Delivering a high-impact digital service within tight budget constraints

Project Overview

Our consultancy partnered with a central government agency to transform a critical but underperforming digital service that was failing both its users and internal teams. The client had a clear remit: improve service outcomes and user satisfaction without expanding the existing budget.

The engagement took place over a nine-month period, following a full end-to-end delivery model from discovery through to live service improvements. We provided a multidisciplinary team including business analysis, service design, technical architecture, and delivery management, working in close collaboration with civil servants across digital, policy, and operational roles.

The scope focused on a single high-volume service that had seen increasing failure demand, internal inefficiencies, and negative user feedback. Our goal was to turn the tide — not through a major system overhaul, but by applying focused, user-centred design and agile delivery practices to drive measurable impact within existing constraints.

“This was one of the most effective digital partnerships we’ve had in recent years. The consultancy didn’t just deliver outputs — they changed how we approached problem-solving. We’ve taken those lessons into other parts of the organisation.” - Deputy Director of Digital Delivery

The Problem

The service in question was used by over 300,000 people each year, primarily individuals engaging with the agency for compliance and regulatory purposes. Despite its reach, the service was built on legacy infrastructure, with limited integration between front-end and back-end systems. Staff were required to manually intervene in around 35% of cases, creating delays and consuming valuable resources.

For users, the experience was opaque and frustrating. Confusing language, inconsistent information, and unclear next steps often led to abandoned applications and repeated contact attempts. Internally, multiple teams had adapted their own workarounds over time — but these informal processes lacked alignment and increased the risk of error.

It wasn’t just a usability issue. The agency faced mounting operational risk. Service performance was under scrutiny from internal audit and senior leadership. Yet with no significant funding uplift available, the question was how to improve outcomes without replatforming or hiring at scale.

This is where we came in — not to “rip and replace”, but to work with what was already there, identifying high-leverage improvements grounded in real user needs and operational realities.

Research and Discovery

Our first step was a structured discovery phase that brought together user research, service mapping, and data analysis. Over four weeks, we conducted in-depth interviews with service users, shadowed frontline staff, reviewed support tickets, and ran cross-team workshops to map the end-to-end service journey.

Several key insights emerged. Users weren’t failing to comply because they didn’t care — they were failing because they didn’t understand what was being asked of them. Crucial steps were buried in guidance, error messages lacked context, and the lack of status updates led to confusion and repeat submissions.

Internally, we found duplicated effort and decision-making inconsistency. Caseworkers applied different interpretations to the same guidance. Process mapping revealed a lack of clear escalation routes and over-reliance on tacit knowledge held by long-standing staff.

We also uncovered an opportunity: despite the fragmented system landscape, there was a shared willingness to fix things. Teams across operations, policy, and digital knew the service needed attention — they just lacked a shared language and approach to tackle it.

These findings shaped a delivery plan focused on targeted improvements: clarifying the service journey, reducing manual handling, and improving user understanding through clearer content and better feedback loops.

Design Approach

From the outset, we took a collaborative, value-driven approach. Our team embedded within the client’s digital unit, co-locating with policy and operational leads to ensure joined-up thinking across design, delivery, and governance.

We applied agile methods, using fortnightly sprints and regular show-and-tells to maintain momentum and visibility. Our business analysts worked closely with service teams to refine user journeys and identify critical decision points. Service designers developed prototypes in collaboration with content designers, drawing directly from real-world user language uncovered during research.

We prioritised changes that would yield high impact for minimal cost. For instance, we introduced a conditional logic framework that reduced irrelevant questions in the application flow, cutting average completion time by over 20%. New backend case triaging rules, designed in close collaboration with operational teams, helped reduce manual handling and standardise decision outcomes.

To support these changes, we also created a lightweight metrics dashboard — using open-source tools — that provided real-time visibility of service performance across key indicators like completion rate, contact rate, and processing time.

Crucially, we didn’t just deliver “outputs”. We transferred skills and built capability. Our consultancy held weekly learning sessions with internal staff, covering topics such as user-centred design, rapid prototyping, and digital assurance. This helped embed new ways of working that would outlast our engagement.

Service data dashboard and analytical suite

Outcome and Impact

By the end of the engagement, the service looked and felt significantly different — not just in its interface, but in how it operated and was understood by those delivering it.

Key achievements included:

• 35% reduction in avoidable contact within six weeks of launch, driven by improved content and clearer confirmation messaging.

• 22% improvement in application completion rates, thanks to refined user flows and streamlined decision logic.

• 15% decrease in average case handling time, due to better triage rules and more consistent guidance for staff.

• Improved user satisfaction, evidenced through qualitative feedback and user surveys post-implementation.

These results were achieved without new headcount, major procurement, or disruptive system changes. Instead, they came from disciplined delivery, strong partnership working, and a focus on meeting real user and business needs.

The work was recognised internally as a model of cross-functional collaboration. Senior leaders cited the project as evidence that meaningful change was possible even under tight constraints — and several elements of the approach have since been reused across other services in the agency.

“What stood out was how quickly they understood our service, our users, and our constraints. They didn’t try to force a one-size-fits-all solution — they worked with us, shoulder to shoulder, to make the right things better.” - Service Owner

Reflection

This project reminded us — and our client — that transformation doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. With the right framing, shared intent, and user-centred practice, even modest changes can have outsized impact.

What made this engagement particularly successful was the level of trust built between our consultancy team and the client’s in-house staff. We didn’t arrive with a fixed playbook. Instead, we listened, adapted, and co-created solutions that respected the organisation’s unique pressures and priorities.

We also saw firsthand the importance of visibility. From simple dashboards to regular playback sessions, sharing progress openly helped build momentum and secure buy-in beyond the immediate project team.

As we look ahead, we believe the public sector will continue to face pressures to deliver more with less. But this project shows that tight constraints can be a creative force — not a barrier. With the right partnership and focus, it’s possible to deliver services that are not just cheaper or faster, but fundamentally better.