About
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is the UK government’s export credit agency, working to ensure that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance. By providing billions of pounds in loans, guarantees, and insurance each year, UKEF helps thousands of exporters access new markets. In turn, this supports tens of thousands of jobs across the country. Behind the scenes, over 50 staff within the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) division keep critical digital services running across the department, ensuring both internal teams and external partners can access reliable, efficient support.
The Challenge
All IT support at UKEF had previously been delivered by a managed service provider. This created cost pressures, limited control, and left the organisation without an internal IT Service Management platform to build on. Service management practices within UKEF required improvement and more consistency in how issues were resolved.
The impact was felt beyond DDaT. Different teams were supporting banks, exporters, and other partners in their own ways, each using their own tools and processes. This made it harder to deliver a consistent IT support service to the businesses UKEF exists to support.
To bring operations in-house, UKEF sought a platform that could establish clear processes from the ground up, deliver efficiency gains, and support both internal staff and external partners through a single system. Driving innovation and excellence was also a key requirement, reflecting UKEF’s commitment to continual improvement, with stronger internal feedback on technology performance essential to achieving it.
The Solution
In 2022, UKEF selected HaloITSM through the government’s procurement framework for its ability to formalise processes quickly and scale across the organisation. A self-service portal was launched for staff, and core processes such as incident and change management were formalised for the first time.
Every request raised during implementation was delivered without delay or additional cost. New workflows and changes were developed almost instantly, giving UKEF confidence that the platform could adapt as requirements evolved.
The scope has also widened beyond internal teams. For the first time, banks and exporters can raise issues directly through Halo, giving UKEF a single channel to support the organisations it serves.
Halo’s Technical Account Manager (TAM) service has been central to this progress. Quarterly workshops allow UKEF to review the system, design new processes, and implement them live, helping the department keep pace with demand and align development to its wider roadmap.
“I’ve been part of many ITSM rollouts and in my view this was by far the simplest and most effective.”
– Tim Penfold, Head of IT Operations
The Results
HaloITSM has reshaped how UKEF delivers support, improving internal processes while giving exporters and banks a clear route to help. Feedback rates are now six times higher, satisfaction scores are consistently high, and the executive committee receives direct reporting from Halo dashboards. Banks and exporters also benefit from a single support channel, making it easier to resolve issues quickly and consistently.
- Monthly CSAT feedback rate increased from 5% to 30%, with satisfaction consistently above 99%
- Over 100 technical and non-technical staff actively use the platform, with licences increasing annually
- Streamlined IT support for banks, exporters, and British businesses, through one system
- Board-level reporting delivered directly from Halo dashboards, with Power BI integration planned
"Halo has become so popular internally that we’ve had to build a roadmap just to keep up with demand. It’s a really powerful story to deliver back to the wider business”
– Tim Penfold, Head of IT Operations
With a clear roadmap of future initiatives, UKEF is continuing to expand Halo’s role, ensuring the department can deliver faster, more reliable support to staff and the exporters that drive UK trade.