David Kane

Digital Estate Rationalisation and Domain Control Programme

Background

Over more than two decades, the organisation had accumulated over 4,000 domains and hundreds of websites with no central ownership or governance. The portfolio included abandoned sites, unmanaged domains and untracked microsites across legacy platforms, creating cost inefficiencies, compliance gaps and security risks.

Approach

As Technical and Governance Lead, I established a board-sponsored programme to regain control of the external digital estate. Working with IT Security, Risk, Compliance, Corporate Affairs and business units across the UK and US, I led a full audit of all domains, websites and related online services. The discovery extended to apps, SaaS tools, social channels and other properties using the corporate name.

Findings were consolidated into a central digital register. Domains were categorised and validated, and redundant or unsecure assets were decommissioned under a formal takedown process. I introduced cross-functional approvals and documented governance procedures aligned to security, legal and privacy standards.

Impact

The programme reduced the domain portfolio by more than 90 per cent within 18 months, saving around £250,000 annually and removing unmanaged assets from the risk register. The new single source of truth now underpins ongoing compliance, reduces exposure and supports strategic digital planning across the enterprise.

Secure Platform Consolidation and Standardisation

Background

The digital audit revealed a fragmented landscape with multiple legacy content management systems, duplicated hosting environments and inconsistent levels of security, accessibility and performance across business units.

Approach

As Technical Lead and Development Lead, I designed and delivered a board-approved consolidation programme to migrate and standardise all external websites onto a single secure platform. Drupal was selected as the enterprise CMS, deployed through Acquia Site Studio and Site Factory with Azure Entra ID SSO and Cloudflare providing DNS, SSL and web-application firewall protection.

I developed repeatable delivery models across Drupal, WordPress and Umbraco for microsites and campaigns, embedding accessibility, brand and security controls from the outset. Agile Scrum was adopted to manage delivery, with sprint reviews and retrospectives ensuring transparency and alignment with business priorities.

Detailed technical documentation, KPIs and configuration standards were established, and I worked closely with Data Privacy and IT Security to ensure full compliance with GDPR and internal assurance frameworks.

Impact

The unified platform removed technical fragmentation, improved resilience and simplified ongoing maintenance. Security posture, accessibility and performance scores improved markedly, while hosting and licence costs were reduced. The resulting architecture now provides a scalable, secure foundation for all future digital activity.

Digital Governance and Capability Uplift

Background

The rationalisation and platform consolidation programmes exposed varying levels of digital maturity and inconsistent understanding of ownership, accountability and compliance across business units. There was a clear need for structured digital governance and capability development.

Approach

In my role as Governance Lead, I developed a comprehensive framework defining roles, responsibilities and approval routes for all digital activity. I also designed competency frameworks and training plans to ensure that non-public information could never be published on external sites and that accessibility, brand and security standards were consistently applied.

I directed training for over 800 staff and agency partners on the new Drupal CMS, delivering workshops, documentation and ongoing support sessions. Adoption and progress were tracked through KPIs and roadmap reviews to measure improvement and reinforce accountability.

Mentoring and knowledge-sharing were embedded into daily practice, supporting and guiding senior developers and junior content teams while promoting close collaboration between business and technical stakeholders.

Impact

The organisation achieved a major uplift in digital maturity with clear governance processes, measurable standards and a sustainable operating model. The framework continues to prevent shadow IT, strengthen compliance and support long-term efficiency and strategic alignment across all digital channels.

Non-public information audit and controls

Background

IT Security identified publicly accessible non-public information (NPI) including PDFs, Word documents and Excel spreadsheets that contained personal or sensitive data. Some of this content had been indexed by search engines, creating regulatory, security and reputational risk.

Approach

I led a full audit across UK and US business units to locate content owners, document ownership, and close ownership gaps. All NPI was removed from public websites, and a formal remediation process was introduced to manage any new or recurring cases.

Technical SEO measures were implemented to remove exposed documents from search engines, update sitemaps, and prevent indexing of restricted areas. Robots.txt and server rules were aligned with security policies to ensure sensitive content remained hidden.

I introduced a new competency framework to track, test and retrain all web editors. Rolling onboarding sessions were created for new editors, supported by regular spot checks and a SharePoint registry of active CMS users. This ensured clear accountability and a central record of permissions and training history.

Publishing guidance and CMS controls were strengthened so that editors could identify non-public information, understand the associated risks, and follow safe publishing workflows at all times.

Impact

The audit eliminated exposed NPI, prevented re-indexing, and improved compliance across all platforms. Ownership and accountability were established, editors were trained and monitored, and safe publishing became standard practice. The risk was formally removed from the Corporate Risk Register, supported by continuous monitoring and regular refresher training.

Digital Support Portal (Zendesk)

Background

Business units across the organisation regularly required digital, communications, brand, media and general business support. Requests covered a wide range of activities including uploading documents, producing graphics, creating new websites or pages, requesting site access, designing posters, managing email communications, supporting events and handling general digital queries.

There was no structured way to manage these requests, which arrived through emails, Teams messages and informal conversations. The lack of visibility and process created inefficiencies, duplication and inconsistent service levels.

Approach

To bring structure and governance to the process, Zendesk was implemented as the central Digital Support Portal. The platform was configured with a dedicated custom domain and integrated with single sign-on (SSO) in partnership with IT Security and Technical Architects to meet baseline compliance and security standards.

Agents were assigned to multiple support teams, and automated workflows, triggers and events were created to manage tickets efficiently. Custom forms and tagging were introduced to categorise requests and improve reporting, while automated acknowledgements ensured users received immediate confirmation and service-level expectations.

The front-end theme was branded and developed to align with corporate visual standards, providing a clear and accessible user experience. Workshops with stakeholders helped map user journeys, leading to the creation of self-service knowledge base articles and guided forms designed to reduce unnecessary enquiries and improve first-contact resolution.

The solution was configured end to end, combining technical setup, user experience design, governance frameworks and stakeholder engagement to ensure a reliable and scalable service.

Impact

The Digital Support Portal introduced a structured, transparent and measurable process for managing support requests. It improved visibility of workloads, established accountability, and standardised communication across business units. Clear service levels were defined, enabling better prioritisation and tracking of progress.

Integration with Klipfolio through the Zendesk API provided real-time dashboards to monitor ticket volumes, response times and performance trends. The platform is now embedded as part of day-to-day operations, supporting governance, efficiency and continuous improvement across digital channels.

Governance e-learning programme “Don’t Be Like Sam”

Background

Governance awareness across the organisation was low, which meant domains, websites and social media channels were often being set up without approval or compliance checks. This created unnecessary risk, shadow IT, and regulatory concerns.

Approach

I led workshops with business units in both the UK and US to co-create a relatable story. Working closely with Legal, Data Privacy, IT Security, Risk, Ethics & Compliance, and Brand, I developed a storyboard that became an engaging animated e-learning module with professional voiceover. The training was branded “Don’t Be Like Sam” to make governance memorable and easy to understand. I oversaw the rollout as mandatory training for all staff, including external agencies, and created supporting processes to embed learning into daily practice.

Impact

The programme was completed by over 44,000 colleagues and labelled “genius” by senior stakeholders. Crucially, it changed behaviours: people began following correct governance processes, using Zendesk to raise enquiries, referring to the intranet for guidance, and engaging with internal communications such as Viva social channels to promote awareness. Training videos and supporting materials were also made available on request, ensuring continued access and reinforcement of best practice. This significantly reduced shadow IT, improved compliance across digital channels, and embedded governance for domains, websites and social media as standard practice throughout the business.

Incident response and continuity

Background

During major incidents such as gas or electricity outages, fires, explosions or power cuts, the organisation had no reliable way to publish urgent updates quickly. Information was often scattered across social media and internal channels, creating inconsistency and delays in public communication.

Approach

I designed and implemented a 15-minute incident publishing process that enabled the Digital team to create and deploy a dedicated incident page at short notice. The page acted as the central hub for verified updates, ensuring that social media posts and press statements directed users to a single, authoritative source of information.

I produced wireframes for the page layout so that it could adapt to the type of incident and display key information such as media contacts, power cut details, and links to relevant support content. Process flow diagrams and procedural documents were created to provide clear reference materials and to guide junior team members through each step of the workflow.

I trained the entire Digital team on the new approach and presented it to Media and Corporate Affairs to ensure consistent alignment and shared understanding. The process was tested and refined to guarantee readiness during critical situations.

Impact

The new process enabled the Digital team to publish a fully functional incident page within 15 minutes of notification, providing clear, accurate and secure updates to the public and stakeholders. It established a repeatable, reliable and compliant workflow for emergency communications, greatly improving operational continuity and stakeholder confidence during high-pressure events.

Coming soon!

Background

This section will contain some insights and details on some of the websites I've created for major infrastucture projects and interconnectors.