Ports of Jersey plays a pivotal role at the heart of Jersey’s community, operating the Island’s Airport and Harbours. In its latest Strategic Business Plan (“SBP”), the organisation identified digital transformation as a key enabler that would underpin future connectivity for the island, support customers, passengers, businesses, suppliers and other stakeholders, and help drive its future growth and success.
BDO Jersey worked closely in partnership with the executive leadership team and senior leaders over a 12-week period to develop a bespoke five-year Digital Strategy, Roadmap and Indicative Investment Plan that could empower its people and meet these long-term objectives.
The Challenge
Ports of Jersey knew it needed to significantly embrace technology, new ways of working and upskilling to drive cultural change and bring about a mindset shift. The organisation was embarking on masterplans for both the Airport and for the Harbours. There was recognition amongst the organisation’s senior team that developing a strategic approach to digital within the five-year strategic business plan aligned with these masterplans – and other strategic priorities including Customer Experience and Sustainability – would be vital not only to the short-term success, but as a key enabler to the long-term future of Ports of Jersey.
Working in Partnership: BDO’s Approach
BDO Jersey’s collaborative approach saw it set out a 12-week comprehensive plan, led by Co-Head of Management Consulting Allam Zia with the support of a locally based expert and multidisciplined team from BDO and sister business C5 Alliance. The BDO team came with a broad range of relevant skills including digital transformation, data and IT strategy, customer experience, investment planning, people and change management. We augmented this local team with harbour and airport sector experts from BDO’s international network who had specialist experience in delivering similar projects in other markets.
The aim was to deliver a Digital Roadmap that was co-created in full collaboration with Ports of Jersey. Starting with a thorough evaluation of the organisation’s current position, the emphasis was on aligning senior management, understanding existing capabilities, identifying opportunities, and running ‘art of the possible’ sessions with our sector experts to craft a range of strategic outputs deeply rooted in Ports of Jersey’s values and culture, and ambitions for the future.
“Right from the get-go, we were clear that this was a project that we felt needed to be done in true partnership and a process to be co-created with the client. What we ended up with was not a ‘BDO report’; it was very much Ports of Jersey’s own strategy that it, and all its teams, could co-own and embrace.”
Allam Zia, Co-Head of Management Consulting at BDO Jersey
The development of the Digital Roadmap was created in the following five stages:
1) Defined a shared vision: the BDO team agreed a scope and terms of reference, aligned the aspirations of the senior management team and drafted an initial vision statement;
2) Evaluated the current situation: the team undertook a thorough evaluation of existing digital capabilities and competencies through a series of workshops, surveys and interviews;
3) Identified challenges and choices: based on the evaluation work, the team identified a large number of investment opportunities for automation and digitisation, developed criteria to prioritise initiatives, and further hone the digital vision;
4) Produced initial options: drawing further on the evaluation, the team proposed initial low-risk and high-impact options that could be implemented quickly, and produced a longer-term outline of how the Roadmap could deliver future cost savings, improved customer experience, and support new revenue growth;
5) Revision and strategy production: as part of the final stage, the team produced a five-year Digital Roadmap for the Ports of Jersey leadership team and Board. This also included an indicative investment plan, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and a strategy for achieving its digital vision and a series of recommended immediate next steps for implementation.
“We needed specialist knowledge that could challenge our current thinking and help get us to where we want to be. BDO worked collaboratively with our teams and were committed to ensuring an open and transparent working environment through the entire process. Their input gave us not only a digital strategy, but a fresh perspective too.”
Hannah Gleave, Chief People and Sustainability Officer at Ports of Jersey
Fit for the Future
BDO Jersey created a Digital Strategy and Roadmap that serves as a clear guiding path which can be iterated annually during ongoing planning. It is now not only helping the organisation to deliver on its strategic business plan and associated masterplans but is also unlocking avenues for future revenue growth, upskilling and efficiencies and – critically – reinforcing its commitment to delivering service excellence for islanders and visitors alike.