Visually compelling digital strategy sets up GOTAFE to be a leading training provider

GOTAFE is a large regional provider of vocational education and training (VET) services in Victoria

GOTAFE sought a digital strategy and roadmap for implementation to guide its ambition of becoming a leading digitally-enabled training provider over the next five years.

We worked with GOTAFE executive team and key stakeholders to develop the strategy and roadmap.

First it was essential to understand the current state by assessing GOTAFE’s information technology and workforce capabilities and considering how they might look in the future. Through consultations, a survey and further business analysis, we established key business requirements for students, industry, workforce and the organisation.

We developed the strategy and roadmap in a way that built engagement with stakeholders:

1. We ran focus groups with students, industry and staff to imagine and describe the desired future experience for GOTAFE.
2. We convened a Digital Summit with key external stakeholders to discuss and test insights.
3. We defined 20 digital initiatives across the five-year horizon, including work across technology capability, student and industry experience, workforce skills, organisation optimisation, implementation capability and sustainability targets.
4. We tested initiatives with IT suppliers to inform implementation planning and costing.

To ensure the success of the implementation activities, we took the time to define an agile implementation approach, prioritise the first wave of initiatives, and achieve enterprise-wide alignment and ownership.

To maximise the strategy’s impact, the Nous Visual Design Studio worked alongside the consulting team and GOTAFE executives to develop several products:

• A website for Digital Summit attendees. Using GOTAFE branding, we developed an engaging website that gave attendees a space to learn and engage with the content. The project team could update the website as the project thinking evolved.
• A visually impactful Digital Strategy report. We worked at pace to create a report that outlined GOTAFE’s digital priorities and the future digital student experience. We also created and designed GOTAFE’s Education Strategy, which set the look and feel for the report. The report included a visual roadmap, which made the findings from consultations easily accessible and helped staff to understand the benefits of the journey and their role in the implementation.
• An all-staff animation. Our visual designer worked fast to create storyboards and iterations, using design elements including colour and character styles that would resonate with GOTAFE staff.

In preparing these materials our Visual Design Studio worked collaboratively, communicating regularly and immersing GOTAFE in the design experience to ensure the final products maximised staff buy-in.

Throughout the project we transferred skills and knowledge to GOTAFE staff to enable them to fully own the digital strategy and implementation roadmap.

We delivered a practical digital strategy and helped present it to the GOTAFE board, which endorsed it.

The digital strategy will enable GOTAFE to transcend its traditional geographic catchment for education services, leading to improved financial sustainability for the organisation and greater value for the students and industry partners it serves.

The digital strategy is now a pillar of GOTAFE’s vision for an exciting future.