Building one house: integration and standardisation in construction skills
Our client is a higher-education provider for the construction industry and is also responsible for the administration of an industry-wide fund, used to support construction employers to ensure the industry has the skilled workforce it needs.
Double-digit growth is forecast for UK construction in 2021. Construction output is forecast to rise by 12.9% in 2021 and 5.2% in 2022, despite profound supply chain risks.
Against the backdrop of this incredibly active industry, our client faced a substantial issue of co-ordinating and standardising a diverse array of 13 business units including colleges, skills providers, publishing businesses and training organisations.
These business units had historically operated independently with an array of legacy systems. Consequently, student and employer records were incredibly fragmented.
Inconsistent data was dispersed throughout various paper-based silos and there was a pronounced lack of online capabilities across the businesses. There was no authoritative track of accreditations or certified skillsets (for both individuals and across entire employer organisations).
This limited view of customer accounts frustrated attempts to both cross sell and up-sell training.
Following a comprehensive report compiled by a leading management consultancy, it was agreed that there was a pressing need to merge these business units and introduce standardised practices and processes to deliver on the vision of one organisation.
BML Digital was appointed by the Director of Strategy to develop an entirely new business structure and then equip that structure with the relevant digital technologies.
BML began by bringing in a senior business technology leader who architected the harmonised, single business model structure.
This was then used as the basis for an operating model design that could govern the processes and technology needed throughout the redesigned organisation.
This technology strategy involved:
1
The implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) solution
2
A comprehensive upgrade path for the existing on-premises ERP system
3
The creation of a full transactional capability via the main website, enabling customers to access up to date information on their training status, with documentation pertaining to current and potential accreditation and access to grants for skills funding
4
The implementation of a full governance and advisory capability
Following the implementation of this programme, our client was able to:
1
Close the separate business units and move to a single, integrated organisation with a standard platform
2
Realise substantial savings on licencing, hosting and support by migrating from legacy IT
3
Streamlining a company-wide IT function and creating a centralised team
4
Achieve a 50% headcount reduction by eliminating duplicated roles and tasks
5
Increase revenue by securing more training sales via both cross sell and up-sell
6
Increase the accuracy and timeliness of the training fees collection
7
Expand and improve customer service to both individuals and businesses
This substantial integration and standardisation project has effectively redesigned our client to be able to provide world-class training solutions to the UK construction industry whilst reducing costs.