Using consultancy to enable digital transformation

Enabling digital transformation

In 2023 Jim Nottingham joined UCA as director of digital and information digital services to oversee development of a digital strategy for all its UK campuses. By then, UCA was in the process of introducing digital solutions for various business processes including timetabling and monitoring student attendance, and it had completed a wider infrastructure review.

These were the start of an ongoing process to drive business efficiencies. What was needed next, says Jim, was an overarching “digital enabling strategy” to underpin wide-ranging process improvements.

“Creating that is a lot of work. Much more than I could do quickly alone. We opted for a consultancy approach but I’ve worked with commercial consultants before and I’ve been very disappointed with the eye-watering cost and the quality of the output."

“Sometimes you can talk to a company and they have a proposal on your desk that afternoon, which to me feels like no thought has gone into it.”

Sector knowledge

Instead, Jim asked us to help with UCA’s strategy.

“Jisc’s sector knowledge means you already have a head start. You don’t have to spend time explaining how a university works, and internal stakeholders are happier to work with an organisation they know and trust."

Our digital transformation consultancy team took a three-step approach to developing the strategy. It starts with discovery, moves to analysis, sense-check and challenge and then to finalising our conclusions and report.

We engaged one of our south-east England based associates and he started with desk research and then carried out 20 workshops with groups of academic, technical and professional services staff. We wanted to hear their thoughts and ideas, work towards consensus and secure their buy-in and ownership for the eventual vision and strategy.

Although carefully structured the workshops were flexible, so conversations could range outside the original parameters when new information and ideas fed into the mix.

Jim says the workshop format encouraged stakeholders to engage fully. Over three or four months he had a weekly call with an associate to review progress and agree actions. There were additional sessions with our wider consultancy team every two to three weeks.

“About a week after the end of the workshops I received Jisc’s report. It was incredibly well done, very professional, showing an in-depth knowledge of the sector and a deep understanding of UCA’s specialist nature. It contains a lot of strong reference material to validate its findings.”

Those supporting materials include our in-depth work on digital transformation in higher education and on the digital student experience via our digital experience insights survey findings, plus insights from several sector bodies including UCISA. The report itself was detailed but as concise as possible, running at under 20 pages. Jim also wanted a PowerPoint presentation to share the findings with stakeholders, so we provided this too.

“The report gives us a strategy on a page and a timeline, and it builds a compelling argument with costs, supporting evidence and information on tech and sector trends,” says Jim. “It is tailored to fit UCA and it got unanimous support from the governors.”

Business efficiencies and a better student experience

The new digital strategy will guide UCA in bringing business processes together and lay the foundations for increasingly collaborative, cohesive ways of working to save both time and cost. It will streamline services and make it easier for students and staff to find their way around university systems – an important finding was that newly arriving students found the various standalone portals confusing to navigate. Jim comments:

“The strategy document has highlighted a number of ways where we can easily get things working in unison and monitor the student journey more effectively.”

People power

Having better information about how students and staff are faring within the organisation is an essential part of the digital strategy. The report we’ve delivered is about people as much as it is about systems. And while it looks at issues such as how technology will develop in the next five years (and so where investment in technology should be made), it recognises that the strategy is for the benefit of UCA’s people, and they will be central to making it a success. It talks about empathetic approaches, iterative management styles and demonstrating the benefits that change will bring.

“Moving forward we will be showing people why this is helpful,’ says Jim. “For example, we’ve identified better ways to understand what takes up time for teaching staff. It means we can identify problems quickly so we can help to manage pressures and maximise the time they can spend teaching.”

While some things set out in the strategy are quick fixes, others will take two or three years to implement and embed fully.

Jim says:

“Jisc’s consultancy has been a really positive experience for us. It’s a really good initiative for the sector at a time when we’re all looking to save money and work as efficiently as we can.”