The Swedish Transport Administration

Insourcing allows organisations to take control of services and make them more responsive to their customer’s needs.

The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) was on a mission to enhance customer experiences by insourcing its maritime grants service – a service which encourages companies that use Swedish ports to hire Swedish nationals. The challenge was to be ready to operate the existing service in-house within just five months.

To solve a complex challenge such as this would require a bespoke team featuring expertise in transport, agile project management and sourcing. Working in tandem with Trafikverket, our team planned and ran an agile project to deliver a viable solution from day one. To hit the deadline, our experts led multiple workstreams and engaged across the large public organisation to ensure essential decisions were prioritised. Consistent progress tracking enabled Trafikverket and our team to anticipate and address any issues that threatened to derail the schedule.

The result was a seamless switch-over on the deadline. Longer-term, the roadmap developed by the joint team will guide Trafikverket in creating further operational improvements that ultimately benefit customers.

Putting agile project management to the test

More organisations are insourcing services to improve the customer experience and build knowledge to support longer-term service development. So, when Trafikverket decided to insource its maritime grants service, the organisation was tapping into the wider insourcing trend.

Trafikverket manages Sweden’s road, rail and maritime infrastructure. They are the pillars that underpin the Swedish economy and are used by European businesses to connect with markets worldwide. One of Trafikverket’s roles is to administer grants that encourage EU companies importing and exporting via Sweden’s ports (and with bases in Sweden) to employ Swedish nationals. These ‘maritime grants’ – given to around 1,500 different applications each year via national maritime agencies – help cover the cost of Sweden’s high social security contributions.

With a ten-year outsourcing contract coming to an end, it was imperative that Trafikverket used the remaining time to prepare for the transition.

Solving the challenge of insourcing

The team’s focus on delivering a viable solution within the deadline was impressive. The team were rigorous in resisting the temptation to expand the project’s scope, closing down ideas that would have diverted us from our immediate goal.

To meet the deadline, our team and Trafikverket needed to overcome many challenges. The project involved securing approvals from multiple Trafikverket departments and working within strict rules for public-sector procurement. Our wide experience across large public organisations (including project management and digitalisation programmes for Trafikverket) meant we understood exactly how to run projects in this environment. But the real key to delivering at pace lay in agile project management.

Working closely with Trafikverket, our experts created a roadmap for developing a fully digital, more secure and more efficient grants service. Then, for the duration of this project, the team focused ruthlessly on developing a basic working solution to deliver the insourced service effectively from day one. Our experts engaged widely across Trafikverket to ensure decisions and key activities enabling the switch-over were prioritised.

The initial solution involved bringing existing processes for receiving and approving grant applications in-house unchanged – effectively step one of the roadmap. To support these existing processes, a new IT solution delivering better data security was necessary. Our experts applied ingenuity to leverage Trafikverket’s existing technology rather than buying new IT. By incorporating existing IT, the solution will be fully integrated into Trafikverket’s IT systems, making future digitalisation of the service easier.

Tracking progress, taking action

The team’s ability to communicate progress clearly and concisely was phenomenal. This was important to maintaining engagement and keeping everyone focused on what needed to be done. The team’s professionalism made a project with the potential to be highly stressful, one that was a pleasure to be involved in.

To drive the project forward, the team planned and led multiple workstreams, which ran concurrently. Our experts used digital tools to track progress across the workstreams and anticipate and address any issues that threatened to derail the schedule.

After five months, the transfer of the service in-house went ahead seamlessly and on time. Our close collaboration with the Trafikverket team throughout meant they were already fully versed in the processes and could start running the service independently from day one.

Freedom to develop better customer services

Successful delivery of this project meant that agencies across Europe experienced no break in the grants service. Longer-term, customers can anticipate a more reliable service, supported by the full resources of Trafikverket. Once developed, a fully digital service will make applying for grants easier and more secure.

For Trafikverket, there are big advantages too. In the future, full digitalisation will reduce the resource required to run the grants service by half. This will free up time and money to invest in further customer service improvements. Trafikverket now has full control over the service and, with this, the opportunity to embed it more fully in strategic plans. Ultimately, Trafikverket is better positioned to ensure the grants deliver what they are meant to – more jobs for Swedish nationals in Sweden’s vital maritime sector.