Bexley Council Achieves £800k Savings Through Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity Upgrades
Bexley Council's digital transformation efforts have resulted in significant cost savings, with a projected £800,000 reduction in capital expenditure. This saving is primarily driven by the adoption of a new 'Zero Trust' network security model, which is expected to Reduce the requirement of circa 800k capital to meet cyber compliance
. The initiative also includes a move to Microsoft E5 licensing.
The Finance and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard that the council is modernising its digital, data, and technology capabilities as part of the Future Bexley: Corporate Core
programme. This initiative includes the establishment of a Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Board, chaired by the Chief Executive, to provide strategic oversight. The Future Bexley: Corporate Core
programme aims to build mature foundations for trusted enterprise data and develop targeted predictive analytics capabilities.
Key achievements highlighted include the completion of a full application audit and the approval of the Zero Trust network strategy. The application audit revealed inconsistencies in application ownership, support and management arrangements
, with many applications managed on a 'best endeavours' basis, creating risks to system resilience, security, compliance, business continuity, disaster recovery, and knowledge retention. The current environment was identified as presenting elevated risk through its complexity, reliance on perimeter-based security, and interdependencies between systems
, driving higher operational costs and cyber exposure.
The Zero Trust model, which involves continuous verification of access rather than assumed trust, is expected to reduce cyber risk and operational costs. This move also involves Migration to cloud and removal of on-prem datacentres
, Move to managed service WiFi only
, and Provision of a singular public WiFi service for all users
. Beyond cost savings, the success of the Zero Trust model will be measured by Reduced cyber risk,
Enhanced resilience reducing risk of service failure and delivering enhanced business continuity,
Improved compliance,
Greater support for hybrid working,
Reduced future capital investment requirements,
and Lower long-term operating costs.
The migration to Microsoft E5 licensing aims to strengthen cyber protection, improve legal information obligations, and reduce reliance on multiple suppliers. The move from Microsoft E3 to E5 is intended to Improves our ability to meet legal information obligations
. The business case for E5 licensing was built on replacing legacy systems and contracts such as ForcePoint and 8x8, enabling a cost neutral delivery over a 3-year period.
While the exact timeline for realizing the full savings isn't explicitly stated, the report mentions Reduce ongoing revenue costs from year 3
in relation to the Zero Trust network. The transition from E3 to E5 had a revenue reserve... of £0.195m to fund the transition from E5, in the P4 forecast it is estimated that the entirety of the reserve will be required to be drawn down this financial year. From 27/28 onwards, it is not expected that this function will require further financial support.
The Zero Trust Network migration will support the Teams Telephony roll out and further identified improvements.
Looking ahead, the next phase is therefore to sharpen the Council's focus on data by: Building mature foundations required for trusted enterprise data. Developing targeted predictive analytics capability through a use case that can then be scaled. Aligning DDaT structure, skills and resources to accelerate emerging strategic priorities.
Additionally, A DDaT Operational Group is also to be established to drive operational decision making including the end-to-end project delivery and management.
The report also mentions application rationalisation
and data capability
as ongoing areas of focus. Further details on the council's digital transformation can be found in the public reports pack for the Finance and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 14th October 2026 [http://democracy.bexley.gov.uk/documents/g30966/Public%20reports%20pack%2014th-Oct-2026%2019.30%20Finance%20Corporate%20Services%20Overview%20and%20Scrutiny%20Committ.pdf?T=10].