Aligning the IT department with the business

The implementation of our recommendations resulted in the restructure of the IT department and alignment with the business strategy of this engineering consultancy.

An initial investigation was undertaken into the internal services that the IT department provided to all UK and International offices, which covered around 550 employees based in 20 offices. Following discussions with the key stakeholders, WeDeliverChange produced a report of recommendations that was accepted by the Management Board, including:

• introduction of a new IT strategy, integrated with the business strategy
• production of detailed business plans
• introduction of a revised team structure, defining proper roles and responsibilities
• establishing a proper internal customer focus
• introduction of internal processes and controls, including an information security policy
• completion of hardware and software inventories
• completion of a number of projects that had been outstanding for some time
• updating the network and hardware infrastructure, to improve resilience
• controlling the level of Helpdesk calls and introducing a service level agreement
• recruitment of a new Senior IT Manager to lead the department
• refining the capital expenditure request process
• establishing personal development plans for all team members

With these foundations in place the new Senior IT Manager was able to assume full responsibility. The IT team is now fully aligned with the business, helping to deliver the strategic objectives.

“Following discussions with the key stakeholders in the Practice, WeDeliverChange made clear recommendations to transform our approach to IT, significantly improving the strategy, planning, team structure, processes and controls. The implementation of our recommendations resulted in the restructure of the IT department and its approach to the strategy of this engineering consultancy.

The recommendations were approved by the Management Board and WeDeliverChange led the implementation of the required process, people and technology changes, working closely with the existing IT team.”

Scott Witchalls, IT Partner – Peter Brett Associates LLP