CGI worked with Taylor Wimpey to help them transform into a truly digital workplace, with the flexibility and agility to support the business now and in the future.

Taylor Wimpey

Navigating ever-challenging economic and political tides, housing developers operate in one of the most competitive markets.

Over the last century, Taylor Wimpey has evolved to become one of the UK’s largest residential developers, building and selling over 10,000 homes every year.

The challenge

Taylor Wimpey wanted to ensure that their business had a truly digital workplace and the IT services to support this with the latest systems, collaboration tools and devices in place. They had over 5,000 staff working across 23 regional businesses across the UK using different operating systems. Many IT devices were outdated, and there was no central place where information could be recorded and stored. As a result, employees were not working as efficiently as was needed.

How we helped

Working together with Taylor Wimpey, we looked at the best approach to bring their Digital Workplace vision to life in a very short timeframe. The starting point was for every device across the business to be upgraded to Windows 10 and tools and applications moved into the cloud. All IT assets were either replaced or, where possible, completely refurbished to keep costs down. Careful management was required to minimise disruption to the business’s day-to-day running.

The key aim was to ensure a seamless transfer that enabled staff to start using the updated systems immediately. Working closely with Taylor Wimpey, we completed an inventory of all IT assets in each business unit and scoped out employee personas to tailor IT to individual roles.

During the handover process, extensive support was available both on-site and through CGI’s award-winning Service Desk team, with training provided on the new devices for employees at the point when they received them.

With improving collaboration across the business a key priority, the latest tools (SharePoint and Teams) were also rolled out with the necessary support and training to ensure employees could use them quickly and easily.

Keeping IT stable and employees working in challenging times

The COVID-19 pandemic meant that Taylor Wimpey needed to quickly move their employees to full remote working to ensure the health and safety of customers, colleagues and to keep the business running. The Digital Workplace programme laid the necessary foundations for a seamless transition to remote working for staff and the business with a stable IT environment maintained.

The provision of laptops and Microsoft SharePoint and Teams during the Digital Workplace programme meant that staff already had the tools to help them stay in constant touch with their colleagues and external parties. Employees continued to deliver a high-quality service working from home even when offices closed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Key benefits

The Digital Workplace program gave Taylor Wimpey:

  • A complete overhaul of their IT assets across the organization
  • No disruption to the day-to-day business when system changes and upgrades are required
  • Full mobility for their workforce, providing them with the ability to work safety and effectively at home as required

Taylor Wimpey now has the technology and systems they need to continue driving their business forward, developing award-winning properties and enabling them to focus on what matters most to their business — their customers.

“CGI’s responsiveness demonstrated their commitment to supporting the business and continuing to drive service improvements for us at a time of significant upheaval. The long-standing relationship we have with CGI meant that we had a trusted partner who has helped us ensure our IT systems are flexible and agile enough to manage in unprecedented times.” Andy Feldon IT Director at Taylor Wimpey

Learn more about how we’re helping clients accelerate their digital agendas and become even more customer/citizen-centric.