Business & Technology
Why CIOs should be prioritising stability as the foundation for transformation
Local Government Reorganisation is coming, and with it one of the biggest structural shifts the sector has faced in decades. The temptation is to treat reorganisation as a catalyst for sweeping digital transformation, but the immediate challenge is far more fundamental. When vesting day arrives, residents will still expect services to work as they did before. Bins must be collected. Planning applications must progress. Benefits must be processed. Behind the scenes, the technology environments must support those services to transition seamlessly.
For local authority leaders and their CIOs, stability becomes the real priority; large-scale transformation can follow once the foundations are secure.
Maintaining that stability, however, is rarely straightforward in local government. Technology leaders are responsible for some of the most complex operational environments in the public sector. Years of incremental system deployments, legacy platforms, departmental applications, and manual workarounds have created IT estates that are rarely well integrated or efficiently designed.
Even under normal circumstances, managing that complexity is already a challenge, but local government reorganisation raises the stakes significantly. Multiple councils will need to combine services, processes, and technology environments, often with limited clarity about the final organisational structure or system landscape.
For CIOs, this creates a difficult balancing act. There is pressure to modernise and improve digital services, but there is also a growing need to ensure operational stability as structural change approaches.
Learning from experience
Cumberland Council offers a clear example of what local government reorganisation looks like at the operational frontline.
When Cumbria’s seven councils were reorganised into two new unitary authorities in April 2023, Cumberland inherited a technology environment already operating at considerable scale. ICT teams managed more than 90 projects concurrently while handling around 22,000 service incidents in a single year.
Supporting the organisation meant keeping systems running for over 9,000 users across what were effectively three operating organisations. Alongside this, the council was delivering a £1 million data centre refresh and responding to thousands of cyber defence events over the same period. All of this was happening while services to residents had to continue without interruption.
Rather than attempt to rebuild every system or redesign every process immediately, Cumberland adopted a pragmatic approach. The council used a rapid application development platform to separate data inside shared systems while maintaining a single operational workflow.
As Craig Barker, Senior Manager for Digital and Customer Experience at Cumberland Council, explained, “One form, two brands, two data sets. Residents saw the right logo and experience, but behind the scenes, it was one intelligent form.”
As the transition unfolded, gaining visibility of work in progress quickly became a priority. Leaders needed to understand how work was moving across the organisation, where demand was building, and how services were performing across different departments.
Technology played an important role in supporting that visibility and maintaining control. Using an AI-driven low-code platform, Cumberland introduced structured case management, digital forms, and automation across priority services. At the same time, the council began developing a new digital front door, giving residents a consistent way to access services as organisational boundaries changed behind the scenes.
This approach improved oversight, reduced manual effort, and helped maintain service continuity while internal structures continued to evolve.
Preparing technology environments without certainty
Cumberland’s experience reflects a challenge many councils now face as reorganisation approaches: technology teams must keep complex services running while the shape of the future organisation is still emerging. Work often needs to begin long before there is full clarity about which systems will remain, how services will be structured, or what the final operating model will look like.
However, uncertainty doesn’t make preparation impossible. It simply changes where CIOs should focus their effort. The most effective preparation focuses on fundamentals that remain relevant regardless of the final configuration. That means understanding how services actually run today, how demand flows through systems, and where critical dependencies exist between applications, teams, and processes.
Understanding how services actually operate
Process mapping is a critical activity at this stage. By capturing end-to-end service journeys, councils can see where demand enters the organisation, how cases move between functions, and where delays, duplication, or manual workarounds occur.
This visibility is essential in a reorganisation context, where inherited complexity is often underestimated until it becomes a problem. Processes that appear straightforward on paper can often reveal hidden operational complexity once systems and workflows are examined closely. Importantly, this work should focus on real-world activity, including variations, exceptions, and informal practices that keep services running. By capturing these realities, councils can identify operational risk, understand true service cost and effort, and highlight opportunities to simplify before structural change takes place.
Digital process mapping and improvement tools allow councils to capture, visualise, and analyse processes collaboratively. This creates a shared, evidence-based view of how services function, which is invaluable when planning for alignment with future partner organisations.
Councils that invest time in this work are far better placed when reorganisation decisions are confirmed. They can engage with clarity, explain how services currently operate, and make informed choices about what should be aligned or redesigned later. Those who skip this step risk finding themselves reacting to inherited issues rather than shaping their future operating model.
Protecting and stabilising services
Vesting day, when responsibility for services formally transfers to the newly formed authority, is the most critical milestone in any reorganisation programme. From a resident’s perspective, it should be largely unnoticeable. Services should continue to operate as expected, regardless of what is changing behind the scenes.
Achieving that outcome depends on service and technology resilience. CIOs need to understand where dependencies sit, where knowledge is concentrated in individuals, and where systems or processes represent single points of failure.
Technology that supports existing services, rather than replacing them outright, can be particularly valuable at this stage. Solutions that can sit across current systems can provide a consistent interface for staff and citizens while reducing operational complexity. This approach lowers risk during transition and helps ensure continuity at a time when stability matters most.
Laying the foundations for the future
Focusing on service continuity and control also reduces the complexity inherited by the new authority. Councils that enter reorganisation with fragmented processes and inconsistent service handling often spend years trying to align them.
By contrast, councils that have already introduced standardised workflows and shared platforms make it easier to harmonise services over time. Flexible, configurable technologies such as low-code provide the foundations for sequencing change more sensibly. Rather than forcing immediate convergence across newly merged authorities, they allow services to evolve gradually as organisations gain clarity.
This protects services in the short term while creating space for more ambitious transformation once the organisation has clarity and control.
The CIO focus
As local government reorganisation progresses, pressure will increase to act quickly. Some councils will be tempted to wait until announcements are made. Others may attempt to rush into large-scale transformation before the ground is stable.
Experience points to a more measured path. Use the period before plans are approved to build operational and technological readiness. Understand what you have. Strengthen services. Invest in technology that improves delivery, resilience, and control without locking you into premature decisions. Technology that gives you the tools to stabilise and then transform.
Councils that take this approach will reach vesting day with confidence. More importantly, they will give their new organisations the breathing room required to transform services thoughtfully and sustainably, rather than spending years recovering from avoidable disruption and rushed decisions.
Councils that succeed in local government reorganisation won’t be those that transform fastest, but those that stabilise services early and give themselves the space to transform well.
Vertali has appointed James Loftus as Technical Delivery Manager for Security, adding a mainframe security specialist to its senior leadership team.
Loftus joins with more than 30 years of experience across financial institutions and mainframe software providers. His background includes client-side leadership roles at chief information security officer and director level in cyber security, information security, assurance, IT performance and customer services.
The appointment comes as companies continue to invest in mainframe systems while seeking stronger security oversight for long-established computing environments. Demand for secure mainframe operations and modernisation work has been rising across Vertali’s international business.
Vertali provides mainframe services globally and says growth in the business reflects continued confidence in the platform. It cited findings from the BMC Mainframe Survey 2025, which reported that positive perception of the mainframe had reached 97%.
Loftus brings a range of industry accreditations to the role, including CISSP, CISA, CDPSE, CCSK and C|CISO. The new post builds on his track record of leading high-stakes programmes and technology initiatives requiring coordination across multiple functions.
Mainframe systems remain central to many large organisations, particularly in sectors such as finance, where legacy infrastructure often supports critical transaction processing and data management. That endurance has created a parallel market for specialist advisory, delivery and security services as companies try to balance system stability with regulatory demands and modernisation programmes.
Security has become a particular focus for operators of older but business-critical platforms. Threats facing corporate technology estates have widened, while boards and senior executives face growing pressure to demonstrate resilience and governance across both new cloud systems and established core infrastructure.
That backdrop helps explain why companies serving the mainframe market are placing greater emphasis on senior security roles. At Vertali, Loftus’s appointment expands the leadership team as customers seek deeper support for secure operations and change programmes.
Before joining Vertali, Loftus worked across blue-chip financial organisations and software providers. That suggests experience on both the customer and supplier sides of complex technology estates, a mix often valued by service firms working with large enterprises.
His remit is centred on mainframe security, an area that has regained visibility as organisations revisit the strategic role of core systems. While much of the technology sector’s attention has focused on cloud migration and artificial intelligence, many large businesses continue to rely on mainframes for core workloads and are updating rather than replacing those systems.
Loftus described the move as a chance to focus on that challenge.
“I am excited to start a new chapter at Vertali, focusing on mainframe security and helping organizations treat security as a core business priority,” said James Loftus, Technical Delivery Manager for Security at Vertali.
“I’m looking forward to working with some great people and getting deeply involved in the challenges ahead,” Loftus added.
Vertali framed the appointment as part of a broader response to client demand, saying organisations are seeking stronger security expertise as they maintain and update systems that remain essential to day-to-day operations.
“Organisations are under threat like never before,” said Leanne Wilson, Senior Technical Delivery Manager at Vertali. “We’re investing in senior security expertise because demand for secure mainframe operations and modernization continues to grow. James further strengthens our global team, enabling us to consistently deliver excellence for our clients while safeguarding their systems, data and reputation.”
LexisNexis Risk Solutions has launched new data intelligence tools for U.K. motor insurance claims, aimed at the First Notification of Loss stage and wider claims handling.
The launch comes as insurers face pressure over claims costs, motor premiums and customer outcomes. Fragmented data and gaps in connectivity are contributing to delays, rework and higher operating costs across claims workflows, the company said.
The new offering, which starts in motor insurance, is intended to provide connected data from the start of a claim through to settlement. Insurers, managing general agents and other claims businesses will be able to access the services through a single API integration, according to LexisNexis.
LexisNexis identified several weaknesses in the claims process, including incomplete or inaccurate data at First Notification of Loss, limited ability to spot suspicious activity early, and heavy reliance on manual checks in validation, investigation and damage assessment.
According to the company, those issues can lead to incorrect routing, slower decisions and extra referrals. The aim is to give handlers more information at the outset so they can validate details, identify risk indicators and decide how a claim should proceed.
Initial products
The first product, LexisNexis Claims Datafill, is a prefill service for claimant and third-party contact details at First Notification of Loss. It is designed to pre-populate and validate key information, which could help improve accuracy and reduce the amount of information collected manually, the company said.
A second product, LexisNexis Windscreen Check, provides vehicle identification number-level information on windscreen features and advanced driver assistance systems. The service is intended for windscreen claims, where feature validation can affect triage and repair decisions.
The third product, LexisNexis Vehicle Insights for Claims, delivers real-time vehicle data at First Notification of Loss and triage. This includes make, model, mileage, MOT status and valuation data, which can support vehicle assessment and reduce manual data capture, according to LexisNexis.
The products are intended not only for insurers and managing general agents using them in their own claims operations, but also for a wider network that includes claims management companies, repair networks, credit hire businesses, salvage operators and supply chain partners.
The single API model is designed to reduce the need for multiple integrations across that network. In practice, this could allow different organisations involved in a claim to draw on the same underlying data sources earlier in the process.
Market pressure
The launch reflects a broader shift in insurance towards greater use of data in claims, an area that has often lagged pricing and underwriting. Rising complexity in motor claims, along with pressure on customer service and indemnity spending, has increased scrutiny of how insurers make decisions in the first stages of a case.
Tom Clarke, Motor Strategy Director at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, outlined that gap in current claims processes. “While pricing and underwriting have become increasingly data-driven, claims handling often still relies on fragmented, reactive processes. This is a growing problem in motor insurance as claim complexity rises, customer expectations increase and operational pressures intensify. We see a clear market need for richer real-time insight at the point of claim. Our initial focus areas tackle the biggest priorities for the market right now – third party contact details and validation of windscreen features at FNOL,” Clarke said.
For insurers, early access to cleaner data can influence both operational efficiency and claims outcomes. Decisions made at First Notification of Loss often determine whether a claim is sent for straight-through processing, referred for investigation, or passed into specialist repair or settlement channels.
LexisNexis argues that improving the quality of those early decisions can reduce downstream errors and unnecessary handling. It also says this should help create a more consistent process for customers by reducing friction when a claim is first reported.
Carla McDonald, Director of Product Management at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, emphasised the importance of those opening stages. “The quality of decision-making in the first few minutes of a claim shapes everything: triage, indemnity spend, customer experience and loss ratios. Yet many of those decisions are still made without access to the full picture. By bringing richer, more connected data into the claims journey earlier, we can help insurance providers and their partners make more informed decisions from the outset, reducing the need for rework and helping to get claims right the first time. That means more efficient decisions, fairer outcomes and a more consistent customer experience at the centre of every claim,” McDonald said.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of RELX and serves customers in more than 190 countries and territories.
Wantage Town Council has criticised Oxfordshire County Council’s ‘improvement’s project’ for its market place.
Published earlier this month, the county council is currently asking for feedback on its proposals which include removing car parking spaces from the area, making more space for markets and events, and new and improved bus stops.
READ MORE: Urgent business meeting on Oxfordshire market place plan
Set to be delivered in two parts, the scheme is not yet fully funded with the current consultation open until July 8.
Reacting to it, Wantage Town Council has today (June 24) said they have “reservations”.
A spokesperson said: “Wantage Town Council welcomes the work Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) has undertaken to examine the potential public realm improvements in the Market Place.
“We remain committed to promoting enhancements which will make this vital commercial area even more attractive and accessible for residents and visitors, and where businesses can thrive.
“The final consultation version of OCC’s plans are a radical approach to delivering this, but we have reservations relating to a number of significant issues.
“In particular the impact of the proposed bus gate, the effect on bus routes, the loss of disabled and very short-term parking and the impact on businesses for delivery and collection of goods.
“Once the survey results are processed, we would ask that OCC meet with a Working Party of the Town Council in order that these concerns can be addressed with the aim of identifying a scheme that is acceptable to all.”
The county council’s member for transport has previously said that the plans are not final but that the local authority wants to make Wantage Market Place a better area to spend time for shopping, leisure or business.
In addition, the council said the plans are aimed at supporting business by improving loading facilities and at encouraging sustainable travel including walking, wheeling and cycling.
Gareth Epps said: “It was wonderful that we received such a wealth of feedback and inspiration from so many people last year.
READ MORE: Major improvement plan for Oxfordshire town’s market place
“I am delighted to see how this has been realised in a draft design to support better active travel opportunities and create a vibrant, welcoming, and accessible town centre in Wantage, which is safer for residents and visitors.
“We want this plan to truly reflect local community needs and ideas, as well as support an increase in the size of the market and enable more community events.
“I am very much looking forward to hearing how people find the designs and what adjustments can be made.
“We are working hard to make sure the final designs are not only practical but also accessible for everyone.”
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