A long-established games developer and publisher secured private equity investment to drive commercial growth. Within nine months, the organisation expanded from 50 to nearly 300 employees, but its IT function struggled to keep pace. IT lacked structure, strategic direction, and the ability to support business and product development plans. I was engaged to stabilise IT operations, develop a strategic roadmap, restructure the function, and identify opportunities to commercialise previously absorbed IT costs.

The primary objectives were to:

• Stabilise the IT function to support rapid business growth.
• Develop a comprehensive IT strategy aligned with business and product development plans.
• Restructure IT into a functional team with clear leadership.
• Enhance infrastructure to support future scalability.
• Identify and commercialise IT services that could generate revenue.

I conducted a full review of business requirements and IT capabilities, leading to the development of a structured IT strategy and roadmap. Key initiatives included:

• Restructuring the IT team from a flat structure to a functional model with appropriate IT Service Management (ITSM) controls and tools.
• Establishing a target organisational structure, recruiting key roles up to IT Director level, and appointing a CIO to lead the function.
• Undertaking a full corporate headquarters refit, implementing new cabling, routers, switches, and firewalls to handle increasing data volumes securely.
• Enhancing the management and reporting of cloud-hosted games (live and archived) to improve efficiency and scalability.
• Commercialising IT functions, including:
  • Offering data conversion services (translating assets into commercial software) to smaller software developers.
  • Monetising cloud hosting capabilities to support external game development studios.

The IT function was successfully stabilised and placed on a strategic path to support the company’s growth plans. Key outcomes included:

• A structured IT leadership team, ensuring oversight and accountability.
• Scalable infrastructure capable of supporting business growth through at least one planning cycle.
• Revenue-generating IT services, leveraging internal capabilities to provide commercial offerings to smaller development studios.

By transforming IT from a cost centre to a strategic asset, the company positioned itself for sustainable growth while creating new revenue streams from previously internal IT functions.

• Consultancy
• digital transformation
• Commercial Strategy

• Digital Enablement

• Media and Entertainment