Story highlights
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At a glance
- Industry - Government
- Region - United Kingdom
- Company Size - 13,000+ employees
- Project - Regulatory Services digitalisation, beginning with permitting
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Products & Services
- Microsoft Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI)
- Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Dataverse
- Azure Synapse Analytics
- Azure OpenAI
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Results Snapshot
- Up to 80% time saved for teams dealing directly with applications
- 10-15% resource savings across the board
- 11,000 days estimated saved for organisations each year
- 100% of surveyed organisations recognised the benefits
The Customer
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), with responsibilities for the protection and enhancement of the environment in England. Its ambition is to help people and wildlife adapt to climate change while reducing its impacts, and to improve the quality of water, land and air by tackling pollution.
The EA is also responsible for the management of permits and regulatory approvals for individuals and businesses. As the biggest environmental regulator in Europe, with over 13,000 employees, it has undertaken a digitalisation initiative to modernise and consolidate its technology, streamline operations and enhance efficiency, and although the programme is still in progress, it has already delivered a broad range of benefits.
The Challenge
The EA faced significant complexity, with over 100 different applications in use, including more than 20 within the permitting service alone. Addressing the requirements of a new application could take up to twelve months, with subsequent modifications often pushed to the back burner. To bridge this gap between business needs and application delivery, and to facilitate business-led innovation, the EA chose Hitachi Solutions as its strategic delivery partner and leveraged Microsoft Cloud for no-code and low-code application development.
The initial focus was on permitting, a vital function involving individuals and organisations across various licensing areas. One of the largest challenges was the outdated nature of the systems, some dating back up to 30 years, which struggled to control and collect data, interface with applicants, and communicate progress internally.
The general adoption of Power Platform within DEFRA aligns seamlessly with our approach. We can construct configuration-driven applications, enhance efficiency, and facilitate quicker responses to regulatory changes.
The Solution
Hitachi Solutions took on a pivotal role as the strategic delivery partner for the programme, leveraging extensive experience to expedite value. The revamped approach is user-centred and data-centric, built on Microsoft Cloud technologies and integrating seamlessly with other EA and DEFRA systems. Data collected on the platform can flow through Power Apps or directly into Microsoft Dynamics, made accessible through Microsoft Dataverse, Azure Synapse Analytics and other integrated Azure data and analytics tools. That data can then be presented through Power Apps or Power BI reports and dashboards for EA users, with the added benefit of automated workflows through Power Automate and other Azure resources.
Why Hitachi Solutions
The EA valued a partner whose digital expertise complemented its own deep business experience. Hitachi Solutions’ insight helped identify opportunities for enhancement and accelerated the agency’s initiatives, supporting a shift to configuration-driven applications that respond far more quickly to regulatory change.
Hitachi Solutions brings substantial digital expertise to the table, complementing our robust business experience. Their insights have been instrumental in identifying opportunities for enhancement and accelerating our initiatives.
The Benefits
- Enhanced efficiency, with 10-15% resource savings across the board and time savings as high as 80% for teams dealing directly with applications, following adoption from December 2022 and full operation by May 2023
- Improved user satisfaction, with 100% of surveyed permitted organisations recognising the benefits, citing improved data quality and system functionality
- Time savings for industry, estimated at around 11,000 days annually for organisations interacting with the EA
- Cost savings and IT streamlining, having replaced five or six applications already and aiming to replace a total of 40 systems, each costing an average of £150k
- Data quality enhancement, using APIs to cross-reference new data with external sources and analytics platforms to address historical data gaps
- Seamless integration with other EA and DEFRA systems
What’s Next?
Having consolidated and streamlined data access, the EA can now innovate using its enriched data ecosystem, powered by AI. In Humberside, a climate change team is already exploring this resource to model potential scenarios using a digital twin of the environment, transcending traditional silos of water, waste and fisheries to take a ‘whole catchment’ approach. The EA intends to use data and AI to become more proactive, intelligently targeting resources, predicting risk and preventing breaches and environmental damage. As it expands these technologies, the agency is also preparing for the responsible integration of AI, using Azure OpenAI to extract insight from data.
We recognise that some of the organisations we regulate are already harnessing the power of AI. To maintain our regulatory leadership, we must not only keep pace but also strive to stay one step ahead.