Change and Transformation in the Public Sector
Network Rail partnered with PwC and Epion Consulting to transform their IT and Telecoms functions into a single directorate, improving efficiency, customer focus, and industrial relations through extensive consultation and cultural change.
Network Rail (NR) own, operate, maintain and develop the railway infrastructure in England, Scotland and Wales. They are a core driver of the UK’s economy, by supporting approximately 4.4 million journeys per day, and connecting people and goods with where they need to be. As the organisation’s digital backbone, NR’s IT and Telecoms functions provide many key services, such as supporting 20,000+ miles of track and 40,000+ signals (critical collision prevention), providing real-time information to 1.8 billion passengers, and managing over 16,000km of data cables.
IT and Telecoms were each facing several challenges: a misaligned vision, an unsustainable cost base, a lack of focus on customer needs, and an unclear demarcation of responsibilities. These challenges posed a direct threat to NR’s day-to-day operations (including the safety of the railway) and the financial security of its functions.
In response, a transformation programme was established (codename: Fibre), to bring the two disparate functions together in a single Digital, Data and Technology directorate, and drive more clarity of purpose, alignment, efficiency and customer orientation.
PwC was engaged to provide end-to-end transformation support, from shaping and right-sizing the new organisation, through to consultation and implementation, based on the firm’s extensive experience of large-scale transformations in the transport sector – especially in unionised environments. Given the significant disparities between NR’s two functions, PwC subcontracted Epion Consulting, specialists in culture and behavioural change, to support the sustainable transition and longevity of culture change. This combination allowed the team to understand the nuances of NR’s challenges, and proactively adapt its skillset as programme demands changed.
The partners collaborated as one team, guided by three key principles for the programme. First, a commitment to transparency was essential for building trust with client teams who had already experienced significant change, and to ensure that the voices of employees and customers had a meaningful impact on the design process. Second, value delivery and accountability were at the programme’s heart, with regular reviews of time, quality, cost, behaviours and value-add. Last, with rigorous risk identification and mitigation, PwC’s approach focused on helping NR mitigate delivery risk, rather working only within the firm’s contracted scope.
In light of ongoing industrial unrest, and NR employees’ poor experiences of previous change initiatives, consultation was essential to the programme’s success, so the team involved HR and trade unions early and regularly. The programme’s discovery phase engaged more than 33% of staff and customers, which yielded detailed accounts of many pain points and opportunities, and fostered early buy-in for the transformation.
The programme was a huge success, and has built critical capabilities for NR by optimising their resources. PwC’s approach reversed the downward trend in industrial relations, and gained positive feedback from trade unions for both the consultation management and overall programme. The firm’s work has gained industry-wide praise, and been recognised by the UK government’s Office of Road and Rail as an exemplar for delivering complex transformation at scale.
View the PwC profile in the MCA Members Directory.