Delivering A National Business Support Programme
FEATURED TEXT: We provided the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with objective assurance and rapid operational strengthening of a £20bn Covid SME grant programme, diagnosing risks, redesigning processes, and embedding a best-practice management environment to stabilise delivery under extreme pressure.
We were engaged by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to help them mobilise and deliver a national programme which provided small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with access to productivity-boosting technology solutions.
We embedded a substantial team of digital, programme management, operations, stakeholder and customer engagement experts in BEIS to help them mobilise the scheme working to very tight timelines and then deliver to best practice standards. We:
- Established a best practice programme management environment, including e.g. detailed plan; risk, action, issue and decision (RAID) management; reporting and governance.
- Worked with policy colleagues to design a target operating model for the service, consistent with e.g. Ministers’ expectations, policy statements and the available tech solution.
- Supported the Department’s strategic, commercial, and then operational engagement with the vendors of relevant accounting, CRM and other digital solutions.
- Prepared detailed process maps and operating procedures to support programme delivery including e.g. customer service, voucher claims, reconciliation and payment.
- Mobilised and trained the operations team required to deliver the service – which included a combination of BEIS colleagues, our team, and third-party contractors.
- Led a forensic launch readiness assessment, providing the SRO with the analysis and advice she needed to determine that / when the scheme was ready for full public launch.
- Oversaw all aspects of the customer experience (CX), including phone and email support, complaint management, and performance reporting.
- Oversaw all aspects of compliance, reconciliation and vendor payment, based on the assurance model we designed to ensure the proper use of public funding.
- When the programme was closed following the change of Prime Minister in 2022, led all aspects of programme closure – with the Department, and with vendors.
As a result of our work, the scheme launched as planned in autumn 2021 – and operated smoothly through to closure. CX performance indicators were consistently strong; and there were no compliance issues from a CX or vendor management perspective.
