Sopra Steria UK Continues Mission Toward Shaping a Better World With Social Value Driven Digital Transformation Initiatives

Sopra Steria, a purpose-driven digital transformation provider, shares news of its continued momentum and growth, building on the success of its UK mission to shape a better world and deliver greater societal value and positive impact on business.

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“A rise in the cost of living, spiralling inflation, and a worsening energy crisis means we now find ourselves undergoing a transition towards a new era of social value – one where people, society, and the environment must be at the heart of everything we do. ”

Sopra Steria’s purpose is to create innovative digital solutions, at scale, that improve services in the UK public and private sector, whilst actively evolving its business mix to move away from a number of legacy services and investing in a new generation of digitally driven services to meet the rapidly evolving transformation needs of clients. Increasing social value is at the heart of this, with improved services shaping positive change in business and society across the UK. This includes work delivering greater value for the across a broad range or organisations including, the NHS, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence, Home Office, Capital Credit Union and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Sopra Steria achieved growth of 5% in the UK during H1 of 2022, starting the year with revenue of £371.3m, as well as featuring in the top three of TechMarketView’s BPS Supplier rankings. This includes strong growth across its joint ventures with the UK Government – NHS Shared Business Services (a 17-year partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care) and Shared Services Connected Ltd (a nine-year partnership with the UK Cabinet Office), both of which provide critical services to the UK public sector including healthcare, government, police and defence.

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Supporting those in financial vulnerability:

During a time where the rising cost of living is creating financial uncertainty, Sopra Steria has marked its ongoing commitment to supporting financial inclusion in the UK by launching Sopra Steria Financial Services in December 2021, following FCA accreditation. It’s new approach to debt management enables Utility Companies, Retailers, Banks, Building Societies, and other financial organisations to deliver better financial inclusion; improving access to digital banking services and helping better serve the needs of vulnerable customers.

Sopra Steria has also been selected by the UK Government as one of two managed service providers for debt collection within the government’s new Debt Resolution Services framework. The framework will deliver fairer and more effective debt collection and management approaches across the UK public sector

Improving transport networks:

Sopra Steria is also strongly aligned to the requirements of it’s customers in the transport sector, and the need to enhance the efficiency and safety of transportation networks in the UK. In support of this Sopra Steria has recently acquired Graffica, a specialist provider of simulation products and software solutions for the transport industry continuing the company’s mission of purpose-led digital transformation.

Sopra Steria also partners with the National Traffic Information Service (NTIS) to improve transport networks and provide round-the-clock, real-time traffic information for England’s busiest roads.

It is also the official partner to Transport for London (TfL) to run its Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), making it easier for fleet operators to sign up to the scheme and for members to access information and update their details. This scheme will improve the safety of all users of London’s roads and have a positive impact on the environment.

The unique joint ventures supporting the public sector:

Sopra Steria’s commitment to transforming public sector services has extended through its joint ventures with NHS SBS and SSCL, as well as its work developing UKVCAS, the official partner to UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI). These transformation efforts have included:

• Delivering a digital recruitment platform for the Department of Work and Pensions during the pandemic, allowing it to accelerate the recruitment of 12,000 job coaches and support those who were left unemployed back into new roles.
• Continuing to support the NHS in efficient procurement of hard-to-get items, including breathing apparatus and ventilators needed during the pandemic. This has resulted in over £1bn in cost savings over the last 15 years.
• Streamlining and modernising the UKVI’s application service, including offering a range of appointments across the UK and developing a smartphone-based Identity Verification (IDV) app that allows individuals to submit important documents directly from their mobiles.
• The Sopra Steria UKVI team have also directly supported the Government in providing a humanitarian visa service for Ukrainian people coming to the UK as a result of war in their own country.

Transforming citizen safety and public environments:

Sopra Steria has positioned itself as a trusted partner in developing the insights and expertise to help transform citizen services and public health and safety.

Sopra Steria has worked closely with the Ministry of Defence to improve the lives of military members and their families. Through its estates management platform and digital services, Sopra Steria is enabling Pinnacle Group to provide military families with better support when moving in and out of housing and improved customer experience when selecting their accommodation.

Sopra Steria is also reimagining recruitment for the Home Office, Metropolitan Police and Ministry of Justice. This work has introduced Virtual Reality (VR) experiences for prospective officers which has allowed candidates to better understand the role and help ensure that the most suitable people are recruited.

In addition, Sopra Steria has integrated its STORM Command and Control system for Police with Salesforce for the first time – providing a seamless citizen experience for the public across different emergency contact channels, while providing Police control rooms with quick access to relevant data and enabling them to better identify citizens who are vulnerable, including repeat victims of crime.

Creating an internal environment for success:

As a result of Sopra Steria’s ongoing mission to shape the world for the better and drive positive change across business and society, the company is also developing its internal culture, securing a hattrick at the Great Places to Work^® awards.

Most recently, it has seen recognition for its ongoing dedication to diversity, celebrating a top ranking in the Great Places to Work for Women listing. This comes hot on the heels of Sopra Steria’s position as a top 20 ranking in the ‘Super Large’ category of the Great Places to Work Certification, following high scores across social value, ethics and fairness, and employee wellbeing. Putting employee wellbeing at the heart of decision making was also recognised by Sopra Steria’s listing in the first-ever UK’s Best Workplaces™ for Wellbeing 2022 by Great Place to Work^® UK earlier this year.

With continuing growth and momentum seen across the entire Sopra Steria family in the UK, the business is looking to increase its employee headcount by 10%. This process will include expanding its graduate and apprenticeship programmes, to continue to encourage more young people from diverse backgrounds into the technology sector.

John Neilson, CEO of Sopra Steria UK said: “A rise in the cost of living, spiralling inflation, and a worsening energy crisis means we now find ourselves undergoing a transition towards a new era of social value – one where people, society, and the environment must be at the heart of everything we do.

“While the explosion of digital technologies has helped organisations become more productive and improved employee satisfaction across industries, more needs to be done to ensure technology is playing a central role in facilitating this shift. Responsibility for social and economic inequality simply cannot lie solely with UK Government. It’s time for organisations to ensure their products and services are designed in a way which tackle these complex challenges head on, delivering sustainable innovation and greater social value.”

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