Customer since 2009

Provide market-leading pension administration and investment services 

  Responsible for over £34bn in assets

Product: ITSM

Railpen is responsible for over £34bn in assets on behalf of over 350,000 members, providing market-leading pension administration and investment services for the railways pension schemes, including the iconic Railways Pension Scheme – one of the largest, most established, and intricate funds in the UK.

Their history of helping everyday, hardworking people in the rail industry save adequately for their retirement stretches back more than half a century. Railpen has innovated and evolved in the years since to serve the needs of the rail industry and the financial future of its workers.

Railpen’s member-first culture is at their core. Their purpose is to secure their members’ future and they make it their mission to pay pensions securely, affordably and sustainably.

We recently sat down with Railpen’s Product Specialist, Lisa Wadley, to discuss their journey with Sunrise, exploring how we’ve supported them to achieve streamlined service management.

What Railpen was looking to achieve:

Railpen’s primary objective was to implement a system that could support not only IT Service Management (ITSM), but other departments within the organisation.

Lisa, who is a product specialist and manages the development of Railpen’s Sunrise system, explained: "We were looking for a system that could do more than just IT Service Management. We needed something for HR, supplier management, data protection, and, more recently, a way to support us with centralised risk management.”

Railpen wanted to streamline internal service management across the organisation; efficiency was key. They were looking to create simplicity and improve the user experience by ensuring that requests, regardless of source, were addressed in good time, by the right team.

How Sunrise helped them achieve this:

Railpen’s decision to implement Sunrise’s platform was driven by the fact that it could be customised to meet their objectives. Lisa explained, "The fact that you can have multiple modules and customise the system however you want was a big factor. Plus, the automation to direct tickets to the correct teams without manual intervention was crucial. We want to make sure it goes to the right person the first time."

Sunrise gave Railpen the ability to tailor workflows and modules specifically for them, including the creation of a dedicated risk-management module. The automation capabilities of Sunrise were a game-changer, significantly reducing manual workloads. "The automation for ticket routing has been brilliant, ensuring that tasks are assigned to the right teams without delay. We've also set up a button that routes tickets marked for continuous improvement directly to the right module, so nothing falls through the cracks," Lisa noted.

Railpen has also made regular use of Sunrise’s Safe Hands service, which provides expert support for system changes, advice, and guidance. It means they’ve been able to schedule a session through the Project Office and, if needed, a Sunrise expert will work with them at a time that works for them. As Lisa explained, "We've used Safe Hands for everything from upgrades to data imports and JIRA integration. Being on-premises, we use Safe Hands for upgrades. They handle it all, freeing us to focus on other bigger projects." The service also gives our customers the opportunity to learn from Sunrise experts by shadowing them during system changes.

The combination of Sunrise’s customisation, automation, and Safe Hands support has helped to streamline Railpen’s internal processes, with tasks being directed to the correct teams more quickly and efficiently.

The Results:

Sunrise has had a positive and meaningful impact on Railpen’s internal IT services. Much of this can be attributed to advancements made within the Sunrise platform itself. Automating workflows and integrating key modules helps to reduce response times and increase service efficiency.

Railpen’s internal IT Service Desk has also been shortlisted in the category of Best Service Desk CX at the 2024/5 Service Desk Institute Awards – and we like to think we’ve played a part at Sunrise in this achievement.

On working with the team, Lisa said, "Mike and Lyndsay at Sunrise have been brilliant on the consultancy side, and Ryley from the Sunrise service desk is a star. They turn around our requests so quickly and work with us to achieve results".

Railpen sought a system that could go beyond IT Service Management alone. They wanted one that would also to cater for departments including HR, supplier management and also risk management. They were looking for a unified platform for that could help address a variety of internal service requests. Sunrise’s customisation capabilities, combined with automation and the Safe Hands service, has enabled them to do this.

Being able to automate workflows and direct tickets to the right teams has helped Railpen streamline their internal service offering and freed their teams up more to focus on other larger projects.

Lisa has also commented on Sunrise’s collaborative approach, stating, "You don’t just take our requirements and run with them. You challenge our thinking and suggest better ways to do things."

Our work with Railpen highlights how a tailored, flexible platform can address the unique goals of an organisation, help to drive efficiencies and contribute to improved service delivery.