Purposeful partnerships in the defence ecosystem
Capabilities, honesty and reliability are hallmarks of successful long-lasting partnerships. Through such collaborations, we have delivered sustainable and innovative practices which contribute to the security of our nation.
Partnerships in defence
Partnership and collaboration is at the heart of much of our work, built around creating better outcomes for our customers, suppliers and the communities in which we operate. It is an important part of being a purpose led organisation focused on delighting the customer through delivery excellence. In particular, the way we work has been acknowledged and commented on at the highest level and the flexibility of partnership, being open to discussion and criticism, is crucial to our success.
In Selborne, we’re proud of our Team Fisher and Royal Navy strategic partnership. Working across 14 locations, we operate under a ‘Whole Force’ approach and put collaboration at the heart of everything we do. We work openly and collaboratively as one team. Everyone who’s delivering on behalf of Team Fisher contributes to the success of Selborne and the delivery of an outstanding training experience.
We’re signed up to the ‘Partnership Charter’ – an agreement between the Royal Navy and Team Fisher, ratified and supported by the First Sea Lord and Capita’s Chief Executive in March 2021. We’re driving a culture where we all work in an open way, where everyone can be themselves – respected and accepted. We collaborate and support each other, remain open-minded, involved and willing to give and receive feedback.
To deliver a highly complex programme like Selborne we have a mix of more than 2,000 uniformed and non-uniformed colleagues who work and deliver together. We are collectively driven by our purpose and deliver outstanding end-to-end training delivery services to sailors and marines, on behalf of Team Fisher.
Partnering includes with academia, such as University of Lincoln in Team Fisher, the academic delivery partner for Selborne, to ensure we have the best team to deliver what is required by our customers. Joining forces with WithYouWithMe through Capita Scaling Partner, Capita’s start-up development arm, and working with innovative education SMEs to provide learning technology that Capita doesn’t have demonstrates our flexibility to always look at the right solutions for our customers.
Through working seamlessly with Raytheon UK on Project Selborne, in late 2022 they invited us to be part of Omnia Training, in partnership with Cervus, Improbable Defence and Rheinmetall; an industrial team that is bidding to become the Strategic Training Partner for the British Army’s Collective Training Transformation Programme to deliver the Future Collective Training System – a technology-enabled training system that will serve as a surrogate for warfare.
Our experience of delivering large scale culture transformations through a flexible partnering model, such as with Selborne and other projects across Capita, provides our customers with exactly the expertise required to deliver successful outcomes.
Electranet support BT Defence for the deployment of Defence Business Internet (DBI)
In today’s connected world having access to WiFi is not just a nice to have, it’s a necessity. Working in partnership with BT Enterprise, Electranet, our secure network infrastructure specialist, ensures that DBI, a secure dedicated single sign on WiFi solution, has been provided for Armed Forces personnel across military bases. Specifically designed for the UK Armed Forces, it offers a high-speed connection for 70,000 personnel for both operational and welfare reasons across over 130 sites.
We’ve surveyed, designed and installed a structured cabling solution using both copper and fibre optic cabling internally within buildings and externally between buildings and across sites. The British Army has fully embraced the system across its bases, using it to conduct the daily business of connecting their ModNet laptops and providing access to the Defence Gateway.
Whether Army, Royal Navy, or RAF servicemen and women are at their desk, on the base, or elsewhere, they always have access to business-grade WiFi, transforming the way that they work and enabling a more flexible, mobile working environment.
DBI is also used by the Armed Forces for a wide range of welfare opportunities, such as social media, shopping and E-Gaming, providing a better living experience for all serving personnel and their families. The solution is an important element to enhance the lived experience for single soldiers who are accommodated on MOD sites providing connectivity to access to the internet, communication with friends and family, as well as streaming of content.
Competition for talent – in particular digital talent – is a strategically important issue for Capita and our public and private sector clients. WithYouWithMe is helping to solve this issue by fostering new pools of talent from diverse and underemployed communities, particularly military veterans, and in doing so creating significant social value. This fits perfectly with our ethos at Capita.”
Creating positive social impact through WithYouWithMe
We have invested in WithYouWithMe (WYWM), a workforce technology platform which finds employment for military veterans and other overlooked groups through delivering innovative aptitude testing and digital skills training in a bid to help solve the UK’s digital skills shortage.
WYWM has so far helped 20,000 people worldwide – now over 2,000 in the UK - including refugees and neurodivergent individuals, as well as military veterans and their families gain meaningful employment. For every license sold to the WYWM Potential platform, 10 veterans and their spouses can train in digital skills for free, forever.
Eschewing more traditional recruitment practices, such a reviewing CVs of job applicants, WYWM – through its “Potential platform” – provides aptitude and psychometric testing to match candidates to a range of high-demand digital roles. The firm then provides free training pathways – accredited through the likes of GCHQ and ANSI – to give candidates the optimum chance of success when placed with large employers.
WYWM’s team of UK advisers includes former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Sir James Everard, and Lieutenant General Sir Nicholas Pope, the British Army’s former Chief of Staff.
