The British Computer Society underwent a major transformation to remain relevant in a rapidly changing technological landscape. It changed its name to The Chartered Institute for IT, developed a new mission and strategy focused on enabling the information society, and overhauled its brand, website, processes, and culture. The transformation involved consulting stakeholders and engaging employees to define new values. It increased advocacy, website traffic, and press coverage through a major launch campaign. The changes aimed to make BCS a leading professional body for the growing UK IT industry.

1. THE TRANSFORMATION OF BCS
Kate Edwin-Scott, Marketing Director, BCS
Sholto Lindsay-Smith, Managing Director, Uffindell

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When the British Computer Society was
formed in 1957, televisions were a luxury
item. There were no PCs, no mobile phones,
no silicone chips.

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The world has come along
way since then…

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Today’s washing machines…
…have greater computing
power than Apollo 11.

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The top ten jobs in the world
didn’t exist in 2004.

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In the USA, 1 in 8 couples
married in 2008 met online.

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If My Space was a country it
would be the 5th largest country
in the world between Indonesia
and Brazil.

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There are 31 billion searches
on Google every month.
In 2006 it was 2.7 billion.

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The amount of new technological
information doubles every 2 years.
For students starting a
technological degree, half
of what they learn in the
first year will be outdated
by their 3rd year of study.

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By 2013, a super computer will be
built that exceeds the computational
capabilities of a human brain.

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But…

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The British Computer Society had not
kept pace with the times.
The name was an anachronism.
THE BRITISH COMPUTER SOCIETY

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A stakeholder audit showed BCS
had lost its relevance.
‘FUSTY’
‘ELITIST’
‘OLD SCHOOL’
‘GEEKY’
‘STUFFY’
‘OUT OF DATE’
‘ACADEMIC’
‘CRUSTY’
‘NERDY’
‘PAROCHIAL’
‘REMOTE’

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So…

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So…
what was the point of the
British Computer Society?

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Today there are an estimated
1,000,000 people
working in the IT industry
in the UK.
That’s about
1 in 20 people.

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Many are employed in mission
critical, multi-million pound projects
in government, hospitals, banks,
nuclear power stations, etc.

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The IT industry is vital to
innovation, competitiveness and
the future prosperity of UK plc.
The UK software and IT services
sector accounts for 5% of GDP.
The market was worth around
£51.9 billion in 2008.

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You wouldn’t use an uncertified
accountant, doctor, architect, or
civil engineer. So why an
uncertified IT practitioner?
Yet the industry is unregulated.
It was clear that there was a role
for an organisation to champion
this vital industry.

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We worked with the leadership team
and consulted key stakeholders to
explore future scenarios for BCS…
Trustees Members
IT
professionals
Employers
Government
Academics
Students Trainers
BCS

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This lead to the definition
of a new mission:

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ENABLING THE
INFORMATION SOCIETY
Supporting change and wider social and economic
progress through the application of IT

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The strategy focused the organisation
on five areas of future activity:
Bridging the gap
between IT education,
practice and research
Championing the IT
profession as provider
of solutions to
economic, social and
environmental problems
Giving practitioners
professional
development and career
support
Informing public policy
on how IT can
contribute to society
Ensuring everyone
benefits from IT,
enabling citizens to
become effective IT
Managers
Enabling the Information Society

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leading to a new strategy
and a two year organizational
transformation programme
The mission was a
CATALYST FOR
CHANGE

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The transformation plan covered
every aspect of the organisation:
1. Federation workstream –
development of a federation model
bringing together IT organisations
and associations
2. Learned society workstream –
a forum for academics to share
developments
3. International workstream –
expanding our presence around
the world
4. Qualifications workstream –
alignment of user qualifications to
the UK qualification structure and
updating of professional qualifications
5. Professional workstream –
development of new rigorous
Chartered IT Professional
accreditation
6. Web workstream –
development of a leading edge
site with video news,
personalized content,
collaboration tools
7. Brand and communications
workstream – modernization of
the BCS brand to signal change
to the IT community

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We started the transformation
process by engaging employees.
They helped determine a culture
that would bring about success.

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A new set of values and
behaviours were defined.Highlymotivating
Critical to organisational success
Notmotivating
Not critical to organisational success
Forward thinking,
Leading, Focused,
Fast moving, Agile,
Proactive, Dynamic,
Open, Listening,
Empowering

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The new values underpin the brand

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A new brand identity was
created to signal change.

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The new descriptor ‘The
Chartered Institute for IT’
was added to emphasize
the institutes role as a
professional body.

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A new creative platform was developed
which focuses on the Information
Society rather than plugs and wires.

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Over 800 items of literature
were rationalized.

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Paper based processes were
streamlined and taken online.

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A new website was developed
(with the goal of becoming the
go-to-site for the IT professional).

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The website features live IT related
news broadcasts…

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…and new member networks
to enable collaboration

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A new ad campaign was created
to launch the new BCS.

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Launch day was kicked off with a photocall
and PR story about information security

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…and a debate hosted by John Humphreys
which was streamed live over the website

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Supporting PR initiatives have
included the launch of the
‘Savvy Citizen’ campaign

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The results
• Online advertising generated more than 70,000 extra
visitors to the website
• Social media mentions increased from 254 to 888
mentions during the launch
• Page views increased by nearly half a million
• Visits to the membership pages have increased by 36%
and to the qualifications pages by 29%
• Press coverage increased from 1.2 million impression in
May to 6.9 million impressions at launch
• Brand advocacy amongst members increased by 10%
post launch

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The results
• Online advertising generated more than 70,000 extra
visitors to the website
• Social media mentions increased from 254 to 888
mentions during the launch
• Page views increased by nearly half a million
• Visits to the membership pages have increased by 36%
and to the qualifications pages by 29%
• Press coverage increased from 1.2 million impression in
May to 6.9 million impressions at launch
• Brand advocacy amongst members increased by 10%
post launch.

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10 thoughts on transformation
1. Create a burning platform
2. Think BIG!
3. Use the VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER to convince cynics
4. Lead it from the TOP
5. Involve the WHOLE organisation
6. Keep COMMUNICATING
7. Use the LAUNCH DATE to sustain momentum
8. Don’t launch until you are READY
9. Make sure change is SUBSTANTIVE
10. Secure some QUICK WINS

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