The Strategic Command Strategy

We are delighted to announce that Warner McCall has recently been acquired by Principeo Ltd via a 100% share purchase, significantly enhancing the companies’ joint capabilities offered to UK Defence. Principeo uniquely offers Defence leaders and their teams the specialist, strategic support to cut cognitive load and accelerate delivery of big picture value. With their heritage in cross-industry strategic change and deep Defence-sector expertise across digital, technology, industry strategy and lean governance, they help leaders navigate systemic challenges to unlock delivery at pace. Warner McCall has a rich heritage in supporting senior Defence leaders with some of their most complex challenges, and this deal perfectly complements our unique value proposition at this critical juncture for UK Defence, where both accelerating delivery and efficient resource use are key. Says former Warner McCall director Johnny Norris, “Al and I are delighted to pass the baton to Nick and Roland, and this deal brilliantly combines Warner McCall’s client-focused heritage, capabilities and values with Principeo’s distinctive strategic approach, to enhance a unique offering for Defence leaders.” Says Principeo director Nick Frall, “Johnny and Al have built WM into a strong, flexible and trusted team with client-focus at its core, and unparalleled capabilities in audience analysis and cross-domain, cross-enterprise command and control coherence. This acquisition further strengthens Principeo’s commitment to providing unique value for Defence leaders, and Roland and I are excited to continue and build on the assured delivery which WM clients have come to expect." As part of the deal, former WM directors Johnny Norris and Al Sweet will cease ownership of WM and step back from management responsibilities, handing over to Nick Frall and Roland Lyle, but remain engaged to ensure a robust transition and continued delivery for all existing clients. For further information on Principeo see: www.principeo.com

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a new framework contract for DOS6 (Digital Outcomes 6), which enables “public sector organisations to find suppliers who can design, build and provide clearly defined bespoke digital projects and services using an agile approach”. With an expected start date of the 10 th August, DOS 6 enables those working in the public sector to talk to us about how our blend of deep domain knowledge and commercial consulting experience, can help develop strategies for change, implement change or understand how technology can be better exploited to deliver change. Al Sweet, Warner McCall co-founder and COO comments: “Having recently been awarded the Command and Control in the Information Age (C2IA) contract via DOS5, we are thrilled to once again be accepted as a supplier on the latest DOS framework agreement. Alongside G-Cloud, DOS 6 provides another way for our potential clients to connect with us to discuss and procure our specialist knowledge and expertise, to help them design, manage and deliver the change they need to succeed.” The new agreement will continue to be hosted on the Digital Marketplace, where you can view our details. For more information on our services, then please visit our services page or give us a call on 0800 002 5730

We are pleased to announce that following the successful completion of the Information Advantage Change Campaign (IACC), Warner McCall Ltd have been awarded a further 2 year contract worth c.£6M, to be the Strategic Partner for the Ministry of Defence, Directorate of Joint Warfare (DJW) led, C2IA Change Programme. C2IA is a Vice Chief of Defence Staff directed activity that will combine IACC with the Defence Command and Control study work, with the aim of ‘enabling Defence to compete in the Information Age’. The change will be governed as part of the Multi-Domain Integration StratCom led activity, and will see work with PJHQ as a critical early part of the programme, to enable improved understanding, assessment, decision-making and execution of military activities. Warner McCall will provide specialist change, transformation and technical support to our military colleagues, to enable them to design and implement a C2 ecosystem that meets the IOpC challenge. Over the next 2 years, the team will design and drive a number of Accelerator projects that aim to build momentum and deliver irreversible change for Defence. Johnny Norris, CEO of Warner McCall, commented: “Warner McCall are delighted to be supporting DJW transform the way that Defence delivers command and control in the Information Age. We welcome the opportunity to leverage both our knowledge of C2 and Information Advantage, and use our significant experience in complex transformation projects, to help deliver this critical change for Defence.”

Now that we have returned from Exercise Joint Protector in Sweden, it’s great to see the latest video from UKStratCom on how the ten JEF Partner Nations trained to “respond to threats that are below the threshold of war, in the so-called ‘grey zone’.” The video, which focuses on MDI, refers to our Information Advantage work, in particular that around “influence operation techniques….in the cognitive domain”. As a pathfinder activity for MDI, it’s great to see our IACC experimentation work helping Defence explore how they can understand and influence key audiences and actors, as well as adversaries. Since returning from Sweden, the Information Advantage Change Campaign team has authored “The IACC Exercise JP21 Hot Washup Report”, which we are pleased to say, has been very well received. We are now looking at the next phase, and determining how we can help Defence better understand sub-threshold operations and the critical role of integration to success.

Jack Watling’s article for RUSI makes for an interesting read. Titled “ A Post Mortem of a Disintegrated Review ” it walks through the process for developing the Review and the subsequent Defence Command Paper; observing that “this process raises serious questions about the government’s capacity to implement its own recommendations.” As anyone in the Defence sector will know, this Say-Do Gap is a constant challenge. As defence consultants working client-side, we recognise that just as Government struggles to cohere its departments, it’s clear that Defence struggles to cohere its commands. Sitting at the heart of this challenge is UKStratCom, which is ideally placed to bring together the individual commands and to take on the role of ‘integrator for Defence’, yet it lacks the funding and power to do so. As Johnny Norris, Warner McCall co-founder, comments: “If Defence really wants to deliver the benefits of the IOpC, then it needs a StratCom that is able to do the job it was set-up to do. It needs to be empowered, properly resourced and strategically focused. Only then do I believe that Defence will be able to demonstrate through actions rather than words that it is able to come good on its vision”

As those of you who have read the Integrated Review will know, Multi-Domain Integration is a strategy that is a name-checked throughout the paper. The recent blog f rom StratCom which is in effect a 101 on MDI, outlines the benefits to be gained from creating “a Defence that works together by design.” But how is this being achieved? In these early days, and with the Integrated Review only just published, there is understandably a lack of coherence across the activities being undertaken to not only achieve integration, but to also meet the other objectives of the IR. However, the Information Advantage Change Campaig n (IACC), which aims to enable Defence to compete effectively in the information age, has been described as a ‘central tenet’ of MDI and is a Pathfinder programme for StratCom’s MDI Change Programme (MDI CP). As consultants leading the work on IACC, we are therefore pleased to see that our thinking and evidence is not only delivering value in terms of Information Advantage, but is also feeding directly into MDI CP. In addition to our work on IACC, we are also providing consultants to the MDI CP and as part of this work, have delivered the ‘key elements’ paper, which states the 5 things that MDI will bring to Defence. This, essentially, also gives a demand signal back to the CP to allow them to focus on what must change to achieve each of those elements. By working on both campaigns, it is allowing us to help Defence deliver a coherent approach to the Information Advantage and Multi-Domain Integration strategies even as the effects of the IR settlement swirl around Defence.

We welcome the publication of the ‘Orchestration of Military Strategic Effects’ (OMSE) guide, which details 10 principles that pave the way for Defence to meet national objectives, through “more coherent and timely audience-centric, military strategic effects”. The guide outlines the challenges that Defence face in the information age and shows how current concepts and campaigns such as IOpC25, Information Advantage and MDI, are being employed to help Defence make the paradigm shift from traditional war to the new era of sub-threshold warfare. As specialists in Information Advantage, Information Warfare and IA&O we are excited to have been involved in the OMSE estimate process and to be delivering two OMSE-related accelerators as part of our work on the Information Advantage Change Campaign . The accelerators focus on Integrated Orchestration and Persistent Audience Analysis and aim to help Defence address some of the challenges it faces as it transitions to the information age. If you’d like to find out more about our work in this field, and how we can help you scope and deliver Defence information work, then please contact us . If you’d like to read the full Orchestration of Military Strategic Effects guide then please click here .

Warner McCall are delighted to announce that we have been accepted as a supplier on the new DOS5 (Digital Outcomes & Specialists 5) agreement, which aims ‘To help the public sector buy, design, build and deliver bespoke digital solutions and services using an agile approach.’ Following on from DOS4, this comes into place on the 20 th January 2021 and enables those working in the public sector to talk to us directly about how we can help them achieve digital outcomes with our specialist blend of in-depth defence knowledge and consulting experience. Al Sweet, Warner McCall Co-Founder and COO comments: “We are thrilled to once again be accepted as a supplier on the latest DOS agreement. Alongside G-Cloud 12, DOS 5 provides another way for our potential clients to connect with us to discuss and procure our specialist knowledge and expertise to help them deliver successful digital outcomes.” The new agreement will continue to be hosted on the Digital Marketplace, where you can view our details . For more detailed information on our Strategy, P3M, Change & Transformation and Information Advantage services, then please visit our Services page or give us a call on 0800 002 5730.

Warner McCall are pleased to announce that we have received a Bronze Award from the Armed Forces Covenant, Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS). This Award demonstrates not only our commitment to supporting the armed forces but our openness to employing reservists, veterans and their partners. Al Sweet, Co-Founder comments: “As someone who served in both the Parachute Regiment and UK Special Forces, I know how important it is to have armed forces friendly employers that can help people like myself make the transition into the civilian world of work. “ Johnny Norris, CEO adds: “As consultants that provide support to those working in defence, we recognise that veterans and reservists can be great assets to our team. We pride ourselves on combining commercial consulting expertise with in-depth defence knowledge, and as part of that we welcome those that truly understand and know how to operate in the defence arena.” If you are interested in joining the team, either as an employee or as an associate, then please contact A.Sweet@warnermccall.co.uk