Digital transformation to drive education
When an edtech provider suddenly found itself overwhelmed by demand for its services, Definia delivered a major digital transformation that revolutionised its ways of working.
working on the project
delivering work streams across the programme
Define
A false start
There seemed to be a global thirst for knowledge when a leading supplier of technology and resources to the education sector, from preschool to postgrad, experienced unprecedented demand from exam boards, governments and other professional institutions. The only way to meet this sudden surge in demand, which it wasn’t nearly equipped for, was a digital transformation programme.
They enlisted the help of a tier-1 consultancy but the programme quickly ran into difficulties. With the delivery teams lacking much of the required experience and working distinctly out of sync, the programme was inconsistent. Adapting to changing priorities was nigh on impossible. Plus, there was a lack of planning, management and oversight.
With the transformation not going according to plan, they urgently needed a partner to get the programme on track.
Will Jones
Director, Definia
“When speaking with the Programme Director, a number of shortfalls were highlighted from the tier one consultancy impacting the programme success. These included: data model, architecture roadmap and programme delivery approach which we were asked to then go and solve.”
Design
Transforming the transformation
We took a detailed look at the whole programme to see where we needed to make improvements. Based on this, we introduced a number of measures to kickstart the transformation:
• A baseline process and capability assessment across the organisation’s programme delivery and enterprise architecture, with a detailed roadmap to achieving an improved target operating model.
• Strengthening the organisation’s project management capability through specific work packages in Microsoft Dynamics 365 (which improves operational efficiency) and its warehouse management system (WMS, which streamlines warehouse management). On top of these, it needed a consistent approach to digital change.
• Product teams made up of full stack development pods, each with a scrum master with specific sprint objectives to speed up the programme.
• Bringing in the right people to help their in-house teams manage their data.
Will Jones
Director, Definia
“Working in tandem with Programme Director, we co-created several workstreams to successfully realign the programme to better state. This included: capability assessments, organisation project management capability, product teams and bringing in the right people.”
Deliver
A multifaceted approach
We needed to redefine the way this project was being done. Closely partnering with the organisation to help them through the transformation, we based our approach on accelerating delivery, empowering the client and installing a culture of continuous improvement.
We drove the programme forward through several key projects at the same time, covering customer relationship management (CRM), WMS, data and change. For each one, we found the best ways of working and brought in the right governance so it was structured, organised and consistent.
We successfully delivered 26 sprints across the product teams to significantly reduce the backlog of work, taking ownership of development work. We also introduced a new data model capability and delivered new programmes.
Transformation Director
Edtech provider
“They don’t waste my time with academic theory. The Definia team prefer to give me relevant and actionable insights that enable me to get the job done, and then move on.”
Contact us
Reach out to the team to find out how we can help you.