Managed Data & Technology Services Archives - Page 2 of 3

Managing patient data to guide you in the new ICS landscape

Posted on: 1 August 2022

How NHS organisations can prepare to access and contribute to a powerful pool of insight that will help them meet local needs better than ever before

When the new ICS framework rolls out, predicted for summer 2022, it should enable healthcare providers and bodies across the NHS to collaborate better than ever before, with a shared goal of providing improved patient care across the board. By moving away from fragmentation and competition, NHS services should be able to consider patient needs and pathways holistically and offer the best locally targeted overall care from a range of specialisms and organisations in a more coordinated and efficient way.

We have a real opportunity with the formation of the ICSs to change how we use data to better coordinate care and re-design our service based on the needs of our citizens… It’s a really exciting time to work in the NHS.
Ayub Bhayat, Director of insight and data platform at NHS England and NHS Improvement

NHS leaders and healthcare teams are excited about the opportunity to smash silos and break through frustrating organisational barriers to work more effectively together in this new, collaborative culture. But they’ll need the right information and tools for shared decision-making. That means bringing together data that was formerly held separately and unleashing its full potential as part of a comprehensive system of healthcare insight.

What should NHS organisations do to make sure they’re playing their part and will have access to the data and analytics they need to deliver excellent outcomes as part of their ICS?

Trusts and healthcare bodies will need to be certain they can share data securely and effectively. They’ll need systems that can bring together disparate data in actionable formats, so it can be compared and analysed at patient and pathway level. They’ll need reporting tools and dashboards that reveal insight to underpin operational and investment decisions, as well as to track the success of initiatives. They’ll need to continuously augment data, so planning and collaboration keep pace with real-time community and service needs.

Every ICS will have its own priorities, reflecting what the local community needs in terms of NHS care across the board. Different data and analysis will be needed to plan the best collaborative service provision in every area.

The overall vision is exciting, but to achieve it, organisations must identify practical steps to move from where they are today with their own data to the collaborative ICS data ecosystem. There’s an opportunity to exploit new and proven technology that manages and harnesses data to produce advanced, relevant and detailed insight.

We recommend a systematic approach to assessing where your organisation currently stands and how you can evolve your data strategy to achieve the best outcomes in an ICS. In CACI’s digital healthcare knowledge model HISC (Healthcare Insight Success Cycle), we’ve developed Discovery tools and processes that help NHS organisations do exactly that:

Describe and assess your current data strategy, systems and approach
Define your future data direction and destination as part of an ICS
Review your data security, storage and infrastructure
Build a strategy and roadmap for data insight that will improve clinical and operational delivery and performance in the ICS framework
Build a business case to connect investment in insight with tangible outcomes

CEO of NHS Confederation Matthew Taylor said in March 2022 that the use of high quality, real-time population health data will help “to shift from a system that responds to demand to a system that genuinely responds to need”, and that the NHS’ implementation of Integrated Care Systems (ICS) has the potential to “help create that enabling environment” needed to leverage data effectively.

Ruth Holland, deputy chief information officer at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, went even further: “ICS’ will stand and fall on their data capability in ten years’ time. I would sternly encourage digital and data leaders to look at the costings you are putting into plans [for staff and skills] that will support the ambition.”

CACI’s specialist healthcare technology team has the experience and knowledge to support your organisation with planning and delivering an ICS data transformation programme, including training and skills transfer for your staff.

If you’d like to find out more about CACI’s HISC model for optimising NHS healthcare data, download our brochure Spearheading your data journey to improve patient outcomes. It describes in more detail how you can take action to activate data insight to reshape health and social care in an ICS.

To find out more visit our website or speak to an NHS data consultant about the results we’ve helped other organisations achieve, please get in touch with our NHS client team.

Reshaping health and social care with data insight

Posted on: 14 July 2022

How data can help you improve patient outcomes in 7 priority areas

There’s constant pressure on NHS organisations to deliver better patient outcomes and value from public funding. Demand is high and service quality is under intense scrutiny.

NHS organisations have access to a wealth of organisational and patient data. But bringing it together to produce meaningful and trusted insight is a challenge. Decision-makers and clinicians must have access to analytics and reporting in clear formats. Data insight needs to be current and available in a timely manner. Data storage and usage must also be secure and compliant, to meet NHS and national standards for patient and citizen confidentiality.

Everyone’s talking about the fact that data insight is crucial to help your NHS organisation plan, operate and continually optimise resources, services, staffing and patient experiences. But what does that mean in practice? How do you unlock the insight to make a difference today? Amongst all the competing priorities for NHS managers, how specifically can data insight change the way your organisation operates, improve patient outcomes and tackle challenges like waiting lists and staff shortages?

Working with NHS Trusts and social care organisations, we’ve seen at first hand the difference that well managed data can make to efficiency and patient care. Actionable insight to influence real-time and future service design and planning is the holy grail for driving real value from your data to help improve the performance of your NHS organisation.

But to make it happen, where do you start? How can you achieve rapid and meaningful impact from an investment of time and budget in a data project?

We’ve identified seven high value activities that our NHS customers and partners have successfully optimised using data insight. By quantifying the benefits of one or more of these outcomes for your organisation, the case for prioritising your data project becomes clearer and easier to communicate with colleagues and stakeholders.

7 priority activities that NHS organisations can drive with data

1. Model and predict demand for services

Complete and accurate data and effective analytics tools give you the power to model and predict demand for services based on specific evidence relating to your patients and community. Produce relevant reports that decision-makers can scrutinise and understand with ease, so they can support your recommendations readily.

2. Put the right staff in the right place at the right time

Effective and accurate data about demand for services and availability of staff can help you roster more effectively – reducing wait times and giving patients better experiences in your clinical organisation. This has particular value when dealing with increased absence relating to Covid.

3. Review and respond immediately to current patient needs

If you have the capability to analyse patient data in real time, you can give clinicians the information they need to make fully informed decisions in the moment about care and treatment, to achieve the best patient outcomes.

4. Plan services effectively for better patient outcomes in critical areas

With a specialist NHS data platform like CACI’s InView, you can apply powerful analytics to dive deep into data and answer the most important questions for your organisation. Drive improved patient outcomes by tackling priority KPIs for your organisation – from waiting list monitoring, patient level costing and clinic usage to theatre utilisation and clinician availability.

5. Focus on frequent flyers

With a clear picture of frequent flyer characteristics and visit patterns from comprehensive and up-to-date reporting, you can proactively identify patients who need more support or information and help them to access the most appropriate services and treatments for their needs.

6. Integrate data to build a complete picture of demand for services

When you bring together local government and hospital data in a single, integrated data platform, you can access even richer insight into patients, services and demand. With one source of analytics and reporting, you can maximise the value of the information your organisation holds, including collaborating with other Trusts through data sharing within an ICS ecosystem.

7. Understand your patients more thoroughly and personally

Compliant data records and effective reporting gives your NHS organisation a clear picture of the demographic backgrounds of your patients. By understanding their backgrounds and lifestyles, you can shape your services and communications for better access and improved outcomes.

Every NHS organisation is different, with priorities and challenges that are unique to its community and resources. No matter where you are on your data journey or how you most urgently need to uncover and apply insight to your decision-making and planning, a tailored data transformation strategy can help you move forward. The most practical and effective approach is to outline a series of steps on that journey, making sure that you drive value from your data project as early as possible by accessing insight that supports your most pressing tactical requirements.

If you’d like to find out more about how data helps you deliver tangible improvements in key areas of your NHS organisation’s patient care, download our brochure Spearheading your data journey to improve patient outcomes. It describes in more detail how you can take action to activate data insight to reshape health and social care. It explains how CACI’s Health Insight Success Cycle is specifically designed to drive maximum value from data for NHS organisations.

To find out more visit our website or speak to an NHS data consultant about the results we’ve helped other organisations achieve, please get in touch with our NHS client team.

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Posted on: 21 June 2022

Highlights

• Bringing together a disparate reporting estate
• Move from traditional QlikView to active intelligence with Qlik Sense
• Rich visualisations inform clinical and operational decisions
• User-friendly apps and time-saving report automation
• Expert healthcare-specific support from CACI Qlik Sense consultant

About Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust is a local Trust providing compassionate, expert care for over half a million people every year, in their homes, in the community and across three hospital sites at Pontefract, Dewsbury and Pinderfields.

The challenge: A fresh start with reporting

Long-time CACI QlikView customer Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust was ready to harness the full power of digital business intelligence for insight to support a forward-looking, data hungry leadership team.

Two years’ focus on putting the foundations in place to provide the data capacity and capability meant the team was ready to address its reporting estate, which had been built in a piecemeal fashion throughout the preceding years.

Ian Vause, Head of Information, sums up the challenge: “We have a big reporting estate that uses a whole lot of technologies and sources – including SQL, Excel, and Word documents as well as Qlik View. The time had come to unpick all that and start afresh. We wanted to professionalise our information team and we needed a high-performing, BI tool with all the latest capabilities to support them.”

The solution: Flexible data and dashboards for quick access to information

The Trust’s information team had an excellent, long-standing relationship in place with CACI as the Qlik license provider. Regular account meetings had maintained confidence in CACI’s Qlik knowledge and expertise. Mid Yorkshire asked CACI to provide new licenses and work with the team to transition from QlikView to Qlik Sense.

Ian explains: “Our customers today are our operational management team, rather than clinicians, but that’s changing. We’re moving towards being focused on information for clinical decision-making, to create a healthier balance between service and operational managers and clinicians and clinical managers. We’re promoting self-service, so people can quickly and easily access the insight they need. The flexible data dashboards in Qlik Sense are vital for this.”

To enable a smooth transition, Mid Yorkshire is using dual licenses, while building up its reporting estate in Qlik Sense. Information Manager Luke Elmer says, “We’re up to 25 apps in Qlik Sense now – about a quarter of the way to our final state of migrating all our reports. We now have lots of people in the team who can design apps, load data, build and deploy the front end. We’re really starting to unlock the potential of what Qlik Sense can do.”

CACI is a trusted partner, offering second-line support, knowledge and guidance on Qlik as well as delivering an ongoing managed service for upgrades and maintenance. CACI’s Qlik for healthcare consultants have also delivered training and onboarding days for new starters.

The power of Qlik Sense

Qlik Sense is a modern cloud analytics platform that helps organisations close the gaps between data, insights and action with real-time, Active Intelligence. It brings data and analytics together seamlessly in an end-to-end, real-time analytics data pipeline. Organisations can free their data from silos. Users can easily find relevant data, enrich it and create derivative data. Qlik Sense empowers more people in the organisation to discover and understand insights, from anywhere with world-class analytics.

The benefits: User-friendly visual insight for operational and clinical decisions

According to Luke Elmer, “Users say that the ability to refresh reports in a timelier manner is really helpful. Before, refreshing any report weekly or monthly was time-consuming, because it generally needed various logins and manual data transfers. Now we have them set up in Qlik Sense, people have near real-time insight without all the preparation – some apps refresh constantly and automatically.”

Ease and efficiency are key benefits. “The speed of Qlik Sense transactions is a big move forward,” Luke confirms. “Some of our data tables have a million plus rows – you can’t do much in Excel with that. We can now refresh reports quickly and cut and slice the data effectively – that means we can extract more relevant and granular insight.”

Qlik Sense offers the Information Team and its Trust customers rich data visualisation capability. Ian says, “We work in conjunction with or customers to build apps that work for them and that they, as non-technology people, can use. The visualisation is a key aspect of the functionality. Historically we only had the most basic line and bar chart visualisations. We can drill through the data easily in these visualisations – it’s very powerful. For example, we can show process flows using Sankey charts. People really like the tree maps and the geographic maps, where we plot postcodes to show where patients are coming from.”

Luke adds, “It’s also much simpler to train people to produce these visualisations in Qlik Sense than in Excel – it has some of this kind of functionality now but nowhere near as much.”

CACI has a strong standing in the NHS. We choose to continue working with CACI because of our good relationship over many years – there’s trust and understanding there. The consultants are available and responsive to questions at any time and go out of their way to provide extra information or demonstrations when we need them. We’re very happy with the relationship management, response and support.
Ian Vause, Head of Information, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Posted on:

Highlights

• Specialist PLICS solution built for NHS Trusts
• Supports Critical Care Board operations
• Blended financial and patient insight for clinicians and managers
• User-friendly, intuitive dashboards for immediate visibility
• Expert, responsive training and valuable User Group support

About CPFT

CPFT is an NHS health and social care organisation that provides services in inpatient, community and primary care settings. The Trust’s services support adult mental health, older people and adults, and children, young people and families. Its biggest bases are the Cavell Centre in Peterborough and Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge, but its 4,000 staff are based in more than 50 locations, supporting a population of nearly one million people

The challenge: Finding an intuitive PLICS solution to suit CPFT’s workstyle

With new PLICS regulations in force from 2020 for Mental Health, CPFT needed to update its systems to comply. The Trust was in the process of implementing a new e-patient record system, so requested a PLICS deadline extension to 2021, which was granted.

Michelle Barnes, CPFT’s Assistant Director of Finance, explains: “We knew that the regulation would soon be extended to its Community operations, so we decided to deploy a PLICS solution for both Mental Health and Community. We particularly wanted to find a system that felt intuitive to our team, so we could get the most value and efficiency from it.”

CPFT decided to replace its existing software outright, rather than upgrading it. The team selected CACI to integrate and implement our Synergy 4 patient level costing solution in a competitive process delivered through the NHS procurement framework.

The solution: Leading, specialist capability and supportive deployment

Michelle Barnes says, “We had demonstrations of four different systems. We particularly liked the logic of Synergy 4 – it matched how we approach things in our day-to-day work. For example, it uses familiar language and terms in allocations and apportionments. Other systems that we reviewed seemed either too basic or too convoluted.”

Finance Assistant Michelle Clarke adds, “We had been using Excel for a lot of our costings, which had its limitations. Some of the solutions we evaluated were still spreadsheet-based – we wanted to move away from this to a specialist system. We liked the way the outputs were presented and being able to customise the dashboards, so we could choose what we wanted to see.”

Once CPFT had selected the CACI solution, CACI’s trainers booked in working sessions to upload data and support the CPFT team to embed their financial model. CACI delivered training on the features and functions of the system, in context of CPFT’s particular approach, and provided a high-level reference guide.

Michelle Barnes says, “CACI made us feel confident that they were on our wavelength whenever we asked questions about the system.” Michelle Clarke agrees: “We worked with two different trainers, who were both really knowledgeable. They always understood what we needed – we felt the system was in our control from day one.”

The benefits: Secure PLICS reporting and accurate, relevant Trust-wise insight

Synergy 4 provides granular, detailed and accurate information that CPFT can use in an intuitive and collaborative way across the Trust. Michelle Clarke affirms: “Synergy 4 gives us a lot more flexibility with the dashboards – we can share the information with clinical managers and show them the fluctuations, in more detail. You can customise it for wards, teams and communities. Before we only had average contact and bed days – now we can have much more detail when we talk about what services cost.

“Before, we basically divided total costs by the number of patients to calculate patient-level costings. Now, we have so much more scope to be detailed and to layer financial information with demographics and population data. For example, we can apply postcodes and look at metrics like staff downtime and travel time for patients.”

Michelle Barnes adds, “When we move into Critical Care boards, we’ll have to split our contract into two, for north and south. The extra information we can extract from PLICS at GP practice level will really help us see how to split that contract.”

Peer advice and experience from the Synergy User Group

Both Michelle Clarke and Michelle Barnes agree that CACI’s Synergy User Group is an additional benefit that they’ve not experienced before. The User Group brings together NHS organisations from around the country in an online forum and for regular virtual meetings and clinics. This means the CPFT team can question other users with similar approaches and organisations and share their own best practice knowledge and tips. The User Group is led by CACI’s Synergy lead, who has a wealth of knowledge about how the solution works and how it can best deliver on Trusts’ priorities. Trusts can feed back to CACI about new functionality they’d like to see and upcoming requirements, so CACI can continue to evolve Synergy to anticipate and meet the latest needs.

Michelle Barnes says, “The User Group forum feels like it belongs to the Trusts – it’s not a sales update for CACI. It’s a chance to ask each other questions, as well as the CACI consultants. For example, peers might demo what they’re doing with reports – it’s a really good forum because it shows how people use the system in practice. It’s truly collaborative and interactive. Spin-off groups have emerged for different aspects, like the dashboards. And it’s so useful to be able to talk directly to other mental health and community trusts, because our needs can be different from acute trusts.”

It’s a strong relationship – we’ve had great support and interaction with everyone from the account manager to the trainers and helpdesk. We had a few IT issues, related to our firewall and making connections through it. CACI’s consultants were really responsive and came back to us very quickly to get this sorted. They were always progressing what they needed to and checking that things were satisfactorily resolved. The Synergy User Group is great – it helps us continue to explore and make the most of the solution, to deliver more decision insight and value for our Trust.”
Michelle Barnes, Assistant Director of Finance, CPFT

3 network transformation opportunities – and how to make them happen

Posted on: 28 September 2021

With digital transformation initiatives high on many organisations’ agendas and the impact of COVID-19 changing how most of us work forever, network transformation has never been more important.

And the truth is, there are a wide range of network transformation vendors to choose from. But most take a transactional approach to network transformation, delivering little value beyond the basic works carried out.

Rather than an “in and out” service, great network transformation relies on an end-to-end partnership-based approach, with your vendor working closely to understand all your requirements. It can also sometimes mean working across multiple lines of business and projects to deliver network transformation programmes at scale.

In working on multiple network transformation projects with one of our major transportation clients, there were some interesting opportunities we’d like to share. Here are three potential opportunities to be had by working with a network transformation specialist.

Opportunity #1 – Turn spare network capacity into additional revenue

For organisations with vast internal networks, there’s significant opportunity to commercially monetise spare capacity and offer greater flexibility to customers.

With a significant fibre network across its estate stretching tens of thousands of miles, our client realised that any spare capacity could be used for commercial applications to help generate additional revenue.

Using an end-to-end delivery process, we developed and launched a dark fibre service to help our client deliver connectivity as a service, in a way that was repeatable and efficient.

We kicked off the project by mapping out the client’s service lifecycle to identify any capability gaps. Once this was established, we brought together a selection of our client’s stakeholders virtually and ran interactive workshops to walk through draft processes, focusing on providing end customer service.

Following a successful service launch, several end customers now use our client’s services, with our client driving continuous improvements across the network. And we’re now working with our client to deploy the service across its wider network and develop a service model and approach for future deployments – allowing our client to develop its offering.

Opportunity #2 – Tackle customer complaints to strengthen relationships

In large organisations, it can often be a challenge to discover and resolve issues that directly impact customers. Following the regionalisation of our client’s legacy telecom assets, our client found that many of its asset managers were concerned about whether its legacy voice estate was fit for purpose.

Working with our client’s leadership team, we devised and managed a service improvement plan, which involved understanding the issues and what was needed to resolve them.

To help stakeholders mobilise the plan, we set up management reporting processes and acted as an intermediary between our client’s leadership and account management teams.

In just four weeks, we helped our client reach a resolution around its legacy voice estate, and moved the focus to other areas of concern – delivering improved service to our client’s regions.

Opportunity #3 – Dramatically reduce data centre costs

Outdated technology can be a significant drain on resources. And while it can be all too tempting to throw money and resources at the problem, this strategy can often cause more problems than it solves.

Our client had an ageing data centre infrastructure which was interfering with its ability to deliver a reliable service. What’s more, it was keen to ensure its mission-critical applications were always available. With its legacy technology approaching end of life and support, we recommended an infrastructure migration.

We worked closely with key stakeholders to create a test organisation at the start of the project to support the migration, helping our client build two new data centres with modern technology stacks.

Ensuring a thorough assurance process was used throughout to maintain regulatory compliance, we oversaw the design, implementation, and migration phases. And to confirm all programme deliverables were managed correctly, CACI developed a project management and testing platform using Jira and Zephyr.

By working closely with our client throughout the project, we helped the company save £40K and delivered the project two months ahead of schedule. Looking to the future, we’re now working with our client in an advisory role, helping it to shortlist an operating partner.

Network transformation: a world of opportunity

While network transformation opportunities can be wide-ranging and cover several lines of business, it’s important to select an outsourced vendor that also understands the importance of being a familiar point of contact.

Often embedded in clients’ teams for maximum impact, our end-to-end services allow our clients to benefit from a portfolio of skills and resources, helping them free up their teams to focus on more strategic activities.

To find out more about how we can help you design and implement network services – and even unite third party stakeholders – across your organisation, get in touch with our team of experts today.

7 signs that your company needs to outsource IT

Posted on: 21 September 2021

From reducing costs to meeting tight project deadlines and accessing specialist expertise, there are many advantages that come with outsourcing IT, but when does outsourcing offer the most benefit to businesses? We asked Brian Robertson, Resource Manager at CACI, to reveal the common signs that indicate a business would be better with an outsourced IT solution.

1. Your IT costs are high

Are budget worries keeping you up at night? Cost control is the most obvious reasons for businesses outsourcing IT. Indeed, a 2020 study by Whitelane Research found that 71% of UK businesses said that cost reduction was the main driver for outsourcing IT. But, is outsourcing really cost-effective?

“Just having a couple of IT specialists on your payroll can really rack up costs,” says Brian. It’s not just high salaries and the cost of employee benefits that are a concern. Companies that opt to run in-house IT departments also face the costs of purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading hardware as well as purchasing the software they need. “With outsourcing, these fixed costs become flexible, allowing you greater control of your budget,” says Brian.

2. You have skills gaps

The severe shortage in tech skills has long been a challenge for businesses, but as Brian explains, “The pandemic put organisations across every industry on a fast-speed trajectory to digitalisation.” He adds, “now, the focus is to keep that momentum going, but we’re seeing that many of our clients are looking for very specific expertise in a fiercely competitive and increasingly expensive marketplace.”

With recent research by ManpowerGroup finding that 69%, of employers globally are struggling to find workers with the right blend of technical and interpersonal skills, it’s clear that many businesses are fighting a losing battle. “This is where working with a trusted IT outsourcing partner can prove to be a strategic move,” says Brian. “A good outsourcer will always assess their client’s requirements holistically – matching skills and experience as well as cultural fit with end goals.”

3. Your IT infrastructure is outdated

“IT infrastructure is a vital component in every business, but it can become a huge drain on productivity, not to mention a growing security risk if not invested in,” warns Brian. He adds, “However, upgrading an outdated infrastructure is a resource investment that many lean I.T departments can ill-afford, creating a stalemate situation that prevents a business from maintaining competitive advantage.”

Therefore, if a business is struggling to maintain and manage its day-to-day IT operations, outsourcing may provide a practical solution. In addition to unlocking access to the latest and greatest tech, working with a reliable IT outsourcing partner will ensure your IT operations are optimised for enhanced performance, releasing your in-house staff to focus their efforts on achieving your business objectives.

4. Your business is vulnerable to security threats

Cyber security breaches are increasing. According to a survey released by GOV.UK last year, 46% of UK businesses and charities reported a cyber attack during the year, with 33% of those claiming they experienced a cyber breach at least once a week in 2020 – up from 22% in 2017.

The growing sophistication of cybercrime puts immense pressure on in-house teams as they struggle to stay on top of critical security practices such as 24/7 networking whilst also maintaining the myriad security systems they have in place. As Brian warns, “When it comes to cyber security, it’s not just a case of having the right technology in place, you need round-the-clock specialists that have the experience and expertise to utilise those tools and prevent potential threats before they become a problem.”

The global shortage in professionals with the right security skill sets are an additional challenge for businesses as they struggle to recruit and retain the specialists they need. Partnering with a trusted IT outsourcer can provide a cost-effective and reliable solution, as outsourcing removes vulnerabilities by ensuring a business’s security defences are ‘always on’.

5. Compliance is a concern

While cyber security is one concern, ensuring regulatory compliance is another, particularly in heavily regulated industries such as financial services. Failure to comply can lead to reputational damage and hefty fines, but to ensure compliance, organisations must have the capability to implement, maintain, monitor, and accurately report on IT infrastructure and security processes. As Brian explains, a partnership with a reliable IT outsourcer can offer significant value to a business that is under pressure to maintain compliance, “As well as providing the necessary resources and expertise to ensure compliance, an outsourcing partner will keep abreast of regulation changes, so your business is always one step ahead.”

6. You need flexibility

When you’re embarking on a new project, getting the right people with the right skill sets in place can be a difficult task. While upskilling your existing team members can be beneficial, inexperience coupled with a limited bandwidth can pose major risks to your project delivery as well as have a negative impact on your day-to-day operations. These problems are more acute if your delivery deadline is tight.

“Hiring new talent in-house is an option, but often it’s not the best one if a project is short-term or requires a range of specialist skill sets,” explains Brian. In these instances, partnering with an IT outsourcer can provide the most strategic, timely and cost-effective route forward because solutions are tailored to your specific needs. “Clients also gain from the insights and expertise of an experienced team – with the added benefit of elasticity to adapt if requirements change,” says Brian.

7. You need niche expertise

More budget-friendly than hiring a team of in-house specialists, and more reliable than challenging your existing team, outsourcing IT is often the most effective option when it comes to delivering projects that require niche expertise such as cyber security. Brian also highlights the benefit of introducing an outside perspective, “One of the most overlooked benefits of outsourcing is that businesses don’t just get access to specific skills and knowledge, they get to tap into a whole wealth of experience.”

“That’s why it’s so important to look for an IT outsourcing partner that has a proven record of proficiency and delivering results. Knowing what’s worked before, how to handle specific challenges, and what pitfalls to avoid –is truly invaluable to finding the solution that’s really going to work for your business.”

Looking for a reliable IT outsourcing partner? Share your requirements with our expert team today.

Lessons Learned: Three ways to deal with your digital innovation challenges

Posted on: 11 August 2021

While all our clients are different, they often use similar tactics to help them overcome challenges and innovate. Here’s what we’ve learned.

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that digital transformation isn’t just nice to have. It’s essential to create innovative experiences that help you react to, and proactively anticipate, changing customer demands.

But whatever industry you’re in, digital transformation projects can be complex. And without the right ongoing, expert support, they can be difficult to execute.

Over decades helping our clients achieve their digital ambitions, we’ve discovered some key tactics that have been successful in helping them overcome their biggest challenges.

Here are the three most important – and you can start using them straightaway.

#1 – Respond quickly when customer demands change

Failure to adapt to changing market conditions can potentially mean you lose out to more agile competitors, which in turn means you miss out on key revenue opportunities.

Customer demands are at the heart of most changing industry trends. Particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s never been a better time to put your customers at the centre of your digital strategy.

One way to achieve this is by introducing new and innovative digital services that help improve the customer experience.

We helped Govia Thameslink to do just that. We worked closely to design and deploy a live passenger counting system that delivers train capacity information to customers in real time – improving passenger experience and reducing station dwell times.

As well as listening to your customers, it’s important you have the ability to scale on demand to adapt to new challenges. Our major retail clients like Argos and Waitrose & Partners know this better than most.

The ability to scale digital systems quickly helped both companies navigate the seismic shift from physical stores to online during the UK’s nationwide lockdown in 2020 – coupled with unpredictable disruption following Brexit – and keep their customers satisfied across any channel.

#2 – Be proactive, not reactive

Change isn’t always easy, particularly when your current strategy can appear to be working. But in reality, you could be fostering unnecessary complexity in your organisation.

Take manual processes for example.

One of our public transport clients realised that its managers, who had responsibility for its public areas, were spending so much time recording passenger footfall using pen and paper, they had little time left to carry out their basic duties.

It’s why we worked with our client to create an app that helped eliminate these manual processes. It not only made reporting far more efficient, but it also provides deep insights which now influence space and building designs – something that would have been impossible before.

By identifying a problem and taking proactive action, our client was able to unlock new efficiency gains and insights that help it better anticipate customer trends.

#3 – Test and learn constantly

Due to their ability to foster innovation, test-and-learn programmes have been at the heart of many of our clients’ digital development initiatives for years. And the best part is that test-and-learn doesn’t necessarily need a huge investment in time and resources.

The truth is, an effective test-and-learn programme can begin with something as simple as an email A/B test. As long as you’re gathering data and using it to make continuous iterations, you’ll soon see the benefits.

While our work with University College London Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust (UCLH) to develop and launch its Tuberculosis symptom checker app was a significant project, the foundations for our ongoing work are simple: regular idea dialogues and feedback workshops that use direct user feedback to continually improve the platform.

Once you’re confident with test-and-learn, it’s also a good opportunity to experiment with emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning – something our client Waitrose & Partners is using to reduce food waste and save money.

Discover opportunity in your biggest challenges

Now more than ever, it’s essential to engage with customers in more innovative, digital ways. But digital transformation projects require specialist skills – from design and build to integration, operation and improvement.

It’s why choosing the right partner to help you achieve your digital ambitions – and who understands the value of 24/7/365 support from embedded teams – is critical.

CACI is that kind of partner.

Backed by decades of experience helping major organisations such as Argos, UCLH, Waitrose & Partners and Mitchells & Butlers to deliver new digital solutions (and even legacy support services), we help you get complex, large-scale technology projects delivered on time.

We offer four core services to support successful project delivery:

Specialist consulting services to scope, design and deliver digital projects
Development of data-intensive software applications
Secure and compliant cloud hosting solutions
Ongoing management and monitoring of complex software systems

Find out more about our digital solutions and discover how we can help you manage your digital challenges.

Lessons Learned: Test, learn, repeat. Discover the backbone of digital services

Posted on: 9 July 2021

As I’ve covered in my previous two ‘lessons learned’ blogs – How Three Major Organisations Used Challenges to Drive Digital Change and Three Ways Our Clients Pre-Empt Their Challenges to be More Proactive – challenge-driven innovation is at the heart of all great digital transformation projects.

But at the heart of it all lies one thing: test-and-learn. Test and learn programmes are how we work with our clients to ensure new solutions work. They’re also how we help clients innovate and push their boundaries.

There are lots of ways this can work in practice: here are four examples of how our clients used test and learn to achieve very different outcomes.

#1 – TEST AND LEARN FOR A FOOTFALL APP EVOLUTION

Footfall can provide critical information for organisations. Not only does it show how peoples’ movements are changing over time, but it can also identify footfall growth which can have significant safety implications.

For one of our clients in the transport sector, an increase in footfall can indicate the need to alter floor layouts or even influence the design of future buildings.

While shift managers already recorded footfall information each day, they were using paper-based processes which were time consuming and highly inefficient – often preventing the managers from carrying out some of their other daily routines.

Working with our client’s dedicated digital innovation division, we helped to build an app that makes it quick and easy to upload footfall data and supporting documents. Through testing each version as we went and using what was learnt for the next iteration, we refined the app so that it became part of the shift managers workflows – even developing it to allow high-resolution photo evidence to be captured, giving far clearer context to the data that was being recorded.

Through this app, the data is now more easily accessible for senior executives. This means the information can be used to make more accurate decisions around public area design, while helping ensure compliance with health and safety legislation.

#2 – ONGOING CONSULTATION – THE PERFECT PAIRING WITH TEST & LEARN

At CACI, we understand the importance ongoing consultation plays in our client relationships. Rather than working on a job-by-job basis, we prefer to partner with teams over the long term and foster deep relationships that help create greater value for our clients.

When we helped University College London Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust (UCLH) launch and develop its tuberculosis symptom screening app, that was just the first step in our relationship.

Using regular dialogues and feedback workshops to test and learn what improvements needed to be made, we now work closely to make constant iterations of the app based on direct user feedback. This makes the app more responsive to the health trust’s needs.

As a result, the NHS is gaining access to large amounts of data-driven insight – critical information to justify funding in a budget-focused organisation.

#3 – TEST AND LEARN FOR ONGOING IMPROVEMENT

Fully managed services can help some organisations to outsource their biggest development challenges, while also gaining new skillsets in the process. They’re often the most effective way to work with an outsourced vendor.

Following a successful redesign of its website environment, dedicated CACI teams continually enhance and build new features for Mitchells & Butlers’ guest facing platform using a test and learn methodology.

For example, the team has developed new functionalities which are helping each of the company’s brands to streamline the customer experience – especially during busy periods where service can be more challenging.

These include:

Pre-order – enabling direct POS integration to help customers pre-order food and drink at busy times, for a more efficient service
Alternative venue – offering customers a suitable nearby alternative if there’s no availability at their first-choice location
Order at table – giving customers the ability to order and pay on their mobiles for food and drink at any location

This evolving website approach has proved a huge success for Mitchells & Butlers. As well as satisfying customers directly, the company’s agility is also helping it continuously improve its operational performance.

#4 – OPTIMISATION USING MACHINE LEARNING

For supermarkets, perishable wastage can be a significant and avoidable drain on revenues – not to mention the negative environmental and social impact it has. One of the best ways to help avoid this is by improving stock control accuracy in a way that combines customers’ shopping pattern data with Machine Learning.

When Waitrose & Partners wanted to reduce waste, we applied Machine Learning to accurately map out when customers would most likely buy a variety of perishable products – helping to make sure the right amount of produce was delivered and on display to keep likely wastage to a minimum.

By working out the most effective times of day to reduce the price of stock approaching its “display until” date, Waitrose & Partners has not only been able to reduce its wastage, it’s also helped to eliminate any unnecessarily large discounts before they’re needed.

And because Waitrose & Partners is using Machine Learning, the process is only likely to get more accurate as its systems learn more about customers’ shopping patterns.

TEST AND LEARN HAS LIMITLESS POTENTIAL – IT’S TIME TO TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE

While these clients used test and learn programmes to help them optimise established projects, test and learn can be used at any scale, whatever the project. If you can test different variables based on previous results, you’ll likely see positive outcomes.

But test and learn is only part of the story. If you want the complete picture beyond test and learn programmes, stand by for my last blog in the series where I’ll talk about fully managed digital services that are proven to get results.

A long-term Managed Service Partner to Argos

Posted on: 8 July 2021

Argos is one of the most recognised retail brands operating in the UK and Ireland and a subsidiary of Sainsbury’s. The company has almost 900 retail shops, around 29 million yearly shop customers and nearly a billion online visits per year, making it one of the largest high street retailers in the UK.

We’re proud to say that CACI Digital Solutions have been a key IT Service Partner to Argos for over 20 years.

THE CHALLENGE…

The existing IT Systems had evolved over a long period of time and had become increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain.
Limited inhouse resources with the skills needed that were rapidly becoming difficult to find.
This meant it was increasingly difficult to develop and support Back Office Business Critical Store systems that are used across all the stores in the UK.
Expectation to also focus on the digital transformation of Argos and give customers more choice and a better shopping experience.

THE SOLUTION…

An end to end team of Technical Project Managers, Business Analysts, Developers, Testers and Environment Managers were put in place by CACI.
We provided skills in multiple technologies such as COBOL, Visual Basic, UNIX and EPOS.
We successfully ran projects including sales/purchasing data warehouse, catalogue production, supply chain, integration with Retail J tills system, loyalty card application, Regional fulfilment centres (RFC), Voice stock Management, Digital Transformation, card accreditation and PCI compliance.
We manage applications covering tills, kiosks and servers to provide a combined and integrated set of stores applications.
We put in place a fully kitted server room with mock stores, configuration of servers, tills and kiosks to enable testing of an integrated set of stores applications.

THE RESULTS…

All Development and 24/7 Support has been provided by CACI Digital Solutions since 2004, with the team varying in size from 10 to 25 people.
Full management and support of systems through peak trading times including Easter, Black Friday and Christmas.
This freed up time for Argos IT team to support other aspects of the business.
Integration with new innovative technology for digital stores such as mobile print & scan, voice pick, click & collect and customer kiosk.
We won an industry award for our voice stock management solution.

CONTACT US

If you have any questions or want to learn more, get in touch today.

CACI and North Bristol NHS Trust collaborate for NHS Nightingale hospital Bristol project

Posted on: 24 June 2021

At the beginning of April 2020, North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) was asked by NHS England to host the new NHS Nightingale hospital being built at the University of the West of England’s (UWE Bristol) Frenchay campus. In addition to hosting the Nightingale Bristol, they needed the ability to fulfil both operational and financial reporting and the statutory submissions of core Inpatient Commissioning Data sets.

As a valued customer of CACI and large user of the CACI NHS Data warehouse InView, NBT turned to our Business Intelligence (BI) team to implement a solution that would meet the statutory requirements within a critical timescale. The solution would need to produce key statutory reporting as well as integrate with the trusts existing processes and reporting toolset.

Implementing the right solution in a small timeframe

To meet the requirements and timetable, CACI knew the best solution would be to implement a version of the trust’s data warehouse environment, specifically for the Nightingale Bristol data. This solution would provide a consistent set of data structures that trust staff understood and allow for the re-use of existing outputs already in use.

Taking this approach would mean using InView, which CACI had been appointed to implement in 2017 and had been successfully live at the trust since 2018. As InView is modular by design, CACI could quickly implement all of the key elements need to meet the functional requirements for the Nightingale Bristol.

As CACI maintains InView to national standards, this would give the trust the ability to group the data as standard and produce statutory CDS submission out of the box. Alongside this, by using the same data structures to the trust’s data warehouse, the solution would be able to re-use existing processes for processing SLAM files and reporting data, using the trust’s current reports and dashboard applications

The CACI BI team managed the implementation of the project on behalf of the trust and provided the support through the user testing process.

What NBT have to say

Based at UWE Bristol’s Exhibition and Conference Centre, the NHS Nightingale Hospital Bristol is hosted by North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) and staffed by people from many NHS organisations across the south west as well as volunteers. It will provide up to 300 intensive care beds for people with COVID-19, if local services need them.

Speaking to the CACI team about the project, David Hale, Assistant Director of Informatics: Business Intelligence (NBT) told us:

“As part of hosting the regional Nightingale response, North Bristol NHS Trust engaged CACI to support the development of our statutory data processing and reporting via their InView platform. CACI’s response was immediate and comprehensive. CACI representatives formed part of an expert virtual team – spanning multiple organisations – working solidly for three weeks to enable the Nightingale Bristol facility to become operationally ready on time. The success of CACI’s involvement emphasises the importance of excellent relationships and close collaboration when faced with an urgent need. We thank CACI for their valuable support and partnership as part of North Bristol NHS Trust’s Nightingale response.”

You can find out more about our work with NBT here, or to find out more about the actionable insight solutions we provide across the NHS, visit our healthcare page.