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Britain's Waterways Renaissance - A Catalyst For Change

New I.T. strategy will assist transformation for a sustainable future.

Britain’s canals and rivers are enjoying a renaissance and are busier and in better condition than they have been for generations. However British Waterways (BW), the organisation which looks after the nation’s waterways heritage, faces considerable economic challenges to maintain investment in its two-century old locks, bridges, aqueducts and weirs. To achieve this, it has embarked on a journey involving transformational and forward thinking strategies, including how it procures technology to contribute to a sustainable future.

In the short term, BW is undertaking an efficiency drive and internal restructure to identify cost savings of some £10 million. Its long term objectives involve modernisation and becoming less reliant on central Government funding. Recently announced proposals include changing its structure to become a third sector ‘national trust’ for the waterways by 2020.

British Waterways’ Chief Executive, Robin Evans, explains: “Our absolute priority must be to maintain investment in the waterways and this means reducing spending elsewhere. The proposed new structure will both redirect important funding to essential works, but also make us much more responsive to customers and partners.”
The transformation journey proposed in its Strategic Review 'A Vision for the Future of Our Canals and Rivers', impacts every area of the business. It has also influenced the decision to review how technology is delivered back to the business to achieve value for money, performance improvement and flexibility.

Richard Walsh, Head of ICT, British Waterways, explains: “The decision to embark on a second generation outsource came about as a result of the need to transform and improve the services delivered by technology, in addition to ensuring our operating costs are as low as they possibly could be.

“We have to respond to pressure for the smartest, fastest and greenest solutions, delivered when and where they are needed, at a predictable cost. This requires us to be more flexible in how we deliver systems to our people and extending the opportunities for remote working.

“Successful at creating strong partnerships, we wanted a genuine collaboration with an organisation that both understands our culture and will help achieve service transformation, supported by the best available SLAs.”

To achieve these objectives, BW initiated a competitive tendering process to find a proven technology solutions and services provider around the infrastructure. Demonstrating strong cultural fit - including a flexible approach, fast decision making and genuine added value - were all critical elements of the RFP.

British Waterways selected SCC to be its sole provider of integrated IT across the entire infrastructure, with the contract switching from the incumbent, Fujitsu. The project involved a demanding timetable for the services transition, undertaken over a three month period in order to mitigate risk. SCC successfully delivered this complex hand over “with the minimum disruption possible”, said Richard Walsh.

The fully managed and hosted service includes the support and maintenance of the PC infrastructure, desktop support, Data Centre server hosting, an ISO 20000 certified service desk, Microsoft application support and network security. The supporting SLA goes beyond measuring performance levels, to include relationship management, the success of ongoing transformation and the value of advice in strategic terms.

Other key components include:

• Server virtualisation techniques to reduce energy consumption and maximise utilisation.
• Remote management toolsets to better control the network, enhance its availability and reduce risk.
• Desktop transformation, including virtual deployment and service desk, on a cost per user basis, to extend the opportunities for remote working.
• Access to Microsoft Sharepoint to improve communications between end users.

Tracy Westall, SCC’s Director responsible for the Public Sector, said: “British Waterways has achieved affordable access to the best available technologies delivered as a service. Proven to remove inefficiencies and their over spend, this is a practical and flexible solution that will free up resource that can be redirected towards maintaining the waterways. Forward thinking and bold in its approach, BW is strongly positioned to improve services to customers and partners, in line with its ‘Vision for the Future’.”