Replacing and digitising legacy systems, data migration, and creating a robust, future-ready digital platform.
The challenge
Conceive, build and roll out a new global digital platform to scale core daily business activity and processes, while replacing a legacy system that was limiting growth, without disruption to ongoing services.
Project overview
In 2014, Loft started working with BCD to explore challenges in their current working process and technology. We delivered a series of workshops and prototypes enabling the business to understand the future potential of digital and how workflow could be accelerated.
Following this early engagement, in 2017 Loft won a tender to reconceive, develop and replace the core system the company uses to collect, transact and report on its huge volume of conference and meeting venues bookings.
This work was delivered in phases over a two-year period, following an iterative methodology that was carefully optimised to control the risks in the transition, whilst realising the opportunity to deliver vital digital change into the business.
Some key elements of Loft’s approach included:
- Highly collaborative working process to ensure the needs of many different stakeholders were met.
- Design and implementation of a deep, structured business data model, enabling powerful MI and AI services to be developed on top.
- Design of an end-to-end standard operating workflow, enabling us to digitise every aspect of the whole multi-year lifecycle of any piece of business, and thus identify opportunities to automate, accelerate and leverage data.
- Development of a scalable, modular, service-oriented digital platform that other parts of the business can use, integrate and build on top of.
- Iterative implementation and rollout by a collaborative agile team including client stakeholders to maximise value of investment on a continuous basis.
- Development of algorithms and pipelines for management reports to be carried out against consolidated legacy and current datasets.
Highlights
- Migration of £100s of millions in annual business to a new digital platform.
- Enabling BCD Meetings & Events to adapt their strategy in the recent pandemic times to support remote working and further expansion overseas to capitalise on domestic market opportunities when the market pick up comes.
- Supporting the continued differentiation of the BCD Meetings & Events Value proposition in the market of selectively utilising technology and delivering a best in class service offering.
- Delivering tools to enable the closer management and monitoring business processes enabling increased quality and value to some of the largest organisations around the world.
Why it matters
The success of this initial rollout to company offices in London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong has enabled the business not just to accelerate and provide a better service experience to its customers, but also to leverage the data model to optimise revenues and margins at a significant level, to the commercial benefit of the wider business.
Loft continues to work in partnership with BCD to help set the foundations for rapid global expansion off the back of new digital technology.
About BCD
BCD Meetings & Events is a multi-billion dollar global meetings and events agency.
Let’s talk
Digital innovation is a key area of expertise for Loft. To talk to us about your project get in touch via [email protected].
| Client | BCD Travel |
| Project | BCD Venue Sourcing Platform |
| Sector | Travel & Transport |
| Services | Design & Consultancy Development Data |
