Triad helps BEIS create seamless communications for 11,000 users

Between 2016 and 2023, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was a UK government department responsible for business, industrial strategy, science/innovation, energy, and climate change.
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  • BEIS wanted its end-users to work flexibly, agilely and remotely. This meant migrating from landlines, office-based work, and face-to-face meetings to operating seamlessly on mobiles, laptops, and digital collaboration tools.
  • 11,000 end users from multiple departments were based across 13 UK sites and 20 countries worldwide.
  • 1
    Our immediate challenge was to help them move to O2 for mobile telephony.
  • 2
    We tested eSIMs and physical SIM cards, opting for the latter.
  • 3
    We surveyed each user to obtain important information such as their current mobile phone and preferred delivery address. This initially achieved 80% completion and over 90% with extra prompting. We used other approaches to reach everyone.
  • 4
    We staggered SIM card dispatch, migrating up to 1,200 end users a week.
  • 5
    Communication tactics included personalised emails, online information via an intranet hub, a how- to guide with the SIM card, and helplines available by phone and email. Once users completed the survey, they were also sent regular text messages.
  • All users were successfully migrated to O2.
  • The next phase of the project focussed on Microsoft Teams, enabling users to virtually meet and collaborate seamlessly.

Their story

Triad helped BEIS provide a flexible work environment for its staff. As part of this, we migrated 11,000 end users from multiple departments across 13 UK sites and 20 countries worldwide to a new mobile network.
A multi-organisation project

In addition to those departments falling under BEIS, the project also involved organisations that took their technology lead from BEIS, including the Department for International Trade (DIT), GO-Science, the Low Pay Commission and the UK Space Agency.

Each partner organisation had its own systems, approaches and needs

The project required us to prepare for, organise and undertake the migration across all these organisations. We also had to do so in a way that would give them a degree of autonomy and greater capacity for independent operation in the future.

Working with a diverse user group

Users were tech-savvy to varying degrees, with backgrounds ranging from corporate and legal services to science, health, environment, and finance. They also included government ministers and secretaries of state.

Triad expertise

Our project, programme and delivery managers took responsibility for the roadmap, organised and delivered the migration, and, alongside UX professionals, created and analysed research and user flows.

“The instructions could not have been clearer; the alerts from a few days before were regular and clear; the changeover straightforward (to my surprise);...So thank you to all involved, a smart bit of change management.”

Georgina Balmforth Deputy Director, Policy & Operations, DIT – ECJU