WHTEHALL DEPARTMENT AT PACE

2. • The Department for Education is responsible for children’s services
and education, including higher and further education policy,
apprenticeships and wider skills in England.
• 457,o0oTeachers, 8.56 million pupils in schools
• £60.1 billion state budget distribution (increasing directly to schools)
• 4th largest consolidator of accounts in the world
• Leading edge technology!
The Department

3. What we knew when we started?
• We needed to engage the permanent team “change
from within”
• We knew we didn’t have the skills we needed
• We knew a traditional supplier/customer relationship
would not work
• We knew significant board engagement was required
• We knew we would have significantly re-skill in parallel

4. The journey of transformation
• Dysfunctional
technology
• LowTeam Morale
• Low Output
Oct 2014
• Strong IT Brand
• Re-launch
• Ambitious Plan
• Creation of Belief
2015 • Year of “heavy lifting”
• EntireTechnology
stack in upgrade
• Re-skilling
2016

5. Clear Business Case
• London Office move displacing a physical data centre
• Ageing technology and lack of mobility
• The need to be able to better connect to the Education
sector
• Every £ spent on IT, is a £ not spent on schools

6. Establishing a true partnership
with experts and suppliers
 Ending the blame game
 Driving value add
 Co-locating resource
Working the problem together
 Acknowledging we were not
going to be the experts

7. Power of a brand
 Radical in Government
 Kite Mark of Delivery
 ClearVision and Delivery
Vehicle to deliver comms
 Sense of identity

8. The Importance of Belief
 Drives Pace
 Creates Confidence
 Overturns the past
 Drives enthusiasm
 Reduce sceptism

9. Edge -2015LeadingTrailing

10. Lessons Learnt
• That establishing true partneships is difficult
• Being comfortable to change mind or direction
• The impact of concurrent multiple workstreams on key people
• Staying brave!
• We could have gone even quicker!

11. Changed World:
Mobility

12. From
Modernisation
to Optimisation
• Ensure total decommission –
risks to Business Case
• Maxmising potential
• Exploitation of technology
• Ensuring Cloud Control

13. Thank you!
Questions?
adrian.tucker@education.gov.uk