Channel management support
Channel management support
Tactical Engagement
In building a partner network in the UK associated with its Printless service, our French client knew they would need a simple but comprehensive contract structure and content: a partnering Master Services Agreement with individual Customer Engagement Schedules, and back-to-back terms to enable partners to contract the service with their clients as well as a preliminary agreement of partnering ‘intent’, or Heads of Agreement.
We were engaged to create and document the necessary terms across each document type.
Rapid Turnaround
Following workshop sessions and early agreements on content outline, the materials were developed quickly and efficiently. There have been few modifications required so far, and none that justify a major new release as yet.
Market entry for a multi-year managed service
Market entry for a multi-year managed service
The Challenge for the Client
Nearing the expiry of a 5-year IT comprehensive managed services agreement, the POA wanted assistance with market entry and scoping of replacement services, as well as a chance to compare the incumbent provider with current market offerings.
Structured Approach
Acert was 
recommended to the senior executive team and a meeting was held, resulting in Acert’s proposal to establish POA requirements, review the market for suitable providers and undertake an RFx process to help the POA find the best and most suitable solution provider. Workshops, interviews, documentary and financial analyses were all undertaken to develop the scope of services; a long-list of potential vendor partners was then created for receipt of an explanatory RFI designed to help the POA qualify a shorter list of potential RFP recipients who were invited to meet with the POA team for Q&A. Formal evaluation and scoring aided the process of down-selection in the Rfx process and eventually three finalists (including the incumbent) were invited to present their solutions and revised pricing proposals. We then presented joint findings to the POA National Executive Committee for the final decision.
Value to the Client
With our help, the POA has conducted a scrupulously fair and in-depth process to lower the costs of IT service provision, improve efficiency and security, and open up the opportunity for systems development and service improvement for its end users.
Data Asset Register towards GDPR compliance
Data Asset Register towards GDPR compliance
Supporting Strategic Imperatives
With important historical data and records spanning many decades, the TUC takes data protection and security very seriously; new legislation in the Trades Union Act and the General Data Protection Regulations brought that further into focus during 2016.
As part of previous strategic consultancy work, Acert had worked on an outline Data Asset register for the TUC; what was needed next was an interview and data capture programme to fully populate the register, assign risk, engage with the key stakeholders and contemplate remedial work. This was undertaken in close collaboration with the Head of Information and Records; the register was completed in mid-Q1 of 2017.
Enduring Operational Impact
With the register offering a baseline and a date tracking component for updates, it is now being used to monitor progress and to quickly analyse content based on risk and other important criteria; an essential management tool in planning data security and retention policies for the future.
Development of a self-drive 'Digital Health-check' tool
Development of a self-drive 'Digital Health-check' tool
The Digital Challenge
Many of the UK’s trade unions have embraced the digital age in seeking to reach new and younger audiences, manage and improve their membership strategies and turbo-charge wider communication. This is not yet the case everywhere however, and some have yet to meet data security requirements as effectively as they should. As thought leaders in this area, the TUC digital team was keen to help and provide member unions (and others) with a toolset to measure their level of maturity across a range of categories: Strategic Approach, Membership, Communications, Web Presence, Data, IT and Systems.
Practical Support
Acert was engaged to assist in the development of a self-assessment, downloadable questionnaire matrix, seeking input from and testing ideas with a number of people from a range of unions. The resulting tool covers 5 levels of maturity in 41 topic areas across 6 categories. A total of over 200 multiple-choice statements allow users to select values best describing their current position on any given topic. Spidergram charts are then automatically completed for each topic within the category, together with an overall summary chart for all six categories. By making it downloadable rather than online, users can keep the results entirely private and share them only where, when and with whom they want.
Value to the Client
The TUC’s digital health-check tool was launched in late 2016 and has seen significant uptake, earning praise and providing measurable value to trades union strategists across the spectrum.
Market entry support for a major IT managed services procurement
Market entry support for a major IT managed services procurement
Building on Success
Analysis of the IT services and infrastructure landscape at the TUC as part of our strategy development had revealed the opportunity for a broad and holistic upgrade approach, involving consolidation of several service elements. Our recommendations for market entry were endorsed by the new vCIO and sanctioned by the TUC management team. The desired outcome would be a ‘one-stop shop’ covering WAN, secure hybrid hosting, Office 365 with Skype for Business and a managed backup/DR solution in a three to five-year agreement, with built-in benchmarking, renegotiation and termination options.
Core Strength
Managed services procurement is a core strength for Acert; we were retained to support the development of a scope document for the TUC and the vendor screening and selection, together with support for the RFx documentation and overall process. This was later extended to include a leadership role with final negotiation and contracting.
Approach
The initial vendor long-list was reduced with the help of an RFI and formal evaluation toolset that we developed. RFP participants were invited to Q&A and introductory sessions at the TUC. Final RFP responses and associated pricing were formally scored to achieve the final shortlist. We developed an ROI model to track the savings benefit through final negotiations and then supported the final negotiation and contracting process. Due to the number of service components and the varying individual terms provided by the vendor, contract negotiations were complex and highly interactive. Nevertheless, an all-encompassing agreement was made ahead of the necessary transition deadlines.
Fast, Tangible Benefits
This complex engagement process was completed over a short period at the end of 2016 and early 2017, with the transition schedule set to deliver the intended benefits over the remainder of the year. The collaboration effort across the TUC end-user base, management and IT team that we have supported and encouraged to date will soon see this large change programme delivering improved efficiency, resilience and security, together with significant first-year savings and an even larger cost reduction benefit beyond.
IT Strategy delivery projects for a national trade unions body
IT Strategy delivery projects for a national trade unions body
Building on Success
Following Acert’s strategic consultancy report for the TUC in Summer 2016, the senior executive team were keen to establish the IT steering group and appoint a part-time (virtual) Chief Information Officer, as well as to commission work on the IT risk register. Earlier analysis having revealed some onerous service agreements no longer fit for purpose, there was also an appetite to negotiate early savings where possible.
Practical Support
We established four concurrent and related projects to address the required deliverables.
First we prepared a Charter for the Steering Group, negotiating its constitution and recruiting its members.
Next we wrote a brief for the role of part-time Chief Information Officer (vCIO), researched suitable candidates, invited applications and facilitated the short-listing process for final interview by the TUC senior management team.
To manage some of the risks we identified in the earlier consultancy work, we developed an IT risk register and led the first Steering Group meeting to assign ownership of risk management and mitigation tasks to individuals. To identify and drive savings, we met with suppliers responsible for the highest spend to discuss the options and begin the process of renegotiation.
Enduring Benefits
The vCIO was appointed and is providing clear direction and leadership for all core initiatives. The Steering Group is functioning well as the IT change agency, with strong programme management underpinning its strategic and tactical decisions. The Risk Register remains at the heart of programme prioritisation and is contributing significantly to readiness for the GDPR deadline of May 2018. In-year savings were obtained from targeted key suppliers, all of whom were also invited to participate in the comprehensive managed service and Office 365 procurement resulting from another workstream in the strategic proposals.
5-year IT Strategy for a national trade unions body
5-year IT Strategy for a national trade unions body
The Challenge for the Client
As with many corporate bodies, IT at the TUC facilitates all aspects of operational organisation including infrastructure, communications and learning support. Significant change bearing on the TUC infrastructure in 2015/16 included space consolidation and office remodelling programmes, reduced government funding for Unionlearn and its associated staff shrinkage. With data security a prime driver, TUC Management Services and Administration were also keen to find improvement opportunities across the infrastructure spectrum, and benchmark the value of current support agreements.
Our Engagement
Acert was recommended to the TUC and after initial discussions and a market review by the Head of MSAD, we were invited to propose a strategic consultancy exercise to develop a three-to-five year strategy. On engagement we ran a series of workshops and an analysis of IT expenditure, looking at the key areas of value, risk, continuity, collaboration and opportunity. The resulting report was presented to the senior executive team in Summer 2016; it contained four major recommendations and seven specific project proposals, designed to address The Challenge to the Clients discovered.
Value to the Client
The report was well-received and four of the recommended projects were commissioned immediately, with two more following later in 2016/2017. The benefits of improved strategic leadership, collective working, risk mitigation and operational modernisation are already visible, together with a large £six-figure saving over the next three to five years of a comprehensive managed services engagement and Office 365 deployment.
Project Management methodology and training
Project Management methodology and training
The Challenge for the Client
Operational maturity challenges are common with growing businesses, as they pass the point where process ownership by individual is good enough and find the need for wider process management and disciplines. Our client was at that stage and recognised their need for a common implementations project control, seeking our help with training and materials to resolve the problem.
Our Approach
Acert’s project methodology (based on Prince2) was thought to be an ideal approach and a 3-session training programme was developed to guide the knowledge transfer process.
With sessions at fortnightly intervals, the programme was delivered in just over 4 weeks to the client operations team and to key sales resources.
Enduring Business Benefit
Internal cooperation received a significant boost and the course was well-received, demonstrating management’s commitment to staff training, overall process improvement and customer satisfaction.
Service development consulting in EMEA for a global printer and managed solutions provider OEM
Service development consulting in EMEA for a global printer and managed solutions provider OEM
The Challenge for the Client
Well-known in the middle market for business printers, our client was gearing up to move into managed document solutions, with a wider range of multi-function devices, software and an associated go-to-market strategy. Project lead Javier Lopez needed external assistance with research in order to benchmark country capability across the in-scope markets and with sales operational materials, including Service Catalogue and collateral, partner and customer agreements.
Specialist Workstream Support
Acert was invited to make proposals and bid for the scope of work. On successful award we began work on three distinct workstreams:
Firstly we developed a capabilities matrix, conducting pan-EMEA telephone interviews with country manager-led teams and providing a metrics-based report and capabilities evaluation;
Next we authored a full Service Catalogue interacting with client marketing, operations and software resources. This covered three service lines – entry-level page-based services; managed print services; managed document services. We developed all of the associated operational document materials including forms, fleet data capture workbook, checklists, questionnaires, FAQs, UAT, project control and satisfaction survey;
Finally we created partner and customer agreement templates, used to support three-way contracting between the OEM, partner and end -customer
Enduring Business Benefit
Our client’s managed document solutions have now become firmly established in the market with numerous major flagship customers, a growing network of competent partners and a continuous programme of innovation.
Sales improvement in IT managed services
Sales improvement in IT managed services
The Challenge for the Client
Our client is a £100m pa managed services business. While their responses to formal RFP documents were solid and demonstrably successful, they had identified that a proportion of their sales teams often struggled to structure and write ’freeform’ sales proposals.
Building on Success
Based on successful previous engagements to update areas of their Service Catalogue and draft boilerplate proposal materials, the client asked Acert to provide training on sales writing to their regional sales teams.
We started by reviewing a number of their successful and unsuccessful sales proposals. Based on our findings, we then formulated a tailored version of our proposal training. The training itself was delivered as a half-day session added to regional sales meetings. Additional time was allocated over the following weeks to review proposals before they were published– facilitating one-to-one coaching and further developing the competency of individuals.
Value to the Client
The syllabus focussed on the practical skills required to formulate proposals that are easier to write, easier to read and that contain a clear and persuasive business case. Feedback from the client confirmed that the training has improved both the speed, quality and success of the sales team’s output.