Client Overview

The Challenge is the leading charity for building a more integrated society and employs over 700 members of staff. The modest number of 158 young people reached in 2009 continues to grow and we now deliver our programmes to over 40,000 people each year and impact the lives of a great deal more through our work with policy-makers.

Business Challenge

The Challenge Network has installed new IT leadership to provide a stable and consistent IT offering that will enable business growth through 2019 and 2020. They have identified areas that need to be matured and want assistance within the following areas:

1. Cost savings on unutilised or legacy services.

2. People – right-fit role design and existing mentoring of key staff.

3. Orchestration of an IT wide Service Improvement plan, driving the big ticket items to ensure they land.

Harrison’s Solution

Due to our track record and subsequent credibility in the non-for-profit sector, The Challenge Network engaged Harrison to work with them on their existing challenges.

Working with the Head of IT our consultant performed an audit of the tools withing scope of the cost saving goals to provide recommendations and a balanced view on what to retire.

Based on the service and budgetary needs of the IT organisation we worked with the Head of IT to build out a Service Improvement plan and subsequently owned key deliverables.

This was achieved with compliance with the following critical success factors:

1. Deployment of best practice ITSM capabilities.

2. Employee capacity to deliver improved levels of IT service.

3. Tangible cost reductions by way of building and running RFP’s that achieve the required outcomes for IT.

Outcomes

85% reduction in offsite backup storage costs.

Mentored the IT leadership team to enable them to evolve and mature as an IT leader.

Significant Improvement in customer satisfaction and feedback.

Improvement in IT resource productivity with the introduction of ITIL aligned workflows and processes to ensure the right people are working on the right things at the right time, in the right way.

Built the new organisation structure, built the new role profiles and led the interviews on behalf of the IT leadership team.

Developed and ran an IT wide service improvement plan that focused on people, process and tools.

Harrison were initially engaged by The Challenge to analyse and provide options around a contract renewal, resulting in a significant year on year saving. Moving on to supporting our service improvement aspirations, they conducted a thorough review of the existing processes and team capabilities before providing a comprehensive report on their findings and recommendations. To help us introduce a technical change management process, they worked with us to write a policy, process and working documents for us to adapt and use. Throughout our engagement, I had regular calls with our assigned consultant enabling me to use them as a sounding board and advisor in their many areas of expertise, which was hugely beneficial to The Challenge and to me personally.

Sian Prime – Head of IT