“BIS’ ultimate aim of creating a comprehensive data solution to manage all aspects of property asset management has been achieved through working in partnership with ICONICS. Whatever the request ‘no’ or ‘we can’t do that’ does not appear to be words in their vocabulary; the project team regularly go above and beyond to consistently exceed expectations in tight time frames. At all times ICONICS have been professional, solution orientated and forward thinking. The successfulness of the partnership had already led to further development of the original system solution. ICONICS and the data capture and management solution is central to the future plans of BIS.”
— Roger Taylor, Property Director | BIS
Introduction
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), formally The Department for Innovation, and Skills (BIS) is the department for business, science, and innovation within the UK Government. In November 2015, BIS began a journey with ICONICS that was going to allow them to build a scalable, Azure cloud based solution that would revolutionise the way Central Government would manage their property estate. The department invests in skills and education to promote trade, boost innovation and help people to start and grow a business. To this end there are 49 partner organisations that sit under BIS, each with their own estates and facilities related datasets and challenges. The Property Asset Management Team was created in April 2014 to manage a portfolio of estate across the partner organisations and BIS. A significant part of this was to ensure evidence-based decision-making and to optimise the performance of buildings across the office estate. With around 2,500 staff working for the core BIS Department alone, and in excess of 14,500 people working across the partner organisations, there are offices across London, Sheffield, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham and a variety of other UK cities. Therefore, the estates and facilities management challenges that faced BIS were significant; plus the ever-growing need to rationalise and make financial savings meant that sound data management was needed to underpin decision-making.
“BIS’ ultimate aim of creating a comprehensive data solution to manage all aspects of property asset management has been achieved through working in partnership with ICONICS. Whatever the request ‘no’ or ‘we can’t do that’ does not appear to be words in their vocabulary; the project team regularly go above and beyond to consistently exceed expectations in tight time frames. At all times ICONICS have been professional, solution orientated and forward thinking. The successfulness of the partnership had already led to further development of the original system solution. ICONICS and the data capture and management solution is central to the future plans of BIS.”
— Roger Taylor, Property Director | BIS