Computing Awards for Excellence: IT Team of the Year shortlist

Barclays Bank

Barclays’ mainframe stability (MFS) team consists of a small number of analysts providing live support 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The team’s technical observation posts have already led to savings of about £400,000 this year. The team has daily responsibility for more than £60m of account payments, £1bn of Bacs payments and £252bn of automatic funds transfer payments. Barclays’ recent acquisition of Woolwich Building Society required all Woolwich accounts, products, balances and customers to be migrated onto the Barclays mainframe.

Over 12 months, MFS played in integral role in introducing an innovative and complex system for backing-out transactions. An MFS rota worked every weekend over six months and 10,000 new or amended operations were implemented.

Bechtel

Bechtel is working on the $6bn (£3bn) Jamnagar export refinery project, which will design and build the world’s largest single refinery complex in 33 months.

A top IT team is vital to the success of this decentralised virtual project, which requires design, project management, engineering and finance systems to link seamlessly.

The information systems and technology team have built a dedicated infrastructure and applications environment that allows 2,800 engineers and other professionals to collaborate across eight global locations and their respective time zones.

Berwin Leighton Paisner

Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP’s) development team has been recognised internally for consistent innovation and its ability to beat deadlines without compromising on quality.

As well as performing the traditional functions of a development team, BLP’s team works with business teams to identify opportunities for improvement. It has implemented house style throughout systems such as Word and Excel templates, to ensure that the firm’s communication is clear and consistent.

All team members have signed the BCS professional code of conduct and are either members or associate members of the BCS.

BT

The BT Design service management team for BT Global Services (BTGS) is responsible for aligning technology with the needs of the business, delivering service improvement and ultimately an excellent customer experience.

BTGS’s service management team has been restructured into a virtual team, allowing it to be more in tune with the changing needs of customers. In one month, 11 per cent more work has been absorbed, which has seen it become a role model for the employment of best practice throughout BT. A care survey also unveiled an improvement in job satisfaction and morale, thanks to ITIL service disciplines.

Comet

Two years ago, Comet launched the Deliberate Customer Journey (DCJ) project, an initiative aimed at differentiating the group from its competitors.

DCJ included two key focuses: customer experience; and efficiency and effectiveness. Comet’s IT department swiftly recognised that its role in DCJ was to improve the way it sourced and delivered services. It identified four areas for improvement; including the migration of the helpdesk to a service desk.

Service desk teams are receiving education and training and an investment in toolsets, all of which are having a visible effect. The team’s contribution to business strategy has brought it recognition as a business enabler from the chief executive and the board, raising the profile of IT across the organisation.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Technology ITD

Royal Bank of Scotland’s group technology team employs a strategy to develop team members in line with their long-term career ambitions, with the successes, objectives and learning points of all staff regularly recorded.

Over the past year, three members have been given the opportunity to lead a project, and a new team member was exposed to all aspects of a project lifecycle within just six months. The team works to support wider business requirements, often using technology and tools new to the organisation.

During the migration of Ulster Bank’s systems, the team ensured that the procurement system could accommodate the use of multiple currencies and the incorporation of new branding.

Specsavers Optical Group

Customer service is the cornerstone of the Specsavers philosophy. The IT team has implemented a series of changes, including migration to an enterprise service bus which has secured the integrity and speed of data exchange across the company’s infrastructure.

The team conducts a resource partnership with an offshore company, maintaining communication via daily voice over IP stand-up meetings using whiteboards. A migration to blade technology has reduced costs, while improving efficiency. High availability and business continuity are enabled by a second bladeframe at Specsavers’ business continuity site.