Impact
We delivered a comprehensive view of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk’s application, technology, and infrastructure estate. It highlighted fragmented financial controls, limited spend visibility, and the presence of unmanaged shadow IT.
This enabled a proactive mitigation of security and compliance risks. It also established a stronger, more controlled foundation ahead of significant digital transformation and in preparation of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).
Identification of legacy and unsupported infrastructure requiring remediation or replacement.
Creation of a centralised inventory of IT technology & infrastructure and applications register, allowing for stronger governance and asset management processes.
Centralised IT spend and implemented processes to manage and budget IT spend, leading to improved visibility of tech-related expenditure.
Discovery of duplicated systems and overlapping supplier contracts.
Better understanding of system dependencies and operational risks.
Enhanced ability to prioritise future digital transformation initiatives.
The work carried out by Entec Si has given us the clarity we needed to better understand our technology estate and make more informed decisions. By bringing everything together into one clear view, it has created a stronger sense of stability and control, giving us a much firmer foundation for future planning and improvement
The challenge
Like many councils, the ICT estate had evolved over many years. This was due to successive technology investments, departmental purchasing decisions and changing business priorities. As a result, it created a complex environment with limited central visibility. The Council recognised the need to establish a comprehensive baseline from which future investment and transformation decisions could be made.
Without a complete and accurate inventory of infrastructure, applications, licences etc. it was difficult to clear make informed strategic decisions as information was either incomplete or outdated.
Rather than treating the assessment as a standalone exercise, the Council used the findings to establish a prioritised programme of governance, infrastructure modernisation and service improvement activities that are now being delivered.
Our approach
The team undertook a comprehensive audit of the technology and infrastructure estate, the applications estate across the entire council and a financial audit. Working closely with stakeholders across the council, we reviewed infrastructure, applications, supplier contracts, support arrangements and technology related expenditure.
The audit identified legacy and unsupported technology, highlighted areas of duplication with the applications estate, uncovered some shadow IT and highlighted the need for centralising IT spend. We created a centralised applications register, a centralised inventory of the technology and infrastructure estate and developed a consolidated view of technology spend across the council.
By bringing together technical, operational, and financial information into a single source of truth, the organisation gained a much clearer understanding of its IT landscape and the opportunities available for optimisation and improvement.
The findings provided a foundation for future technology roadmaps, investment planning, cyber security improvements, and contract rationalisation activities.
The engagement was delivered within the agreed timescales and budget while providing a practical roadmap that immediately transitioned into delivery for the Council’s ongoing ICT transformation programme.