Newcastle University
Digital transformation strategy
Project overview
Newcastle University Advancement is on a journey to modernise its digital infrastructure, ensuring that its technology ecosystem supports its strategic objectives and enables efficient operations. As the team continues to scale its engagement efforts, scholarship programmes, and philanthropic initiatives, the need for a structured digital transformation plan became essential.
Flow Strategies partnered with Newcastle University Advancement to assess their current systems and develop a clear digital roadmap, allowing them to enhance efficiency, streamline processes, and integrate university-wide systems more effectively.
Using our Flow Process framework, we worked across the Assess and Plan phases to provide the Advancement team with a structured approach to digital transformation.
How we approached it
Assess
The first phase of our work focused on assessing the current digital landscape within Advancement. This involved mapping out existing processes and technology platforms to understand how Advancement systems connected with the wider university systems.
By identifying inefficiencies and bottlenecks, we were able to highlight areas where manual workarounds, disconnected systems, and a lack of integration were creating challenges.
Throughout this process, we engaged closely with key stakeholders to capture needs, priorities, and long-term objectives, ensuring that our recommendations were aligned with both operational and strategic goals.
Plan
With a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities, we developed a structured digital transformation plan to guide Newcastle University Advancement through its next steps.
A key focus was improving the management of scholarships and awards, which had become increasingly complex as the number of programmes expanded. We worked with the team to define system requirements, develop a detailed system specification document, and conduct a market analysis of available platforms.
The need for a modernised events management platform was also identified as a priority. Advancement required a scalable and integrated system to support planning, improve attendee experience, and enhance donor engagement. We scoped out requirements, researched available solutions, and provided an analysis of potential platforms, ensuring that the recommended system aligned with the university’s long-term engagement strategy.
Next steps
Through this process, Newcastle University Advancement now has a structured digital transformation plan that outlines clear priorities and next steps. The team has a defined system specification for key areas of improvement, along with a market analysis of technology solutions that will support decision making. With a roadmap in place, they are well-positioned to proceed with system selection, integration, and implementation in the coming years. The work we have done provides them with a clear and actionable path forward, ensuring that future technology investments are aligned with both operational needs and broader strategic objectives.
Our collaboration with Newcastle University Advancement has laid the groundwork for a long-term digital transformation strategy. By assessing the current digital landscape and providing a structured plan, we have enabled the team to move forward with confidence and clarity. With a focus on operational efficiency and system integration, this roadmap ensures that Advancement has the tools and insights needed to create a more streamlined and effective digital infrastructure.
Feedback
“The support from Flow Strategies has been invaluable in developing our Digital Transformation strategy. Paula carried out an in-depth review of the scholarships and awards processes, from application submissions to fund distribution. She also worked closely with the Events team to implement event processes that simplified planning and strengthened data management.
Paula’s ability to clarify objectives and produce a detailed road map to achieve them has been instrumental in moving our work forward, and her knowledge of management systems has given us the confidence to make informed decisions. We look forward to working with Flow Strategies again in the future.”
– Aerian Rogers, Deputy Director of Advancement (Philanthropy and Operations) at Newcastle University Advancement