Engaging advocates through a global digital transformation programme

Pearson PLC has more than 20,000 employees across almost 200 countries, all working towards a common purpose of helping everyone achieve their potential through learning.

The Enabling Programme (TEP) at Pearson was a vast digital transformation across 73 countries to implement a global integrated technology system that would give a consistent approach across HR, Finance, Procurement and Supply Chain.

TEP was part of the overarching One Pearson programme to simplify and consolidate the organisation.

As it was ...

While working with Pearson, one of Julian’s key responsibilities was to set up and manage Pearson's Business User Group (BUG). 

This was a network of users from around the world who were advocates for the new systems and ways of working. Their role was to work with the central TEP team to gather feedback from the business, and to gauge reactions about planned activities.

Keeping BUG members informed, engaged and enthused was seen as crucial to the overall success of the project.

Our solution

One of the main challenges was that the BUG network was spread across the world, in different time zones. 

The solution was the creation of a new BUG members-only website, which held all the relevant materials relating to the programme, such as minutes of meetings, project plans and presentations.

This site was key in ensuring that everyone came together, felt like a team, and were kept on the same page throughout the project.

Territory-based rollout

Because of the different systems and ways of working in each region, Pearson rolled out the change activities territory by territory. The local change plans were reviewed and validated as they were introduced.

This iterative approach enabled us to learn and adapt as the project progressed – for instance, assessing the delivery channels and the training materials for business users in the new ways of working.

BUG members were kept updated as to what was working (or not) in other territories.

The results: As it is ...

The BUG network was particularly successful because it supported the same values as the broader One Pearson programme, bringing together a diverse group of employees from around the world to work as one with a single aim in mind.