Progress reported on Council’s ICT Transition Programme

Members of today’s Corporate Resources Committee welcomed the progress report to transition The Highland Council’s outsourced ICT delivery arrangements to a new in-house provision.

This complex programme will see ICT services currently provided by Wipro transfer to the Council to a new in-house team by 31 March 2024.

The new in-house provision is expected to bring greater benefits in terms of value for money, quality of service and flexibility to meeting changing business demands.  It will also enable the Council to move forward the use of technology to modernise and transform the way Council services are delivered and support the medium-term financial planning of the Council.

Later this year, will see the first services transfer from Wipro to the Council, which will include the Field Engineering teams and Service Desk staff.

Many of the current employees of Wipro and contract staff employed by Kelly Services who are transferring to the Council perform some of the most visible customer-facing roles on the Service Desk, Field Engineering and posts that provide critical support to infrastructure and systems behind the scenes.

Overall, it is expected the new in-house ICT team will increase from the current 49 FTE to 120-130 FTE protecting much needed skilled employment in the Highlands.

In addition, individual consultation sessions have taken place with existing staff to match into posts in the new structure with the intention of advising appointments by the end of this month.

The report also outlined the close co-operation with the Digital Transformation Programme and the ambition of the new ICT team to provide the capability to deliver strategic change as part of the overall Programme.

Councillor Jimmy Gray, Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee said: “I am pleased to see the progress being made on the transition of our ICT delivery arrangements to a new in-house team within the Council.  This is a real opportunity for the Council to act as a long-term hub for skilled ICT roles throughout the Highlands in a way that an outsourcing supplier working to a fixed term contract cannot do.  The project anticipates that the in-house team will increase from its current 49 FTE to approximately 130 FTE – many skilled and highly qualified individuals will be retained from the current ICT contract.

“Having outsourced our ICT for over 20 years, this new in-house capability will provide a more flexible, dynamic approach to modernising and transforming the way Council services are delivered.

“It cannot be underestimated how complex this Programme is, but I am heartened by the significant progress that has been made over the past few months.”

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