The best in Digital Consulting

10 projects from 10 different consultancy firms have been shortlisted for Digital & Technology Project of the Year at the 2016 MCA Awards. This week both consultants and clients from each project will be assessed by an independent judging panel on the value their project has created. We take a closer look at the summary of each project:


Arcadis with Transport for London (TfL)

The TfL Information Management and Modelling Programme is a change programme being delivered by TfL’s Surface Transport organization to ensure their people have the information they need to make better decisions for London. To achieve this they are leading the way in the industry by implementing BIM (Building Information Modelling) Level 2 and introducing supporting new technology that will enable information to be created, shared, managed and applied in the most efficient and effective way.

Arcadis designed a programme that delivered all four critical elements of successful implementation: Technology, Information, Processes and People


Arup with CERN

Following the Higgs Boson discovery at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN has launched a study for the development of a Future Circular Collider (FCC) – a next-generation particle accelerator, planned to be housed within a tunnel up to 100km long. To aid early design and planning of this massive project, CERN set Arup the challenge of developing an innovative approach to analysing, managing and communicating key project constraints and requirements. The solution is the Tunnel Optimisation Tool (TOT) – A simple yet complex digital platform that has produced a step change transformation to alignment and siting studies for this major infrastructure project.


Atkins with Department for Education

In 2014 the Department for Education (DfE) wanted to expand the Eligibility Checking System (ECS) introduced for the Free School Meals project to establish a more efficient way for local authorities to determine the eligibility of children in their area for two new Early Years Funding policies. Atkins worked with the DfE and 152 councils to implement the project, which was completed in July 2015. Over one million families have now been checked using the ECS. Approximately £19 million of cost savings have been estimated in local council processing of applications and take up has improved by 10%.


Baringa Partners with Nationwide

In Autumn 2014, Nationwide met with Apple, to discuss their involvement with the UK launch of Apple Pay. Nationwide recognised this as a major step forward in digital payments in the UK. They committed to be part of the launch, to be one of the first banks to go-live with the solution. This would demonstrate Nationwide’s commitment to becoming a ‘Digital Building Society’, and underpin its proposition to its customers. But there was a challenge. Go-live was less than nine months later, and Nationwide would need to start live-proving with Apple within five months to be in the first wave.


CSC with Network Rail

Infrastructure is the backbone of any rail system. However, for Network Rail (NR), its infrastructure is vast, ageing and overwhelmingly paper-based, making it extremely difficult to maintain – restricting safety, reliability and capacity.

In partnership with CSC, NR began a ground-breaking transformation programme, ORBIS (Offering Rail Better Information Services), in order to digitise the entire railway infrastructure.

Just two years into the five-year programme, and £200m+ of savings have already been banked. More importantly though, the transformation in the workforce means employees are now able to make quicker, more efficient and ultimately safer decisions thanks to better access to accurate information.


Deloitte with Philips

Calling on its extensive experience in both HR transformation and implementing Cloud solutions in similar organisations, Deloitte has rolled out a global HR Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to support transformation and help drive innovation at Philips.

Through the Deloitte implementation, Philips has been able to standardise and simplify core staffing processes and introduce real-time people analytics to drive better talent decisions. The talent and performance functionality that the system has introduced, which is based on a talent strategy codesigned by Deloitte, encourages the workforce to own and drive their own performance, learning and career development, and gives management a more effective means of recognising and nourishing talent. Philips is now able to harness the potential of the reporting capabilities delivered through the designed solution to make more informed workforce decisions across the organisation.


Efficio with Network Rail

In response to a major challenge on improving efficiency and performance laid down by the regulator, a radical new strategy was developed with Network Rail’s Central Region Infrastructure Projects team.

Efficio designed, built, and rolled out the OnTrack cost management application, as part of a wider implementation project, within 5 months. The application has now been live for a year within 9 contractor organisations and has 400+ users.

The innovative approach of combining core consulting skills with industry expertise and technology experience enabled the Efficio team to deliver vastly improved cost visibility and compliance management in record time.


Elixirr with TUI Group

TUI had come under increasing pressure from disruption in the tourism market and the emergence of fast-growing digital competitors. In response, they were considering the optimum strategy to deploying technology in order to remain agile and relevant.

Elixirr partnered with the IT leadership team to develop an IT strategy to support the development of technologies in local markets and an IT operating model to support the deployment of this technology in a federated organisation – a fundamental challenge that most incumbent large scale firms face. Elixirr continue to support TUI on a number of key initiatives on their transition to a digital future.


GE Healthcare Finnamore with Health Education England

GE Healthcare Finnamore (GEHCF) led a blended team of NHS and industry staff to deliver a webbased Workforce Repository and Planning Tool (WRaPT) for Health Education North West (HENW) and Lancashire Care NHS Trust. Once developed they promoted its use across the North West for individual organisations and whole systems. Finally, GE Healthcare Finnamore realised cost reduction and transformation benefits within teams across the North West.

This has resulted in the development, and practical use, of a free, web-based workforce planning system, that is fundamental to HENW's plans for system workforce transformation in response to the significant financial and workforce challenges.


North Highland UK with Sainsbury's

Sainsbury’s Supermarket sought to build a 1,000,000 sqft, best–in–class warehouse underpinned by a complex IT solution. Seeking an experienced Delivery partner, Sainsbury’s chose North Highland to lead the massive technical undertaking.

North Highland provided a highly-­skilled ‘delivery team’ who implemented an approach drawn from industry best-­practice and North Highland’s past expertise, coupled with North Highland’s unique blend of creative and collaborative working.

Under North Highland’s direction, this IT Solution was delivered on time and on budget, landing within 2% of the initial budget over 2 years.