Modernisation review enables projected cost savings of $580K through collaboration

The MIC required the services of a trusted partner to support the identification of joint opportunities for the municipality members to work together on their digital transformation initiatives that would address their current and future needs.

The MIC and municipality members wanted to assess the role digital and information technology (IT) played in each of the municipalities to identify opportunities for collaboration, which could result in potential efficiencies and cost savings. There was a need to balance investments with cost savings and efficiencies, especially across the smaller municipalities, which faced constraints with people, technology and financial resources.

The main objectives identified helped determine opportunities and assess solutions for the MIC municipality members to jointly address the following topics:

• Digital/IT spend consolidation and coordination across municipalities
• Technology upgrades needed
• Improved digital/IT service delivery model (for example, a shared services model)
• Critical gaps in digital/IT (for example, cybersecurity and disaster recovery)

GHD Digital proposed a strategic, innovative and human-centred approach to help the MIC and its members achieve their desired outcomes. First, we conducted a comprehensive review of our client’s current state of digital/IT. This included assessing their business capabilities and related digital maturity, service delivery models, and the relevant baseline costs.

Our team worked with the client through a three-phased approach:

1. Vision development and discovery

• We conducted interviews with the leaders and staff members from eight municipalities to gain insights into the current state of digital/IT within each organisation.
• A workshop was conducted with the MIC, Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) and IT leaders and staff members from each of the municipalities to establish a joint vision for digital modernisation and digital/IT services.
• An enterprise-wide digital/IT maturity assessment was conducted across the municipalities, including a focus on opportunities for shared services, sourcing and procurement, cyber security and disaster recovery.

2. Future state development and recommendations

• We developed and validated our client’s future state to achieve the joint vision and desired maturity score of their current digital technologies.
• Future state working sessions were conducted with the project team and relevant stakeholders, leveraging innovative and design thinking approaches to develop final recommendations that address the municipalities’ human needs (i.e., needs of the residents, employees and other stakeholders) and overall business needs of the various organisations.
• For each priority opportunity area, an options analysis was conducted to align on the ideal option and path forward.

3. Roadmap development and cost savings analysis

• We created a joint digital modernisation and digital/IT services roadmap to provide clarity around the initiatives, sequencing and duration. This was supported by our cost savings analysis, which projected a total savings of more than $580K CAD over the course of the next five years.
• A  final report and presentation were developed to summarise the key findings and outcomes.

Through our close collaboration with the MIC and municipality members, we co-created and delivered an actionable roadmap to assist them in strategically implementing the proposed recommendations over the upcoming years. This includes the recommendation to continue to proactively collaborate, share knowledge and resources where possible, and establish a streamlined digital landscape across their organisations to support a potential shared services model.

This three phased approach helped raise the group’s collective digital maturity, empowering each organisation to use modern and integrated technologies that will better enable them to serve and create value for their residents, employees and other stakeholders.