The Arcadis Shift

Company Overview

Arcadis is a global design and consultancy firm delivering sustainable solutions across infrastructure, water, buildings, and environmental projects. 

With more than 140 years of history and operations in over 70 countries, Arcadis combines deep local knowledge with global expertise to help clients meet the demands of urbanisation, digital innovation, and climate change.

Challenges and Opportunities 

Fragmented Systems and Inconsistent Operations: Teams were using disconnected systems, creating duplication, limited visibility, and inconsistent support. While Arcadis Technology had a more unified setup, the broader landscape lacked a single entry point. Arcadis’ strategy: consolidate systems and introduce a single front door to services.

Operational Inefficiencies: Manual work, disconnected workflows, and inconsistent reporting slowed delivery and added avoidable cost. Meeting global performance targets required automation, standardisation, and simplification.

AI Disruption and Readiness: AI is rapidly changing consultancy, engineering, and infrastructure. Arcadis saw both risk and opportunity. To seize the opportunity, the company needed to strengthen its operational foundation — including processes, data structures, and agility.

Talent Pressures: To compete for top digital and engineering talent, Arcadis needed more than interesting work. A modern environment with smart tools, streamlined workflows, and less low-value work was essential — enabling skilled staff to focus on what matters.

The Solution

Arcadis is delivering transformation through a structured Continuous Service Improvement (CSI) programme, guided by Fusion GBS Value Adoption Services (VAS) framework. VAS provides the foundation for CSI across the business — combining scorecards, benchmarking, and value tracking to ensure each phase delivers meaningful, measurable impact. 

Instead of treating change as a one-off deployment, Arcadis has taken a phased, outcome-led approach — focusing on five core capability areas that build progressively toward a unified, agile, and data-driven operating model. 

Modernise Service Desk: Arcadis has established the foundation for a global support model, enabling greater consistency, visibility, and service quality across the organisation. Further phases continue to expand reach and maturity. Arcadis have seen their Customer Satisfaction scores go from a high of 4.5 before moving to BMC Helix, to 4.7, with CSAT exceeding 4.5 every month since December 2023. 

Automation: Work is underway to automate high-volume processes and reduce manual effort across fulfilment, approvals, and transitions. As coverage increases, automation will play a key role in driving efficiency at scale. 10% of requests were fully automated in Q1 2025, from a starting point of less than 0.4% in 2023. 

Engagement Layer: Arcadis is evolving the way employees access services — shifting toward intuitive self-service, live chat, and virtual agents. These improvements are shaping a more seamless, responsive support experience. In 2025, Arcadis are regularly seeing over 2300 unique visitors to the DWP Portal on a daily basis, doubling the number from 2023. 

Enterprise Service Management: The service model is extending beyond IT, enabling other business functions to adopt a consistent, platform-driven approach to service delivery. This supports broader goals around operational efficiency and workforce productivity. The Accounts Payable team are currently moving to Helix, removing the need for a multitude of mailboxes and making the team more efficient. 

Agile Change Management: Arcadis continues to evolve its approach to change, with planned improvements including service modelling aligned to change governance. These changes are aimed at increasing speed, reducing risk, and improving end-to-end control. 

Each capability is tracked and evolved through the VAS CSI programme — ensuring improvements are sustained and aligned to business value. As a result, Arcadis is already seeing meaningful improvements in service quality, efficiency, and user experience.

A Platform for What’s Next

Arcadis has moved from fragmented, inconsistent service delivery to a unified, data-led model that is both scalable and agile. By focusing on five core capabilities and anchoring the work in Fusion GBS’ Value Adoption Services, the company now operates with greater visibility, speed, and control. 

More importantly, Arcadis has positioned itself to harness AI, automation, and platform innovation in the years ahead. This transformation strengthened day-to-day delivery and laid the foundation for a smarter, more efficient business. 

What Arcadis has built improves performance now and prepares the business for what comes next.