Council takes first step towards in-house ICT services

The Highland Council achieved a major milestone on Friday 1 October in the project to bring ICT services back in-house, with the transfer of 15 ICT engineers into the Council from Wipro, which has been providing service since 2017.

Known as ‘Project Dochas’, the plan to move away from over 20 years of contracted out ICT was agreed by Councillors in July 2020 and excellent progress has been made since then. 

This first transfer will be followed by other teams moving from Wipro in November this year and in April 2022. 

In addition to these staff transfers, the Council will be recruiting a number of other posts in its ICT team, which will increase in size from around 40 to over 130 staff – all based in the Highlands.

By taking control of ICT support, the Council expects to see a number of benefits, including reduced costs, increased flexibility to deal with change and less dependency on external contractors.

At the achievement of this milestone, Chair of the Corporate Resources Committee, Councillor Jimmy Gray said:

“I’m very pleased to see the successful transfer of staff from Wipro happening as planned and I’d like to welcome the new team into the Council. 

“This isn’t just a great opportunity for the Council – it also means that highly skilled jobs are being retained in the Highlands so there are benefits too for local communities.”

He added: “It’s also very encouraging to see the commitment to creating more modern apprentice opportunities in the team that should encourage more young people to start on a career in ICT in the Highlands. I also hope that there will be wider opportunities here for the local IT industry.”

Throughout the transfer process, Wipro have co-operated fully with the Council team to ensure a smooth transition with minimal impact on Council services even with the challenges of the pandemic.

A contract with Wipro for data centre services will continue into 2024.

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