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By Stuart Hadley, Test Manager at 2i · 10th July 2025
When a new public service is launched, attention is immediate. Ministers demand tangible outcomes, the public expects frictionless experiences and delivery teams concentrate on ensuring long-term resilience and performance.
Beneath the surface, however, digital delivery in the public sector involves intricate coordination. Teams must balance ambitious policy objectives with legacy systems, align vendor ecosystems that often have their own conflicting priorities and operate within governance frameworks that rarely favour agility.
Through our work across central government, we have observed recurring challenges. These are seldom unique but are frequently overlooked until they become an issue.
By understanding where technology pressures typically emerge, teams can prepare more effectively and minimise the risk of disruption.
Legacy systems require proactive oversight, not just familiarity
Legacy systems often remain in use not because they fulfil modern requirements, but because they are familiar. Familiarity, however, is not the same as reliability.
Older technology can still add value when managed through pragmatic engineering approaches. By mapping key dependencies, re-evaluating supplier obligations and validating integration boundaries early, teams can reduce uncertainty and prevent avoidable issues later in the lifecycle.
Success must be clearly defined and shared across all partners
Programmes see better outcomes when delivery partners work together to define what success looks like across both development and live operation. This means agreeing quality standards, establishing meaningful assurance checkpoints and structuring handovers in a transparent and collaborative way. Without this shared clarity, risk can build unnoticed and reputational damage may follow.
Governance should provide clarity and drive delivery
Governance is often viewed as a barrier to speed, but in practice, when implemented early and treated as a dynamic part of the delivery process, it actively enables progress.
Real-time, collaborative assurance involving delivery stakeholders helps surface issues at the earliest opportunity and limits the potential for costly delays. We have seen programmes move more quickly precisely because governance introduced structure and direction. When embedded from the outset, assurance becomes a driver of momentum, not an impediment to it.
Integration risks are often hidden in plain sight
The most disruptive issues rarely stem from user-facing elements. Instead, they arise from overlooked interdependencies between internal systems, supplier platforms and organisational processes.
Integration testing must be grounded in practical, real-world scenarios to manage these effectively. Teams should approach integration as an evolving system that requires consistent oversight throughout the delivery lifecycle. Assigning ownership to someone with visibility across all technical interfaces ensures that weak points and overlaps are addressed early, before they become critical.
True readiness relies on shared alignment, not just milestone completion
Some services boast exceptional technical quality but still falter at go-live. This is often because the completion criteria was vague or testing activities were governed by deadlines rather than risk priorities.
Strong delivery depends on well-defined entry and exit criteria, a shared understanding of acceptable risk and independent assurance that challenges assumptions rather than validating them. Readiness is ultimately shaped by the collective clarity and alignment of those delivering the service, not solely by the technology.
Minimising risk in high-pressure environments
Working under pressure is standard in the public sector, but high pressure does not necessitate high risk. Programmes reduce risk when they apply consistent assurance practices, embed governance throughout and ensure that delivery partners are aligned in both purpose and responsibility.