Board 21 September 2021 - IT and Digital Strategy
Board 21 September 2021 - IT and Digital Strategy
1. Purpose of report
1.1 This report presents the IT & Digital Strategy for Board approval.
2. Background information
2.1 The strategy is intended to be the IT & Digital Strategy for YHN as a group (including Leazes Homes). The organisation has been without an IT Strategy for some years. Due to the IT function being split across a team at YHN and NCC delivering IT services and support to the organisation, the main focus has been predominately operational.
2.2 The challenges which the Covid pandemic presented us, customer expectations for digital services, and a need to ensure our IT & digital capabilities within the business are efficient and increase productivity, led to a clear direction from the Board that we needed to invest in IT and Digital at YHN, and this strategy aims to meet those challenges.
2.3 In April 2021, we invested in an IT Consultant to undertake a strategic review of IT at YHN, and this was used to collate our current position, gather insight from service areas and customers to create a clear strategy and vision for where we want to be in 3 years.
2.4 Board received a presentation at the away day in July on the findings from the strategic review and an outline of the key pillars of the strategy, which would provide focus on the Customer, Colleagues and the Business.
2.5 As part of the IT strategic review, a proposal for a fit for purpose IT service and structure has been considered, and a decision made by the Executive team to introduce a senior post into the IT service to drive the strategy. The role will have strategic responsibility for IT, data, and innovation as well as the coordination of business change across the organisation with a focus on ensuring the approach meets the needs of the business whilst delivering a great customer and colleague experience.
As the business lead for innovation, the role will also look outside the business and sector to identify opportunities to implement positive change which is aligned to the Business Strategy.
3. Link to Destination 2022
3.1 Our Destination 2022 Business Strategy set out lots of ambitions which required improvements to our IT & Digital offer, and our position remains the same. This strategy continues to focus on the key driver to be “easy to do business with”. We have also used the insight gathered to ensure the IT & Digital strategy will support the development of the next Business Strategy.
3.2 Of the strategic objectives, the objective to be a ‘Strong business fit for today, ready for tomorrow’ is clearly supported by this strategy.
4. Objectives of the IT & Digital Strategy
4.1 The IT & Digital Strategy is based around two key principles. Enabling and Effective, these mirror the principles in the NCC IT Strategy, this was important to keep a synergy with the council as the provider of the majority of IT services, infrastructure and support.
4.2The three pillars which were presented to Board at the away day, have been further developed and resulted in four initiatives in which the strategy is framed around:
- Customer digital offer
- Empower employees
- Use data more effectively
- Collaborative transformation
For each of these areas we have set out what this means and what we will do.
5. Financing the Strategy
5.1 The current approved budget spend for IT services for 21/22 is £2.5m. This covers our employee costs, support and maintenance services, equipment and the SLA with NCC.
The latest Board approved financial forecast included investment from reserves for IT/Digital over the next 3 years of £2.3m with an ongoing provision of £500k.
Whilst undertaking the review it was clear we needed to establish a fit for purpose IT team and bring in a senior lead to ensure that the investment requirements were fully scoped and costed in the right areas. The current review being undertaken by the consultant is exploring consolidating our application portfolio, a revised staff structure and a revised SLA with NCC. All these elements will be contribute to ensuring we can spend the investment from reserves on transformation to ensure we achieve the ambitions set out in the strategy.
The detail budget breakdown will be worked up for November, at the start of our financial planning for 22/23.
6. Risk implications
6.1 The following key risks on the Strategic Risk Register are particularly relevant as the Strategy seeks to reduce and control these risks:
SR6 Data & Cyber – by improving our systems, controls and data management policy we will ensure controls are robust, training will further reduce the risk of data loss.
SR17 Customer Expectations – having a customer-centric approach will aim to meet customer expectations and improve the customer journey with YHN.
Strategic risks will be continually monitored and reported through the relevant forums.
7. Conclusions and Recommendations
7.1 Board are asked to consider and approve the proposed IT & Digital Strategy.
8. Implementation
8.1 The Strategy will be monitored at a high level by the Executive Team, to ensure the long-term vision is on track, and the appropriate budget and resources are made available.
8.2 The delivery of the strategy is key, and an annual implementation plan will be developed and monitored quarterly by the Corporate Management team.
Contact Officer:
If you have any questions about this report that you would like to clarify before the meeting, you can contact Jill Davison by email – jill.davison@yhn.org.uk.