Digital transformation in a leading independent school

For one co-educational independent school, digital transformation is about more than introducing new systems. It is about creating a technology environment that can continue to evolve with the needs of its students, staff, parents and wider school community.

With user experience a key focus, this school was taking a considered approach to technology investment: making the most of existing platforms and looking to the market where additional capability was needed.

“Following on from completing our IT review, Dog and Bone brought a strong understanding of our school and technology environment, helping us reshape our digital transformation program to align with the school’s broader strategic direction.” - Deputy Principal

The client

This leading co-educational independent school in Melbourne provides education from Early Learning to Year 12.

The school has a focus on using technology to support its students, staff, parents and broader school community, with a program of work spanning finance, school management, CRM and digital experience.

The opportunity

The school had an established technology team delivering a digital transformation strategy and was progressing a broad program of work across multiple areas of the school.

Over time, the environment around that strategy had changed. Wider organisational and structural changes, evolving internal and external needs and changing investment priorities had shifted some of the drivers behind technology investment and decision-making.

They recognised the need to revisit and adapt its digital transformation strategy and delivery model so that it remained aligned with the school’s broader direction and current priorities.

Its approach was considered and pragmatic: maximise the value and efficiency of existing technologies first, then scan the market for the most appropriate solutions where additional capability was needed to meet business requirements.

At the time of our engagement, the school had multiple in-flight initiatives across school management, CRM and digital experience aligned with the core strategy with other initiatives delivering on supporting capability across many school areas. They brought in additional project and technology expertise to help navigate this changing context, coordinate activity across parallel initiatives and provide an experienced perspective as key decisions were made.

Our approach

Dog and Bone provided strategic advisory and project governance leadership, working alongside the school’s internal team, implementation partners and specialist project resources.

We worked with the school to identify where the program should adapt and how technology decisions could best support the school’s current and future needs.

As part of the engagement, we undertook an IT review to consider the school’s technology function in the context of their broader direction. This informed a realignment of the technology and transformation team to support whole-of-school outcomes, with Dog and Bone providing advice and support through that process.

Across the program, we also helped coordinate interdependencies between initiatives and ensure technology decisions were considered in the context of the broader roadmap and evolving landscape rather than in isolation.

This included supporting the school to apply best-practice governance across the program, providing a consistent framework for decision-making as priorities, projects and dependencies evolved.

Bringing the right expertise to the table

Our strategic advisory model is designed to flex around what a client needs at different stages of its technology journey.

For this school, it included helping recruit key leadership roles to add specialist capability to the internal technology and projects teams, while the school continued to own and lead its transformation.

“The strategic advisory from Dog and Bone added substantial value. The work was timely, well-tailored to our needs and consistently met expectations, giving us confidence in the quality of the advice and delivery.” - Deputy Principal

A roadmap for ongoing improvement

Through the engagement, the school reshaped its delivery model and digital program of work to reflect the school’s evolving priorities and the changing environment in which technology and transformation decisions were being made.

This included the school’s approach to School Management, CRM, and digital experience, considering how existing technologies could be used more effectively and where additional capability would be required to meet business and user needs.

Together, the roadmap and program of work provided a structured pathway for ongoing technology uplift and an improved end-user experience, while keeping technology investment aligned with the school’s broader strategic direction.

The outcome

The engagement helped the school adapt its technology capability and digital strategy to reflect its evolving priorities and establish a clear pathway for the next phase of technology investment and improvement.

The IT review and aligned restructure positioned the technology function to support the school’s wider organisational direction, while the governance framework and additional capability provided a strong foundation for what comes next.

The school retained ownership throughout, with its internal team well placed to continue progressing the work with a clear focus on value and the experience of students, staff and the wider school community.