Case Study

IT Service Management at Hampden

The Hampden Group, a family-run company, over 40 years old, provides specialist insurance, investment and financial support services.

It has grown to become the largest provider of Members’ Agency services in the Lloyd’s insurance market, managing in excess of £2.3 billion of client assets per year.

Challenge

With the organic growth of the company over such a long period, IT systems, processes and management were in need of a ground-up realignment to better meet the needs of a modern business – a business that continues to grow in an ever-increasing time of regulation.

Smartdesc was chosen by Hampden to conduct an independent review of IT Service Management across the Group, including analysis and recommendations of all aspects of IT; from Support Delivery and to MI Reporting, Governance, Security and Policy & Processes.

Interviews were held with key staff, senior managers and the IT team themselves. Financial data was interrogated and a Risk Register was created highlighting gaps and areas for improvement based on priority and complexity.

The report was presented and backed up by a detailed Service Improvement Plan, outlining how IT roles and responsibilities should be restructured based on industry best practice, along with a roadmap to develop and implement an holistic IT Strategy.

“The Smartdesc team have only been working with Hampden for a short time but have already made a hugely positive impact on IT provision across the Group. A new IT strategy is already in place which is being driven forwards and there has been a vast improvement to MI reporting.”

Matt Brand, Group Operations Manager, Hampden

Solution

Smartdesc delivered a new structure for the IT function, splitting out the responsibilities of the previous IT Manager into 3 distinct areas, each with their own job description and accountability. Tying these deliverables together and with overall responsibility for the IT Strategy, an IT Director role was also brought in.

Smartdesc implemented a hybrid resource model (‘Smart Sourcing’) – retaining key support staff in-house, whilst taking ownership of strategy, governance and process improvement activities utilising our Virtual IT Director (vCIO) and Information Governance Officer services.

This means both organisational knowledge and existing relationships with the Helpdesk team is retained, and Hampden leadership benefit from the depth of Smartdesc expertise and experience in strategy and governance – without the employee overheads.

Results

A fully functioning in-house IT team supporting over 200 staff, managed by a dedicated IT Service Delivery Manager.
A pool of managed, outsourced Senior 3rd Line technical engineers to deliver project work and tackle complex issues.
An Information Governance officer with a remit to manage IT security, GDPR and Data Protection.
An IT Director sitting across these teams providing Hampden leadership with visibility, reporting and management information on IT performance.
A proactive IT Strategy plotting out the next three years of innovation and change management.

Case Study

IT Service Management at Hampden

Challenge

Matt Brand, Group Operations Manager, Hampden

Solution

Results

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