Schroders: Becoming more competitive by transforming…

Schroders, the global investment managers, wanted to sharpen their competitive edge through increased efficiency, faster delivery and improved quality of their entire IT organisation. Our diverse team of experts helped their IT teams embrace Agile ways of working to create a more productive relationship between the technology teams and the wider business.

Key successes

Reconfigured IT teams so they’re dedicated to individual areas of the business
Provided agile training and coaching for 600 IT, technology, change and business professionals
Accelerated the speed of release for projects by 20 per cent over a nine month period
Increased business satisfaction score by 20 per cent over the last year

Adopting new ways of working

To stay competitive, global investment managers Schroders needed faster delivery, increased efficiency and improved quality from their IT organisation. To get IT teams working more closely with the business, Schroders asked us to introduce Agile ways of working across the global IT organisation.

We put together a team of experts experienced in scaled agile, business design, technology transformation, and people and talent to work with the Schroders transformation team.

Together we reconfigured their IT teams so they’re dedicated exclusively to individual areas of the business. This new operating model allows IT specialists to work closely with specific business colleagues, focus on their needs and deliver new capabilities faster.

Scaling agile across the IT teams

We chose PA because of their pre-eminence in the Agile market place. They offered us the blend of world-class skills we needed – not just Agile expertise but a deep knowledge of how to manage the organisational and cultural changes needed for a successful transformation. As a close and supportive partner, they have helped us to deliver a transformation that has dramatically improved the relationship between the IT organisation and the business. We can now build on our new Agile capability to extend the value we can deliver for our internal customers still further.”

Stewart Carmichael CTO, Schroders

A major part of the transformation was an ambitious programme of Agile training and coaching. Our experts ran courses for more than 600 IT, technology, change and business professionals. We supported this with practical coaching as the agile teams launched and moved into business as usual.

We helped Schroders recruit a global team of ambassadors for the programme. And we supported the IT leadership in rethinking the IT organisation’s culture – to empower people to make decisions and take ownership.

Now that they’re using Agile methods, the IT organisation is completing projects faster – over nine months the speed of release went up by 20 per cent. The number of projects seen as ‘at risk’ has fallen by 60 per cent. And they’re creating systems closer to what users want – over the last year the business satisfaction score has gone up by 20 per cent. There’s a much closer, more productive relationship between the technology teams and the business. And this will support Schroders’ ambitions for the future.